Orthotics

If you have a young developing child, or an active teenager, if you are a professional sportsman, recreational runner or an elderly person with joint pain – orthotics can help you.

Orthotics (otherwise known as insoles) is something worn in your shoes to help treat issues with your feet, ankles, legs and back. They adjust and influence how we walk, in turn improving your MSK stability. The type of orthotic you need depends on the results of a thorough Gait analysis and biomechanical assessment, medical history and weight review.

Conditions Orthotics can help with are:

• Heel pain
• Ankle pain
• Arch pain
• Big toe pain
• Pain on small toes
• Ball of foot pain
• Knee pain
• Shin pain
• Hip pain
• Lower back pain
• Arthritis pain
• Rheumatoid Arthritis joint strains and pains
• Other health professionals treatment programmes

Orthotics work by redistributing pressure away from areas of your feet, which is a big consideration for patients with high risk foot conditions such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, or those who have painful corns and callouses.

To provide the right orthotic for you an MSK Biomechanical assessment is completed which will check your feet, joint range of motion, the strength and flexibility of your muscles and your leg length difference. Where necessary, a vascular and neurological assessment will be carried out as part of the assessment. A full gait analysis (walking assessment) will be undertaken, sometimes with slow motion analysis, and a discussion of your results will be undertaken to ensure you understand what your body is doing.

Orthotics can then be discussed if indictaed for your condition. Orthotics vary enormously from adjusted pre-fabricated, adjusted semi bespoke or made to measure custom made orthotics. They all vary in cost and effect.

At FootPro Podiatry our custom made orthotics are made from plaster of paris casts of your feet. Once dry we send them to an external manafacturuer who ensure it is made to the highest standards and specifications, with a great mark of quality.  FootPro Podiatry is a official supplier of Firefly Orthotics.   The orthotics will be measured to your exact prescriptive needs agreed on the day of your biomechanical assessment.

Once your orthotics are adjusted (if pre fabricated or semi bespoke) or when they arrive (if custom made), we will then fit your orthotics and advise you of how to correctly wear them into your shoes. All other treatment therapies will then be issued. These may include:

• Stretching and strengthening programmes
• Core strengthening exercises
• Thorough footwear advice
• Trigger point massage therapy
• Strapping and Taping