A custom foot orthotic is a custom-made three-dimensional insert that is placed in your shoe to help the pain and discomfort caused by lower limb injuries.
Orthotics work by decreasing area of high-pressure, stabilizing foot alignment and/or cushioning the foot. Orthotics will not permanently change your anatomy and will function only when you are standing or walking on them.
When the foot is subjected to persistent abnormal patterns of gait, a particular set of symptoms will follow. The principles of biomechanics in the lower extremity must be understood before attempting to prescribe these devices.
The feet are our mode of transportation and rely on a functional and stable base of support. There are 26 bones in the foot alone with 33 joints and 107 ligaments. There are numerous intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the foot innervated by nerves. In addition, there are precise applications of all the lower extremity and postural muscles for normal gait to occur. Variants to normal gait can be due to congenital anomaly, anatomic variation and loss of function due to traumatic event. It is when these variants of normal gait are multiplied by years of walking that most foot pathology occurs. Each year of walking consists of over 2.5 million steps and each walking step translates to a force of 2.5 times our body weight.
Orthotics are commonly used to relieve symptoms of common injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia, neuromas, and various foot and ankle tendon injuries, as well as helping individuals with diabetes or arthritis.
