What’s the Role of Insoles in Alleviating Plantar Fasciitis?
Preventing plantar fasciitis isn’t solely a concern of athletes or people who spend a lot of time on their feet, like nurses or bartenders. Foot health issues can impact anyone, and are often a result of wearing non-supportive footwear that don’t provide the support necessary to cushion the foot and absorb damaging impact and shock from everyday activity.
What Causes Plantar Fasciitis?
Proper arch support is a major component of preventing plantar fasciitis. People have different foot shapes, and therefore different types of arches.
Low arches typically cause overpronation as all or most of the bottom of the foot touches the ground when standing with both feet flat. The longer an individual overpronates, the flatter their arches become. Plantar fasciitis is a condition that can occur as a result of flat arches.
However, even individuals with moderate (or “normal” arches), which are better able to support the body’s movement and pronate properly under impact, can develop plantar fasciitis as a result of improper insoles.
High arches actually cause impacts from the body’s movement to fall on the heel and forefoot, as they are unable to evenly distribute weight across the foot and provide additional support. Plantar fasciitis is common among individuals with high arches, and if left untreated can develop into more serious conditions like achilles tendonitis and pain in the balls of the feet.
Individuals who need additional arch support to prevent or alleviate plantar fasciitis pain benefit from the right insole to complement supportive footwear or add support where their footwear might fall short.
How Insole Design Influences Foot Health
Dynamic arch support is a critical feature of insoles that can dramatically improve foot health simply by adding the correct support in the right places.
Footwear consumers have historically taken on the responsibility of not only recognizing that they need an insole, but having to purchase one. Putting the onus on the consumer leaves a gap in their experience with your brand that could be remedied if the right insole was already in the shoes.
Insoles that provide dynamic arch support can address the biomechanical differences among consumers – such as arch height and gait – and deliver the right amount of comfort, performance, and support all in one.
INSITE Contoura insoles uniquely accommodate these different foot types, as they are designed using data from more than 120,000 3D foot scans to create a footbed that comfortably fits 85% of wearers. Ergonomic designs created with input from our expert podiatry team ensure our insoles fit the foot’s natural shape and movement. Consumers will appreciate not having to get a special insole or consulting a podiatrist just to wear the shoes they purchased.
Preventing Plantar Fasciitis Can be Cool
Consumers have long fallen victim to improper footwear. Generations of people have spent the majority of their waking life walking around in flimsy rubber flip flops, hard and flat sandals, unforgiving flats and slides, and minimalist sneakers.
A recent article in The Atlantic points out that the tides are shifting when it comes to foot health awareness. After suffering the consequences of poor footwear, such as developing plantar fasciitis, the same individuals who championed barely-there footwear are now driving a trend for super thick, chunky, supportive footwear.
Rather than burn out as a trend with the aged 30-40 buying crowd, this style choice swelled with the pandemic when comfort, health, and wellness became everyone’s priority. The additional new trend of straight and wide-leg jeans and pants also pairs better with a bigger shoe. A perfect match for foot health.
Our advice? Footwear brands capitalizing on the bulky shoe trend should go a step further and add an insole that promotes good foot health. An ergonomic design with built-in arch support and ideal levels of support for the way the body moves makes your customers’ experiences with your footwear all the more enjoyable – and won’t require them to make a special trip to their local insole provider.
