Custom-Made Feet Orthotics

Orthotics can be a real game-changer for foot, ankles, knees and back issues! They can help with a variety of problems, including:

• Joint pain: Whether from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, orthotics can provide comfort and support.

• Knees pain: Improper arches often lead to a change in the knee angle that can result in inflammation and early degeneration of the knee joint, leading to conditions such as Patellar syndrome, Iliotibial band syndrome, Pes anserine bursitis among others. Custom made orthotics can help to prevent and manage these conditions.

• Injuries: If you've hurt your feet or ankles, resulting in ligament laxity or joint instability, orthotics can give you that extra boost of stability as you heal.

• Heel pain: Orthotics can cushion your heel and reduce inflammation from things like heel spurs and plantar fasciitis.

• Arch problems: High arches can put stress on your feet, while flat feet might need some help with positioning. Orthotics can address both these issues.

• Diabetes: Orthotics can be especially helpful for people with diabetes who experience reduced feeling in their feet (neuropathy). They can help prevent ulcers by distributing pressure more evenly.

• Bunions and hammertoes: These often go hand-in-hand, and orthotics with a wider toe box can ease the pressure on your big toe and provide more support overall.

• Back pain: Poor foot positioning can contribute to back pain. Orthotics can help realign your feet and improve your posture.

In short, orthotics are a great tool to provide comfort to painful joints and correct a faulty posture.

Pathological flat feet

Partly because of the genetic ( tendency to have ligament laxity) and partly because of improper footwear and a lack of exercises, the rate of pathological flat feet (no arch and important pronation of the foot) is really high in south east Asia and tends to increase.

For this reason we can check and evaluate the feet of young children when they reach 3 years old already and decide if they need to wear custom made orthotics.

In children, severe flat feet will show as a collapse of the medial arch when they are standing (the arch might look normal when they are not weight bearing); Pronation of the feet (Achilles tendon shows a lateral curve) and walking with the toes out (duck walk). See in this video what it looks like.

Correcting flat feet with orthotics

Feet orthotics have two main purposes. The first purpose is to align the foot and ankle properly so that the kid won’t hurt his joints or develop joint or spine misalignment from the flat feet. This is obtained by a good heel cup and a wedge under the foot to correct the pronation.

The second purpose is to stimulate the feet muscles by providing an over correction of the arch, similar as having a pebble in the shoe. By reproducing in the shoe a stimulation similar to that of walking on a natural playground, the kid will develop feet and legs muscles that will help him to obtain a better arch in a few years.

The process of making custom made feet orthotics

At Danang Chiropractic, after a careful evaluation and examination of the kid, we proceed to make a cast of the foot using Paris plaster, the whole process of casting the feet takes about 20 minutes, and when the plaster is hard enough we can remove the feet from the cast. The cast is then let to dry during one of two days and then sent to Ho-Chi-Minh city along a pair of the shoes the kid will use. The cast will be scanned in 3d, and the scan file will be modified according to the recommendations of the doctor and used to carve a bloc of foam by a cad-cam machine.

A technician will then apply a technical cover which could be faux-leather or neoprene, and adapt the insoles to the pair of shoes provided.

The insoles and the shoes are then sent back to Danang where the doctor will insure that they are correct for the purpose. This whole process takes about 2 weeks.