CUSTOM ORTHOTICS

Understanding Your Feet!

Your feet work hard! They support your weight. They absorb the shock of your body pounding against the ground and they adjust to the many different surfaces you walk and run on. Each foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, and may types of soft tissue including muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

Bones Form The Framework!

Bones give shape to your foot. The bony structure of the arch also helps your foot support your weight and protect your body from jarring shocks. The joints allow you to bend and move your foot and toes.

Soft Tissue Links Parts!

Your muscles are connect to your bones by tendons. As the muscles of your legs and feet tighten, your foot bones move at their joints. Ligaments connect bone to bone at the joint.

Your Feet On The Move!

As you walk, your heel swings from side to side very slightly, like the pendulum on a clock. When you foot hits the ground, the contact stops the swing of your heels, and your arch begins to flatten. The flattening is called pronation. The opposite movement, supination, happens as your heel lifts off the ground and your foot regains its arch.

When you heel touches the ground, the soft tissue connected to the bones and joints relaxes. Your foot is now able to flatten, adapt to uneven surfaces, and absorb the shock of striking the ground.

During mid stance, your heel reaches the midpoint of its side-to-side swing. Now your heel is below your ankle bone, and the front and back of your foot are aligned. Your foot now bears your full weight.

As your heel lifts, soft tissue connected to bones and joints tightens. Your foot regains its arch. This allows your toes to push your weight off the ground, with your bit toe exerting the most force.

WHY YOU MAY NEED ORTHOTIC SUPPORT

If your heel swings too far when you walk, your foot may be overpronating or flattening too much. this incorrect movement stress and weakens parts of your foot. Over time, you may develop symptoms in your feet, ranging from a change in shape to pain when you walk. If a medical problem places your feet at risk, you may need help protecting their tender area.

Custom Orthotics

Custom Orthotics - Controlling Foot Movement Through Podiatric Care!

Out of sight, out of mind, healthy feet are easily forgotten. But if you feet aren't moving right or you're working them too hard, foot pain may invade you life. Tired aching feet are hard to ignore. Controlling your discomfort can be made by prescription custom orthotics made especially for your feet.

When you feet hurt you can't get far! When it hurts to walk or even just to stand, your feet may slow down your whole life. Swelling changes the way your feet looks, sharp pain when you stand, aching that will not stop! These are just a few common symptoms of foot troubles. Your symptoms may be caused by the way your feet move or by the way your legs are developed. Or you may have a medical condition - Diabetes - that puts your feet at risk for sores, infection, or other health problems.

Custom Orthotics can help!

With years of medial training in foot care, Dr. Thomas F. Vail is an expert in treating foot problems with custom orthotics. Just like contact lenses can improve vision, custom orthotics improve foot movement. The custom orthotic shoe inserts may relieve your symptoms by controlling the way your feet move. Custom orthotics may also help compensate for a problem in your hips or knees that causes incorrect foot movement. Custom orthotics may protect tender areas of your feet from the constant wear and tear from use. Even if your foot problem is best treated by surgery, custom orthotics may delay the need for surgery and help maintain your surgical correction afterwards.

Custom orthotics come in a variety of materials, ranging from rigid plastic to soft foam. All of these materials can be shaped to fit your individual foot needs. The rigid custom orthotics offer the most control of movement, while the softer custom orthotics provide better cushioning and protection. When prescribing your custom orthotics, Dr. Thomas F. Vail will make the best match between your needs and the qualities of the materials.

Custom Orthotics

Custom foot orthotics are designed for you based on the degree of mechanical control you require, your activity leve, your physical status and the type of footwear in which you will wear your orthotics. Wearing custom orthotics can help decrease or eliminate pain from corns, calluses, and leg/joint/muscle fatigue. Professionally fitted custom orthotics can improve posture - correct overall anatomical misalignment that cause stress and pain in the other parts of your body. When used of Athletic activities, custom orthotics can reduce muscle fatigue and enhance performance.

Breaking in your new custom orthotics - for best results it is critical that you break in the new custom orthotics gradually. This can take 2-3 weeks. It takes time to correct a problem you have acquired over many years. Your new custom orthotics will help teach you body to move in a healthier way. It is not unusual to be conscious of your feet and "FEEL" the new custom orthotics while your body is learning to walk in a better way.

Normal things you will feel during the breaking in period &/or the adjustment period can be:

A feeling of pressure &/or firmness in the heel.
A Mild -Moderate feeling of pressure &/or support in the arch area
You may fee a mild awareness of the outer border & heel seats of the new custom orthotics

It's a good idea to purchase a new pair of shoes with plenty of room for your new custom orthotics. Should this not be possible, make sure that the heels and soles of the shoes are not excessively worn. Before you place your new custom orthotics in either new or old shoes, it is important to take out the removable insoles from inside the shoes.

You should initially wear your new custom orthotics over a gradually increasing period of time until you can wear them comfortably all day:

First day 2 hours including sitting time.
Second day 4 hours including sitting time
Third Day 6 hours including sitting time
Fourth Day 8 hours including sitting time

Any time during this break-in period should you develop uncomfortable feelings in your feet, ankles, hips, knees, or low back - you should remove the new custom orthotics from your shoes and go without them for a day possibly 2 days. You make take your choice of OTC pain relief medication. After pain has subsided then you may put the new custom orthotics back in your shoes and begin wearing at the time frame that the pain started - Say Second Day 4 hours when pain began - pick up with the instructions for Second Day. You should continue this pattern until you can wear your new custom orthotics all day.

Helpful Hints to assure your satisfaction with new custom orthotics:

Always bring your orthotics when buying shoes - Remember, shoes with deeper heel seats (depth in the back of the shoe) and higher heel counters ( the outer part of the shoe that supports the back of your foot) will enhance the success of your new custom orthotics

Women's Shoes/ Low Cut - Your heel may possibly slip out of the shoes, especially if they are the step-in shoes. Should this happen, try other shoe styles with the new custom orthotics

Cleaning - Wipe the vinyl surface with a damp, not wet cloth. Never soak your new custom orthotics in water!

Take new custom orthotics out of your shoes overnight - "Airing" will enhance both the life of your new custom orthotics and the life of your shoes.

Squeaking - sometimes your new custom orthotics will "Squeak" in your shoes. Should this happen, sprinkle some baby powder in your shoes before putting the new custom orthotics inside. Sometimes soap or wax to the edges of the new custom orthotics also works.

Professional Evaluation for your new custom orthotics - Make sure you see your foot care specialist at least once a year. Make an appointment sooner if you experience wight gain, become pregnant, injured, or uncomfortable in your new custom orthotics. Make sure to bring your custom orthotics and your shoes in which you wear them to each appointment for evaluation.

Custom Orthotics

Women tend to bring into our office with them a bag full of dress shoes, whether they be casual, flats, dress pumps or dress heels . Men and Women alike need to realize that a custom orthotics if not a shoe issue, custom orthotics are to be made for their feet. We must treat the pathology of the foot not the shoe. Let's face it women have alot more pairs of shoes then men do. Women do like their shoes, I know I do. We have to take into account the variety of function and fashionable shoes, evaluate the bio mechanics of the foot, and what specific material and unique orthotic materials and modifications are necessary for the patient. A dress shoe can be labeled from the most functional/ stable shoe to the least stable shoe. Choosing a custom orthotics for the dress shoe is very much the same as choosing for an athletic shoe. Dress shoes that have a stiff heel that holds the heel in a stable position and also allows a functional custom orthotics to increase the stability of the rear foot. To test your dress shoes or any other shoe for a stiff heel - squeeze the heel counter ( back of the heel ) together and make sure it is firm. Stability in the mid shoe for the mid-foot - hold the shoe with one hand on the toe box and the other hand on the heel box - try to twist the shoe from side to side and bend in the middle - a good shoe will not flex much / You want the shoe to not bend like a pretzel - this will prove to be a stable shoe. Shoes that have a removable original insole will allow for more room in the shoes for a custom orthotics. A loafer or dress flat shoe is the best representative of the most stable shoe- stiff heel counter and stiff upper. Women need to understand that the custom orthotics and the proper shoe will provide the best bio-mechanics control for your feet.