Foot Orthotic Therapy & Custom Insoles

What are Foot Orthotics/Orthoses?

Also known as insoles or shoe inserts, they are designed to support, align, prevent or correct deformity and improve the function of the foot. Orthoses benefit by:

• Reducing pain or problems in the lower limb by offloading, correcting and/or supporting the foot. It is useful in conditions such as flat feet, bunions and clawed toes
• Improving balance, especially in children with flat feet
• Improving shoe fit and comfort
• Improving weight distribution and posture
• Improving chronic and acute sports injuries
• Eliminating low back pain originating from leg length inequalities
• Preventing future problems associated with lower limb abnormalities

Orthoses can be custom made or prefabricated. Depending on the materials used, orthoses are generally durable and last as long as eight years. They are easily transferable between different types of footwear.

Who needs Orthotics/Orthoses?

As custom insoles assist with everything from walking pain-free to alleviating chronic pain, many people can benefit from being prescribed one. This is especially true for people who are:

• Pronators or people whose arches are falling and whose ankles are rolling inwards. This condition is colloquially called “flat feet”.
• Supinators or people who have a very high arch, causing the foot to roll outwards.
• Diabetic
• Affected by arthritis
• Afflicted by Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease
• Injured from sports or exercise.

People with the abovementioned conditions will also need the right type of shoes for their specific foot problems. Before looking for specialised shoes and custom insoles, it is best to get a proper assessment by a podiatrist to ensure that you have the right support for your feet structure.

How can a Podiatrist help?

• Foot orthoses which are prescribed accurately can be comfortable and essential to your daily activities. Custom-made foot orthoses, specially tailored to the patients’foot type, weight, sport and footwear, can achieve better control and comfort than a standard prescription. Physio & Sole Clinic’s podiatrists use state-of-the-art 3D scanners to accurately capture our patients’ feet profiles. This enables us to customise the insoles/orthotics to perfectly fit our patient’s feet. Whether you need insoles for flat feet or to reduce heel pain, we’ll make sure that you walk out of our clinic with the right support.

What are the costs involved for insoles?

We will need to perform a biomechanical assessment of the lower limbs and feet to determine the cause of your symptoms. We will then recommend the appropriate treatment plan (shoes, insoles,  manual therapy, exercises, sports taping etc.).

The costs for a biomechanical consultation will be $145-175. This includes a full lower limb assessment and gait analysis, manual therapy or sports taping applied by the podiatrist, as well as any exercises which we will advise. The first session will take around 30-45 minutes. We do not charge extra should your session require longer than 45 mins.

The costs for insoles are $160-195 for off-the-shelf insoles, $350-400 for semi-customised insoles and $550 for customised insoles. The podiatrist will advise accordingly on which insoles are suitable.

For customised insoles, the costs are inclusive of 3D scans of your feet, as well as an accurate prescription by our experienced podiatrist to correct your feet posture and manage your condition, similar to how a good optometrist prescribes spectacles.

Semi-customised and customised insoles will take 2-3 weeks for the insoles to be ready, and there will be a $40-50 charge for the subsequent visit for insoles fitting. There will be no further charges for any adjustments (if required) on the insoles within the first 3 months. 95% of our patients are comfortable with the prescribed insoles and do not require adjustments.

Our charges are transparent and rest assure there are no hidden charges.

What is the difference between semi-customised and customised insoles?

Fully customised insoles are prescribed from 3D scans of your feet and the insoles will contour to your feet structure.

Whereas for semi-customised insoles, we will prescribe the insoles from a set of sizing templates and select the template that matches most to your feet structure.

The materials used for semi-customised and customised insoles are the same and are equally durable.

The podiatrist will advise on which type of insoles are suitable for your feet condition after the biomechanical assessment. Feel free to send in any queries to our “Ask a Podiatrist” Whatsapp Service at 9175 4929.