Custom insoles?

[bluebug32]

Yesterday I had a full analysis and bought a new pair of running shoes. At the end of the analysis they made a custom insole and used that in all the shoes I tried on. I had a two-year-old pair of berry Super Feet in my old running shoes. I went from a a Brooks Dyad (stabilizing shoe I think) to a neutral Adidas. The fitter said my right foot is "normal" but my left has more flexibility in the ankle and the arch is slightly high. At the end of the fitting, they wanted me to buy the custom insole for $70, but I declined, since I'm not running very much and that would have put me way over budget. I went running last night in the new shoes with my old insoles and experienced shin pain and medial leg pain in the left leg and some in right, both things I didn't experience in my old shoes.

Any thoughts on what to do? Return the shoes? Go buy their insole or new Super Feet? I don't know much about running, as I'm mainly a cyclists just doing some running in the off-season.

[OakLeaf]

Well, as someone who's five (I think) years into rehabilitating my feet from orthotics, knowing that it will take more years of work ... don't. Support doesn't come from shoes, unless there's something anatomical going on with your feet like a surgical fusion or a club foot.

I think some cushioning on roads is important, so I'll probably never run minimal even when/if I've regained all the strength and flexibility that normal feet are supposed to have. But basically, rigid shoes/orthotics are like putting your feet in a cast. All the hundreds of bones, muscles and ligaments can't do their work. It just makes them weaker and more rigid, plus it throws off the mechanics of the rest of your body. If your feet are weak and inflexible, stretch and strengthen them.

Are the shoes too narrow for you? If your metatarsals and toes are all squished together, they can't support you. Way too many store personnel want to put me in shoes that are too narrow for my feet, because that's usually all they stock and they want to make a sale.

JMO.....

[bluebug32]

Thanks. My own medical background agrees with your thoughts on orthotics too. I do feel like my toes are moving toward the inside of the shoe, so they definitely don't feel cramped.