Aftermarket insoles in street shoes?

[Gaperious Basterd]

Custom and even pre-molded footbeds work great for ski boots, because the foot is basically locked in place and sits above a rigid bootboard, ski boot soles, binding, and ski. Good stuff.

But in street shoes and most athletic shoes the whole thing (including the sole of the shoe and midsole below the insole) is intentionally flexible, and for design reasons is becoming even less dense and intentionally-flexible/cushioning.

In most traditional aftermarket footbeds that actually support the foot, either 2/3 of the footbed or the whole thing is fairly rigid, very much so torsionally, and even longitudinally as well (the only exception being that at the met-head level they have to flex longitudinally at least a little; at least most of them do).

So you have a casual sneaker or a golf shoe with intentionally-flexible midsoles, etc. What degree of effing up the whole deal does putting in a fairly rigid SOLE Active footbed? How about a legacy Superfeet footbed?

I guess the question is: with modern shoe designs, is the entire system BELOW the insole being designed to offer performance and other benefits, with those benefits only being there if the footbed is a soft piece of foam or fabric?

[phatty]

I use Sole footbeds in as many of my shoes as possible. They do not work well in my shoes for road running but are great in my trail (running/hiking) shoes. Just pick them up on clearance or use HSA leftover funds for them. They do stiffen up the shoe overall.

[XXX-er]

Insoles take up room in the shoe so you gotta try shoes on with the insole when you buy

IME you can sand a bunch of the foam off of at least the toes area of the bottom of the sole footbed so I just leave the top neoprene covering and they will still be really bomber

I also got custom made 3/4 and they are all very rigid I got some that are hard plastic that you can see thru, I assume they are rigid to give support so i don't feel the hard rigidness

[Mustonen]

Insoles take up room in the shoe so you gotta try shoes on with the insole when you buy

IME you can sand a bunch of the foam off of at least the toes area of the bottom of the sole footbed so I just leave the top neoprene covering and they will still be really bomber

I also got custom made 3/4 and they are all very rigid I got some that are hard plastic that you can see thru, I assume they are rigid to give support so i don't feel the hard rigidness

More than take up room, they change the fit of the shoe. A supportive footbed can actually shorten your foot and change where you need or don’t need more room.

I’ve always been partial to a dense foam replacement footbed, like a spenco, but they’re OSFA and they obviously need to fit YOUR particular foot to be worth anything.

[XXX-er]

you want support these bad boys are rigid

[XXX-er]

those were my first footbeds which the podiatrist cast from plaster molds non weight bearing back in th eearly 80's, you probably won't see custom foot beds made of that clear plastic cuz it was found to be nasty cancer-causing shit to work with

[charles martel]

Custom and even pre-molded footbeds work great for ski boots, because the foot is basically locked in place and sits above a rigid bootboard, ski boot soles, binding, and ski. Good stuff...

Not sure you are corrrect here. Harb writes:

"The job of a footbed is to balance your feet through and along the center, to allow equally achievable tipping movements from side to side. It should be comfortable and supportive yet not restrictive of functional movement."

I've spoken to orthopedic docs specializing in feet, trainers specializing in movement and also many footbed makers. Functional movement of foot and kinetic chain are key in any activity. The rigidness you speak of implies the foot is locked motionless in the boot, which is simply wrong, which makes this discussion useless.

You should go to a pedorthic specialist (and also get a second opinion) with your problem. Self-diagnosing from mistaken premises is a waste of time.


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[Gaperious Basterd]

Not sure you are corrrect here. Harb writes:

"The job of a footbed is to balance your feet through and along the center, to allow equally achievable tipping movements from side to side. It should be comfortable and supportive yet not restrictive of functional movement."

I've spoken to orthopedic docs specializing in feet, trainers specializing in movement and also many footbed makers. Functional movement of foot and kinetic chain are key in any activity. The rigidness you speak of implies the foot is locked motionless in the boot, which is simply wrong, which makes this discussion useless.

You should go to a pedorthic specialist (and also get a second opinion) with your problem. Self-diagnosing from mistaken premises is a waste of time.


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I said "basically," and put in the opening sentence to create a contrast from which the further discussion/questions would be contextualized, and especially on a ski forum.

That's not the point of the thread anyway, but if it keeps your boat afloat to believe the feet in street shoes and ski boots have no significant differences, then by all means keep sailing.

[nickwm21]

Superfeet makes a product for almost every application, including flexible ones made for what you describe. The superfeet shape works for my foot so I have their various products in my ski boots, work boots, bike shoes, running shoes, hiking shoes, etc. I don’t have them in my sneakers / dress shoes because I don’t spend enough time on my feet in those to justify $50.

According to my IPhone, my standard day at work is 7-9 miles, over 30 flights of stairs. I wear green superfeet in 8” Bull Run Danners. I probably couldn’t do that 5 days a week without an insole.

If I was a door to door salesman, I’d probably have superfeet in the dress shoes I would wear for that.




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[XXX-er]

I got 3 pair of the custom orthotics made of different materials made by real foot guys who went to school for this stuff so they could bill my HC plan 250$

The foot is gona move in whatever foot wear you are using but the orthotic will be stiff and hard if they are gona do any good
but they won't feel stiff and hard against your foot

for foot issues the pro's can either support it or cut on it which is the last resort

https://luxis.com/product-category/f...ing-orthotics/

my dad swore by these feather springs ^^^ a 3/4 style orthotic made of stainless steel, I think he got em from the want-adds in some tabloid rag, had to send them back once to be tuned but once they were dialed as the boss he would walk 15 miles a night around the steel plant in steel toe work boots

[Djongo Unchained]

I use a Sof Sole Airr orthotic in my K Swiss tubes tennis shoes. Serious cushion on the bottom and ultralight on top. Plenty squishy and twisty. The insole has varying thickness and firm spots and a sweet arch.
I find that many tennies today have a shize insole that begs for at least a doc scholl's cheapo; at least then you have an arch.
I was having some plantar fasciitis issues and the cushion under my heel made a world of difference. About $30 buc on top of my $60 shu.
Def not like a hard insole but 100% functional for me. I kinda feel like it centers my foot better as it wears in and the shoe wears out.
A half size bigger shoe makes a perfect fit for me. I rarely run my shoes to their end. 6-8 months max.

[old goat]

I had plantar fasciitis and used a hard custom arch support. After I was cured I switched to spenco neoprene arch supports in all my shoes to prevent recurrence. I've used various superfeet in golf shoes and hiking shoes and boots. They seem to make my plantar neuroma pain worse so I have a collection of them sitting on a shelf. I do used met pads on the factory insoles. Everybody's foot is different and every shoe is different; if you have foot problems you can experiment with different insoles or go to a professional. If you don't have a problem, why bother?