I've just received my NHS orthotic insoles. they feel great in my everyday footwear.but they are quite wide and dont fit great into trail/fell shoes.
they are just the heel & arch (they have no forefoot part)...so if I place them on top of the shoes insoles then my heels are too high and feel like the're going to pop out of the back of the shoe.
how does everyone else get around this?
should I just cut the forefoot out of some insoles & tape the two together?
Did they not ask you to take shoes with you when you went for the fitting?
I wore full-length NHS orthotics for years. I found I had to choose my shoes to allow room for them. New Balance were fine, and Inov8 Comfort width eg Flyroc and Roclites but not Inov8 Mudclaws, X-talons and Mudrocs.Originally Posted by SEFTON
I sometimes used Noene insoles under my NHS ones, for cushioning and to make the shoes fit OK. Noene insoles are unshaped and very thin. I cut an old pair up and used just the heel or just the fore-foot part as required, sometimes under a full-length pair of Noene insoles. (ie NHS orthotics + Noene full insoles + Noene half insoles but minus the shoes' own insoles.) I found that on the whole they stayed put. I never tried cutting up the shoes' own insoles and taping them, but I don't see why you shouldn't. It would cost a lot less than Noene. Alternatively, you could explain the problem to the NHS orthoticist, and maybe you could be supplied with full length orthotics like the ones I had.
After years wearing NHS orthotics, I found that they had been "improved" in such a way that they were now too wide for any known shoes. I made the journey to return them and collect them supposedly altered many times, but in the end gave up. It is wonderful to be able to buy shoes without worrying about whether my orthotics will fit in, and so far after about 6 months I seem none the worse.
I hope you have better luck with yours.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
In my case, I actually handed in a new pair of Flyrocs with my unsatisfactory insoles to be sent off together to the people who make the insoles supposedly to measure, and the insoles STILL came back too wide.
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
Have you tried putting them under the insoles. I know the overall height will be the same but it works better for me as there is no join to feel. As to height I think it does depend which shoes and should have been spotted at the fitting. Mine fir great in Crosslites and Vasque. Not so good in my inov8 and others
I gave up and got some custom made Supafeets for my Xtalons - take the other footbeds out to maintain a reasonably low heel profile. This also stopped my heels rubbing which was a problem before too. Seem like strange orthotics from the NHS which don't try to stabilise or correct the whole foot...?
I have full length orthotics. I just remove the shoes insole and put the orthotic in. As you suggest you would need to cut some old soles up and tape together though this can cause blisters where they join. Orthotics work better in some shoes than others in my normal trainers they are fine and should be ok in trail shoes. When it comes to racing I have given up on them. Even slightly raising the height of the footbed unbalances the shoe making them less stable and have had lots of painful experience of going over on my ankle. If running on the fells when the ground is relatively soft i think they are of limited value anyway.
i use nhs orthotics and although they raise my heel somewhat i have got used to it....BUT over time and especially in warm weather my heels heat up..there seems to be a build up of heat in the foamy material of the orthotic such that 40min is about the limit i can stand it unless i can find some water to run in...anyone else have this problem?? and any solution ( apart from carrying a bottle of water to pour down the heel that is )?
I use full length NHS orthotics but not in fell shoes where I use off the shelf green superfeet. My feet are very bad (very flat with significant arthritus in the big toe joints) and the NHS orthotics have a very substantial posting under the heel. This inevitably raises the heel (in my case on the inside) and is higher than I would want to race in.
Width wise you aren't likely to get an orthotic that fits both a standard last and a narrow last properly.
Good luck.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote