
Originally Posted by
Catrin
If it helps your deliberations on the custom orthotics. I've lots of issues with my feet and ankles, though different from yours. Have had ankle surgery (ligament repair + a heel osteotomy), micro-tears in my achilles (antibiotic related), very high arches, arthritis, etc. I've used across the counter supports, including Superfeet, and have had custom orthotics twice. The first attempt (a few years back) were not true orthotics, they were just very expensive arch supports and did no good rather than to support the podiatrist.
My second attempt, just last fall, has been nothing short of a miracle. These are orthotics in the true sense of the word - in they help to actually realign my feet so that my feet hit the ground properly. There is no arch support in the usual sense of the term, though that is also addressed in correcting my stride. It took a few months to adjust to them, I won't lie about that. Once I adjusted to them? It has been fantastic. ALL of my pain from various sources is just...gone. My major metatarsal arthritis, plantar fascitis, ankle pain, everything - gone (outside of occasional twinges from the arthritis). Even my calluses from almost 60 years of walking with such high arches are gone - and they were significant.
If it's in your budget, I would seriously consider it. That being said. WHO makes them is just as important as anything. Unlike many I've heard of, my podiatrist doesn't agree with just making one - he prescribes a pair and this pair actually cost me just a little less than the expensive arch support (one only) from 2006 or so that lasted an entire 6 months. Frankly I would have never believed that having this level of success from this pair of floppy things that go in my shoes was possible, and I was skeptical when I first saw them. They confuse shoe sales staff as they don't look like the arch supports they are used to seeing - they do all of their adjustment in the hind-foot - at least for me they do.