Our Skilled TX Podiatrists Discuss How Custom Orthotics Relieve More Than Just Foot Pain
Orthotics are often prescribed for patients who have foot pain, but these custom inserts can help with knee and back pain, too. Because your feet support your body weight and provide balance and stability, they sometimes need help to ensure good posture and to correct foot problems that can contribute to problems with your back, spine, hips, and knees. 
At Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists, our award-winning Central Texas podiatrists often recommend orthotics for patients whose feet are causing trouble in other parts of their body. Our foot and ankle doctors discuss how orthotics can help ease back and knee pain.
Custom Orthotics Can Reduce Pain From Poor Posture
One of the most common causes of back pain is bad posture. When your feet have structural issues that cause them to roll inward, your entire body can get out of balance, causing your legs and pelvis to rotate in ways they should not. This increases how much your spine is curved and puts tension on your lower back muscles. In one study of patients with chronic lower back pain, 68 percent of participants showed improvement after being fitted with functional orthotics. Functional orthotics, which are typically designed from more sturdy materials, restrict or guide abnormal motions that can cause back misalignment and pain.
Custom Orthotics Can Provide Shock Absorption
When you walk, your feet take the full impact of your weight. That impact is transferred upward into your legs, knees, hips, and lower back. Your back muscles may be forced to work overtime to handle the stress. This is especially common for people with high arches and rigid feet. Accommodative orthotics, which are usually softer than functional ones, can provide added cushioning or support, which absorbs some of the impact, reducing the workload on your lower body.
Custom Orthotics and Your Back Pain Diagnoses
For some patients, custom orthotics help relieve back pain symptoms such as dull aches, tiredness, and lethargy. However, research finds that using orthotics alongside other interventions more often helped reduce pain for patients with chronic, non-specific lower back pain, as well. This category cites back pain lasting more than three months and not resulting from a specific event. This type of back pain includes many conditions, including the following:
- Degenerative disc disease
- Lower back muscle strain
- Disc derangements
- Face syndromes (lumbar osteoarthritis, for example)
- Sacroiliac joint syndromes
- Lumbar spinal stenosis
- Other unspecified low back conditions
Orthotics were found to be less helpful in addressing conditions involving a pinched or entrapped nerve and sciatica.
Benefits of Custom Orthotics
Whether your back pain results from heels that need more cushioning, arches that require more support, ankles that need more stability, or alignment or motion requiring correction, the podiatry team at Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can assist you through the use of custom orthotics. Mass-produced orthotics you find at a drug store can provide a bit of cushioning, but they do not address medical issues, and they don’t take into consideration structural problems, such as the height of your arches, which can be a significant factor in foot pain. Arches that are either too low or too high can cause issues with how you walk and how your weight is distributed when you stand, run, jump, or engage in other physical activities. Foot structure is often inherited, but it can also be impacted by things such as the following:
- Diabetes
- Aging
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Trauma
- Pregnancy
How Austin Foot and Ankles Specialists Make Custom Orthotics
Custom orthotics are built specifically for your feet and no one else’s to address your unique needs. They can be adjusted periodically to accommodate changes to your feet and are also more durable and last longer than store-bought options.
When our Central Texas podiatrists make custom orthotics for a patient, we utilize a 3D foot scanner, cameras, and a pressure plate to get precise measurements. The data gathered by this technology generates a report, which gives us information we need to create your unique orthotics prescription. The data from the technology is weighed against the information we know about your job, the types of shoes you wear, your activities, and anything else that could impact your needs.
The end result is transferred to a 3D printer, which produces your orthotics. After your orthotics are complete, we will professionally fit them and make any necessary adjustments. Because your feet can change over time, it is crucial that patients with custom orthotics return for appointments later to monitor their progress and make updates and repairs to their orthotic devices. In addition to custom orthotics, we may recommend a variety of other interventions that can help correct foot issues and potentially benefit other parts of your body, including your back. For example, we might suggest the following:
- Low-impact exercises alongside your preferred high-impact ones to give your feet and ankles a break
- Stretches to help weak areas of your feet
- Footwear that offers better arch support
- Surgery, though this is a last resort and not something we suggest often
Orthotics and Your Everyday Shoes
If you decide to utilize orthotics, you will need to be mindful of this when purchasing shoes:
- Bring your orthotics with you any time you are shoe shopping
- Check to see if your new shoes will accommodate orthotics well
- Continue to see your podiatrist regularly to ensure your orthotics are maintained and providing all of the benefits they should with your everyday shoes
We Can Get You the Orthotics You Need
If you have structural problems with your feet and need orthotics, our top-notch podiatrists can help. We can fit you with the orthotics that can help your foot pain, as well as your back and knee pain, too. It’s important to correct your foot issues right away, so you can start to live a more pain-free life.
