 Poster: A snowHead
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Known for a long time that I need arch support to assist with knee alignment etc, and had many ski boot footbeds made, but never felt that they really give the upwards support that I need; after all most are heat moulded by standing on them and pressing down to get the general foot arch shape.
After consulting specialist physio recently, told that I have an issue with posterior tibialis tendon. He's shown me how to strap it to pull up the arch (+ exercises to try and strengthen etc) and it's having a fantastic effect on knee stability - and I hope skiing skills too!
I'm advised to get some seriously supportive arch-lifting insoles, but how/where? (Probably then means new !iners again!) They need making, apparently, to push up the rear arch area, so can't be made by the standard heat moulding as fast as I can see. My existing ones are certainly well too low for where he says my arch should really be. He can't recommend anyone who can dofootbeds for specialist boots (I.e. ski boots), just normal shoes with thick insole inserts.
Any ideas/help? Cheers.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Grizzler, with PTTD your foot will collapse into the vacuum bags on the standard Sidas footbed machine, this is what gives you the low arched product that you are currently using.....you need to have a product made non weight bearing or (depending on the flexibility of the foot) on the same vac mats but manipulated into the correct position, and then possibly adjusted to strengthen it if your foot still tries to collapse through the side of the product
upward arch support is not something you actually want or need, your physio is correct "to push up the rear arch area" the rearfoot is what controls the arch position and by supporting this area the arch can flex without the major collapse or rolling off the side of the insole associated by jamming something under the mid arch
hope that makes sense
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| CEM wrote: |
| @Grizzler, with PTTD your foot will collapse into the vacuum bags on the standard Sidas footbed machine, this is what gives you the low arched product that you are currently using.....you need to have a product made non weight bearing or (depending on the flexibility of the foot) on the same vac mats but manipulated into the correct position, and then possibly adjusted to strengthen it if your foot still tries to collapse through the side of the product ..... your physio is correct "to push up the rear arch area" .. the rearfoot is what controls the arch position and by supporting this area the arch can flex without the major collapse or rolling off the side of the insole associated by jamming something under the mid arch |
Thanks, CEM. Yes, that was what I was trying to convey. It's exactly the rear of the arch/foot where I need the support - I can lift it through exercise or taping, but it won't yet fully stay there. Previous people (various, including nhs podiatrists) have tried to do it by putting heel lift wedges in at the inside rear of insoles, but that just lifts and rolls the whole foot rather than simply supporting and stabilising the offending part.
Question is, can you or someone else you know (I'm near Sheffield/Manchester areas, so rather a long way from you) make what is needed? Alternatively, if I taped the foot up as per physio's instructions to put everything in the right position, would this make the normal footbed process easier?
And then, of course, already equipped with a custom foam liner made to fit around the current non-supportive footbeds, I presume that I'm going to have to have that re-made again? (Maybe even just if the strengthening/lifting exercises work and my oot arch rear raises on its own?) I know that when inner heel lifts were put in a couple of years ago that resulted in having to get new liners as I was getting too much boot pressure on the top of the foot/toes numb etc. Joy... 
Getting a bit fed up at the cost of all this! I thought that custom footbeds were meant to be made to provide the proper alightment, etc. I've known of this issue (certainly as pertains to how it manifests in leg, ankle and knee) for many a moon, but it's never been corrected by not-cheap custom boot fotbeds made by several differnt 'experts', not just in the UK, despite being brought to their attention. OK, they are not qualified physios or podiatrists, etc, but then why are they seemingly claiming (from my punter's perspective) that the foot/leg alignment if fine for ski-ing (and carging me to make said footbeds to achieve this) when I have now found out from a private physio that what's been done is insufficient. Footbeds are expensive enough; custom liners made around the foot as positioned by the inadequate footbed are not! (Sorry - just rather peed off again at yet more expense for dratted ski boots which actually fit and generally allow me to ski as well as I occasionally think that I might.)
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i can't sit here and say how much alignment you will get from any level of footbed without first seeing the foot, assessing it's flexibility and range of motion then looking at how it reacts to differing types of motion, there are a lot of claims made about what a footbed can and cannot do, 1st thing to remember is you have a medical condition, many doctors would tell you you just shouldn't ski, the best approach is to try and get things as best they can be.... even a rigid medial grade product may not hold your foot in the position you think it should be in, the fully corrected position you are getting into with the tape and manipulation is not a sustainable position for long term comfort, the body can not withstand 100% correction in most cases so it is a case of getting the foot into its "best functioning position" and working from there.
what was the purpose of the foam liner? unfortunately it would probably need replacing is you change the footbed and get the foot in the correct position, but then again it MIGHT be ok, it depends on what the change is with better alignment of the foot... this is one of the reasons that we sell a lot less foam than something like zipfit which is dynamic
it may be possible to manipulate the foam liner as a short term measure but without seeing it it is very hard to say
hope that helps a little
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks.
Just to clarify, having looked it up, I don't think that it's PTTD per se (and not as such a "medical condition", although perhaps a structural one) as there's not and never has been any pain in the foot or nearby structures, it's not progressed or changed over the 20+ (maybe 40+?) years that I've had it or the related symptoms (in fact it used to be an issue in both legs, now just in one so I must somehow have trained it out over the last couple of years once I because aware of it) and it is responding very well to strengthening exercises. The problem has always been hypermobile-type ankles/feet and wobbly or flopping-in knees (hence the ski-ing skillls problems) - which I thought was down to something in the lower leg bone arrangments or muscular structures higher up, but which this physio seems to have correctly diagnosed as a little bit of my under-foot! The only manifestation of pain which I've had (and why I consulted the physio) is when overtly trying to keep my knees in line and perfectly parallel (etc) whilst ski-ing and boarding - something which I've realised over the last couple of years is hindering my progression/technique/ski control - thus deliberately forcing one knee outwards and putting strain on soft tissues around the knee area instead of correcting its position by means of supporting said foot/arch area.
The taping and resulting correction is quite sustainable 100% of the time, day and night (the only limitation is how itchy it gets!), although in some respects it's there as much as a reminder to keep on tightening and pulling up the required area as anything else.
I was simply recommended that it would assist my ski-ing/boarding to get a fully-supportive orthotic/footbed made. I've never been advised by a physio or anyone else that I shouldn't ski or board (this is just me trying to do it better) and it's not something which a doctor has or would need to get involved with as far as I'm concerned.
As regards the liners (for very small volume mid to rear foot/ankle/heel/calf), I guess that I'll see how it goes in my soon-forthcoming trip with the hopefully improved stabilised knee and hopefully lifted arch by means of exercises and maybe a bit of taping; but maybe better stability will mean that I'm ski-ing better and therefore perhaps not also struggling with boot fit/control/demands so much (I have a suspicion that they may be related, snow conditions permitting) so, as you say, it might be OK as is. Otherwise, maybe a Zipfit would work or else, as I fear (and have previous experience of), it might be back to square one again in one way or another.
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Where are you based CEM?
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@Grizzler, all the description you give sounds like PTTD, there doesn't have to be pain for the tendon to be dysfunctional, (you have a problem with your posterior tibial tendon and your foot is collapsing because of it) and sorry it IS a medical condition (unless you are part cyborg) it is a biomechnical abnormality, biomechanics being part of medicine
if you want to start an argument on the subject please go ahead, i was offering you advice FOR FREE (something which i sometimes wonder why i bother doing) i have not seen your feet, but basing the advice on the description which YOU gave, so please don't hit me with google says its not or it is.
I see people on a weekly basis who have been told by a doctor or a physio that they should not ski, not run, not do the sport they love, it is my job to let them carry on and do that sport in the best way possible, sometimes this means harsh reality and sending them off for something we don't sell or just managing their expectations as to how comfortable they can be or how well they can perform
@poppyb, i am in Bicester Oxfordshire www.solutions4feet.com
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