The Best Orthotics for Your Shoes

By Danny Wong , last updated August 17, 2011

Orthotics are important for maintaining proper foot health. For some individuals, orthotics can mean the difference between a comfortable life and pain in your feet, legs, and even your back. If you are considering getting orthotics because you care about your foot health, these are features that make for the best orthotics for your shoes.

Shock Absorption

The best orthotics for your shoes are ones with incredible shock absorption since your feet take a lot of abuse every day and if orthotics can help take off some of the stresses of daily activity, that's great for your feet. Orthotics need strong shock absorption so your feet can walk, run and jump for hours, days and weeks without wearing out. Shock absorption helps to relieve stress on your whole body too since moving around doesn't only affect your feet. Shock absorbers also help stabilize and guide your feet, which makes movement easier to do.

Arch Support

Arch support is one of the other features that the best orthotics for your shoes should have because proper arch support helps in avoiding arch pain. Arch support helps relieve tension on your feet and allows for more flexibility, plus it prevents heel, foot, shin, and back pain. The best orthotics for your shoes are ones with all the arch support you need, since different individuals require different levels of arch support. Try on different orthotics to see which ones feel most comfortable with the shoes you wear often.

Comfortable Footbed

A comfortable footbed is an incredibly important feature in the best orthotics for your shoes. The perfect orthotics for your shoes are ones that fit just right in your shoes, and feel nice under your feet. The fact is, if the orthotics feel anything less than comfortable for you, you'll constantly forget to use them when you wear your shoes, since you won't want to wear them. Some of the better orthotics for your feet are ones with a soft footbed that moulds to the shape of your foot each time you wear them, or have a footbed that remembers the shape of your feet so there's an absolutely perfect fit each time you slip into your shoes with your orthotics inside.

Check With Your Doctor

When trying to figure out what are the best orthotics for your shoes, make sure you see your podiatrist first. Your podiatrist can give you a better understanding of what your needs are in order to have better foot health and can recommend what to look for in the best orthotics for your feet. You should ask them if they would recommend prescription orthotics for you, or if over the counter orthotics will work just fine for your shoes. They might even end up recommending you get custom made orthotics, which will provide the absolute best support for your feet and will help in improving your foot and overall health. Even if the doctors say you don't need custom made orthotics, getting orthotics made specifically for your feet can be nice. Custom made orthotics are quite expensive though, but you can't really put a price on your own health.

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