What do I do with these dress orthotics?
November 16, 2011 9:15 PM   Subscribe

I got prescription orthotics made. They are "dress orthotics" (?) - i.e. they don't come all the way up under the toe, I guess to make them not so visible. But I don't understand how I'm supposed to wear them. If I take the original insoles out of my shoes, then there's a hard edge under my toes; and the ends of my toes are resting on the rough insole-less interior surface of the shoe. If I put the orthotic in and put the original insole over it, there isn't room in the shoe for my foot.

I know I should ask the podiatrist but it's a busy clinic, I certainly don't have time to go back there, and I just don't think I'm going to get a good explanation. The orthotics do fit - when I stand on them on the ground I can feel how nice they'd be to have in my shoes.

Is there a thin cover I can put over them or something? Where would I get such a thing? Ladies who use dress orthotics, can you explain what I'm supposed to be doing with these?

Bonus question: when I was waiting for the orthotics to be made, the podiatrist made a temporary version with a pair of store bought orthotics to which he added a piece of adhesive hard foam on the bottom, cut and placed in a way to take pressure off a bad spot on my foot. I'd like to trick out some more store bought ones this way. Do you know where I can buy that podiatrist rigid foam stuff?
posted by fingersandtoes to Health & Fitness (7 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I dont know if ther is an official way to use this type of orthotic, but could you modify (hack up) a cheap drugstore insole so that it only covers that area of the sole that is not covered by your prescription orthotics?
posted by LyndsayMW at 9:21 PM on November 16, 2011


When this happened to me, I asked my podiatrist to help. She custom fit a piece of leather to fill in the end. I imagine you could do the same.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 9:35 PM on November 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


My current orthotics fit *overtop* of the insoles in most of my shoes. (Have you tried that?)

But with my old orthotics I had the same issue as you and here is what I did:
- Bought a cheap insole at the drugstore (like this)
- Traced and cut cheap insole to roughly the same shape as the original insole that came with my shoes
- Remove the original insole, and wear the cheap drugstore insole overtop of the orthotic
posted by sanitycheck at 10:43 PM on November 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


I have similar ones. Mine are also very rigid and thick and come up around my foot. I use them without the shoe insole at first, for a week or two. Then the show has compressed down enough in the right places to put the shoe's insole back in then my orthotics. It takes another week or two for things to fully compress down and become comfortable. You could add the toe bit from drugstore orthotics as others are suggesting, then may not need to move to the second stage.

But also, I now have to wear shoes a size bigger (sometimes just half a size). I also changed my running shoes to a wider fit. My podiatrist said this is pretty normal, and it seems to me that your old shoes are now too small.
posted by shelleycat at 12:19 AM on November 17, 2011


the podiatrist made a temporary version with a pair of store bought orthotics to which he added a piece of adhesive hard foam on the bottom, cut and placed in a way to take pressure off a bad spot on my foot. I'd like to trick out some more store bought ones this way.

Oh, and don't do this. Firstly, it will break down a lot faster than the custom orthotics you've brought. Secondly, if you get it just a tiny bit wrong (which you will) you're in for a world of pain down the line.
posted by shelleycat at 12:21 AM on November 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


Is there any chance that "dress" orthotics are intended for use in open-toes shoes that don't even have removable insoles? My wife uses the non-dress / full foot type with fully enclosed shoes, but they don't work with sandals and do require the original insoles to be removed.
posted by jon1270 at 2:33 AM on November 17, 2011


Remove the insole, replace with one of those thin foam insoles you buy at the drugstore and cut to fit. That's what I do with all of my shoes so my orthotics will fit.
posted by enlarged to show texture at 7:01 AM on November 17, 2011 [1 favorite]


« Older Eyeglasses for distance cause up-close things to...   |   Acer Aspire One battery replacement Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.