Adjusting to Custom Orthotics-HELP!

[ny biker]

It's been decades since I had custom orthotics (for an ankle tendon problem that was corrected surgically) so I can't add anything -- but I understand that frustrated feeling you're having right now so I hope your orthotics work out!

[Wahine]

It's really common to have a fallen metatarsal arch when you have a high medial arch (that's the one that most of us note). The orthotic correction for this is a metatarsal pad the is like a button/ball, just behind the knuckles of the toes. If your arches have been off for a long time, it will takes weeks/months to adjust. There are some exercises you can do to help speed things along.

So I just went down an internet rabbit hole. But there are some good exercise suggestions here and this is a lengthy but good routine for general foot strength and mobility.

[zoom-zoom]

I wonder if it's possible that the shoe, itself, is contributing to your discomfort. The Kayano is a pretty controlling shoe. Where are you feeling pain? If I wear "too much shoe" for running I get bad peroneal tendon pain on the lateral side of my arches. Anything much more controlling than the Saucony Kinvara or Nike Free (ie not controlling at all) ends up being really miserable.

[Triskeliongirl]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and encouragement! Wahine, it really would have helped if he explained to me that was the purpose of the metatarsal pad. He came highly recommend by a PT I respect a lot, but he is not terribly communicative. I will try your exercises. It is getting better each day. Its not really that its painful, it is just that it feels awkward and uncomfortable. But Wahine's explanation is helping me put up with it.

Zoom-zoom, since he actually wrote me a prescription for the Kayano, and said the orthotic was made to work with the Kayano, I am going to trust that this part is OK. I asked if he could make it for my Nike Air Pegasus, a shoe I've used for years, but he insisted I needed a show like the Kayano. I am not really experiencing pain, its just this "metatarsal pad" as Wahine called it, gives me the feeling that I am walking on a golf ball, as the foot is usually used to the foot bed under the metatarsal area being flat and not blobbed out.

[Triskeliongirl]

Wahine, can u please look at the attached picture. While it is a tad more comfortable than when I got it, it still feels really wrong to me. Your metatarsal arch explanation made sense until I looked at it closely. In the attached pic, I placed my heel in the heel of the orthotic, and pulled it away from my foot just enough for you to see how the raised area aligns with my foot. You can see it aligns with the forward portion of my medial arch, but it contacts in a way that still feels quite uncomfortable. I think it falls well behind the metatarsal arch. I just want to know if its worth trying to adapt, or if something also looks off to a trained professional eye. thanks!

[audemars]

you can try wearing your orthotics in deeper high top shoes like basketball shoes or skate shoes. make sure that the tongue isnt thick .


i dont even notice that golf ball feeling when i wear my orthotics with such shoes and i know im still getting the support because of my ankles dont hurt from rolling in.