What are Orthotics & Why Should You Get Them?
Orthotics are an insert for your shoes that helps support your feet and is produced specifically for the size and shape of your own feet. Custom Orthotics are designed to correct your collapsed arches.
How do orthotics work?
They exert their effect through the proprioceptive stimulation, meaning that they provide stimulation to your body’s awareness of it’s position and movement. They also change the muscle-tuning pattern or kinetics of your body. This results in the recruitment of different muscles and a movement pattern for your body along a preferred path. Your feet are the base of support for your whole body and when your feet are not properly supported, it affects the postural framework of the rest of the body. Collapsed arches put pressure on your knees, hips, lower back, and upper back. As a result you will have pain in these areas at some point in your life
What does research say about orthotics?
A study done by Castro-Mendez, Munueraand Albornoz-Cebello found that subjects, especially females, who overpronate (their feet tend to roll to the inside as they walk or run) are likely to experience a significant improvement to chronic, mechanical low back pain when an orthotic is introduced.
Thompson et al. (1992) surveyed 64 people with foot osteoarthritis and found orthotics “made by prescription” (meaning custom orthotics) provided a significantly longer period of pain relief than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alone.
Other studies showed foot orthotics provide significant relief, over 85% success rate in patients with knee pain!
If you are in pain, what can I do for you
This is a picture of my patient before and after one treatment. The first line of action in knee surgery is to eliminate swelling (effusion). The next step is to restore the normal knee extension and orthotics were one of the tools in her plan of management. Keep in mind that it is not just one modality, one technique, one treatment that is helping. It is everything combined and using it in certain order that is getting you out of pain.
Here is her testimonial about me:
Come see me for a detailed assessment and learn more orthotic therapy.
