A really interesting read.
I was told to get some custom orthotics, they where the biggest waste of time, they changed how my feet sat in the shoe, so caused more problems than what I had before. I sent them back and had them made thinner etc, but they just didn't work, in the end I sent them back and the bloke was good enough to give me most of my money back.
I'm now trying to strengthen my core etc, I'm going to give the exercises that Clive mentioned ago as well.
Hi Hopey I had chat with a physio who was also a podiatrist yesterday and he made the comment that having a good orthotic and the correct shoe is worthless unless the orthotic is made to fit that shoe. That seems to bear out you comment.Originally Posted by hopey
I wanted the orthotics to fit into my Walsh's and Inov8, but they just seemed too big. He made them smaller, but they were getting to the point where they were too thin.
I was advised by my physio to see a podiatrist for assessment and, she thought, orthotics. As I was paying her to sort out my calf most years I thought that was principled advice. I reckon I've saved the money spent on the orthotics (made to measure from a cast) has been saved by not visitng the physio. The orthotics are 2 years old and still in good nick. The podiatrist also gave me advice on choosing shoes, (Walshes not suitable for me/my orthotics) and, touch wood, I'm doing OK.
My Podiatrist is convinced that dispite my lack of progress with my knee recovery [here we go again], that i still require to run with an Orthotic Footbed to compensate for slight overpronation. My biomechanics still indicate the need for extra support regardless of what stage my knee is at and i dare say tackling the problem now will prevent complaints later in life.
The Orthotics i've got will just fit in my Walshes but if i could get rid of the standard Walsh footbed they would be more or less as they were before just more supportive and better, can i just rip it out without compromising the integrity of the shoe? The ones i've got have specific wedges stuck to the bottom so suggestions of things i might buy aren't really useful, sorry.
This has been discussed before and you will get varied answers!
All I can say is that I have severe overpronation resulting in OA in my knee and big toe joints. These injuries pre date my running and also caused a full rupture of my achilles tendon in my badminton days. I use custom orthotics in all my shoes.
However for running on roads I just use supportive trainers. In fell shoes I wear green superfeet orthotics, however because of the Walsh insole I don't use them and prefer Inov8.
I find my custom orthortics too big for fell shoes, but I couldn't run without the superfeet. I know that others will argue that on the fells you don't need anything.
My feet survive even having trained for the three peaks and London Marathon to the suprise of my consultant!
I wondered if the over pronators on here may prefer Inov-8s for that reason. For now i'm sticking to the Walshes as they're not that old i just don't want to start removing the old footbeds if i'll ruin the shoes.
Sorry i didn't know this one had been done but my problem is specific to the fitment of Walshes with Orthotics so i thought i'd start a new thread.
I've been round the houses with this myself with marked overpronation, particularly on the left. I've eventually been successfully treated by excellent physios and podiatrists (Duncan Mason et al in Worseley) and advice from a mate who is a subspecialist knee surgeon. Getting it right took a long time despite my being a doctor with ready access to advice etc. Regardless of what some might say about the usage of orthotics on the fells (alluded to above) there is a very obvious empirically demonstrable relationship in my case: if I run on road or trail or fell without my custom orthotics I get injured; if I use the orthotics I stay just the right side of injured. Period. A quick run up and down Coniston Old Man behind my parents' house without orthotics will (and has in the past) leave me unable to train for weeks due to shin splints.
My orthotics are bulky but 1/2 to 2/3 length so they finish around the base of the metatarsal heads. They don't fit in Walshes which were always my preferred fell shoes prior to recurrent shin splints. In fact they just about fitted Walshes with the footbed torn out but had me half out of the shoe and rolling my ankles. I found Inov8s (which I could never get on with when using my previous ultimately unsuccessful orthotics from a previous source) fitted better with these orthotics, again with the footbeds removed. All well and good but your forefoot suffers badly on a hard surface with no footbed and I've come out of long races and MMs this way with really badly macerated toes. In the last year I've taken to cutting the Inov8 footbed up and superglueing the metatarsal head / toe protecting bit in place and then placing my orthotic so it fits neatly proximal to this - sorted - no shin splints and no wrecked toes. The Inov8 lacing system and tongue seems to work better than the Walsh at keeping the upwardly displaced foot in place in the shoe with a bulky orthotic in place but there's still the feeling of being a bit higher and less laterally stable than you should be. This might work for you??
Frankly AFAIAC anyone who tries to tell you that orthotics have no place on the fells does not know what they are talking about; if they are a fellow runner they are mistakenly generalising from their own experience and if they are trying to treat you they are a charlatan and should be avoided :-) Sounds like you are probably getting good advice from your podiatrist and should go with it even if you need to buy some new fell shoes
HTH P
If you're running off-road then your footplant is going to be all over the place anyway, so I don't really see the point?
I wear othoritcs after having had a grotty time a few years ago when my feet ligaments said they had done enough running over the years - do I need them in fell shoes? not sure, but not prepared to take the risk to try and not use them.
Which means I tend to use Inov-8s or anyother fell shoe (most) where the inner comes out - if you do want to use PBs, get the wider version as the inner is removal in them
I also used a guy in Nothamptom who custom makes them, so I have a pair for road shoes, and a narrower pair made to an inov-8 last which fit better in fell shoes
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