Custom orthotics are made to provide support for any problem areas in your feet. The feet support and balance the body weight, and any changes to the foot structure and alignment can negatively impact your joints. It can also affect your overall health. Custom orthotics are prescription medical devices that are worn inside the shoes to help fix any foot alignment issues. Moreover, foot orthotics can help relieve pain caused by medical conditions like arthritis, plantar fasciitis or diabetes.
A health practitioner assesses your medical history, height, weight, physical activity level or other medical condition to create a custom orthotic for you. Custom orthotics are tailored specifically for your feet to provide the support you need. This is much better than buying mass-produced foot inserts as they may not provide the right support for your foot. Moreover, a health practitioner examines your condition to determine how the custom orthotics can help you.
Medical practitioners will recommend orthotics if the foot's bones, tendons, ligaments and muscles are not aligned and are causing pain and discomfort. Let’s look at the key benefits of custom orthotics for your feet and overall health.
Provide support to your feet
Custom orthotics are made to provide proper support to your feet and give you stability when you stand or walk. If you pick an over-the-counter shoe insert it can give you some stability, but they cannot provide support for your entire foot. On the other hand custom orthotics help to correct misalignments and provide support to the entire foot. Custom orthotics can also correct foot abnormalities like pronation or collapse arches and supination or high arches.
Protecting joints
Activities like walking, running or jumping puts pressure on the joints of your legs, feet and spine. The wear and tear on these joints can cause pain and soreness, especially for people who are overweight, often walk on hard surfaces or have foot problems like flat feet. Custom orthotics provide support by distributing the pressure evenly across the surface of the feet. In addition, custom orthotics absorb the impact to help you stay more active through the day. These are especially useful when your feet are different from each other to help restore balance and alignment.
Reduce pain
Misalignments in the feet due to conditions like arthritis, flat feet, and plantar fasciitis can cause pain in other parts of the body. This pain occurs due to pressure on the ankles, knees and lower back as the body tries to adjust its biomechanical balance to make up for poor foot alignment. Custom orthotics can help alleviate pain by reducing the pressure on joints.
Prevent injuries
Activities like walking and running can strain your feet. Custom orthotics can prevent and treat many types of injuries in the muscles, bones, joints and tendons.
Promote overall well being
Improving the balance and coordination of your feet can take the pressure off of other parts of your body and promote overall good health.
Reduce back pain
Many adults complain of having chronic lower back pain. Custom foot orthotics can alleviate lower back pain. When your feet arches are too high or too flat it can cause structural abnormality in your feet. These abnormalities can affect your ankles, shins, knees and cause an unsteady hip posture. This affects your spine making it less stable. The poor alignment and posture can cause lower back pain.
Foot orthotics can correct misalignment of bones beginning with the feet, moving upward and improving your overall posture and health. SquareOne Physio offers custom orthotics, designed specifically for your personal situation. Our custom orthotics are made to correct the alignment in your feet which will ultimately address the other affected joints.
Find out more about our orthotics service here.
