Total Care Podiatry

After your assessment, the podiatrist will discuss which orthotic options will be best for you:

• Total Correction

  • With normal biomechanical assessment
  • With Fscan inshoe assessment

As it’s name suggests this orthotic type aims at restoring your foot’s function back to as close to normal as possible. The design features are to encourage your body weight to move through the foot so it is in the right place at the right time so forces are normalised through the structures that are designed to take them. In doing so the joints and muscles and tendons are aligned to work optimally.

These orthotics can be made from a large range of materials, depending on the required use, shoe type, the level of correction you require and your body’s requirements.

Often you may be given exercises, have mobilisation of the joints of your feet and ankles or referred for soft tissue therapy, so to ensure the muscles and the joints are able to adapt to the correction and will work with the orthotic not against it; these ancillary treatments also make getting used to the correction during the ‘wearing-in’ period a whole lot easier!

• Total Support

  • With normal biomechanical assessment
  • With Fscan in-shoe assessment

This type of orthotic is designed for people who have changes in their foot structure that can lead to the development of pressure areas and inflammation. This could occur from:

• Arthritis; causing joint stiffness and deformity
• Diabetic pressure areas; increasing the risk of potential ulceration
• Previous injury: permanently altering the foot structure

These orthotics are designed to redistribute the weight effectively off the pressure areas, ensuring that the areas the weight will be transferred to are able to cope with the increased stress. They are made from materials that absorb shock to protect the tissues and make walking much less uncomfortable.

• Total Comfort

This new range of orthotics is designed for the relief of aching and tired feet. These orthotics are made to the pressure profile of your feet when either walking or standing. These are not corrective orthotics, nor are they designed for people who have significant structural changes in their feet. They are primarily designed for the large number of people who don’t have a painful condition, but can’t wait to get their shoes off at the end on the day as their feet ache.

Many people tell me how they love wearing their Birkenstocks, crocs (or similar designed sandal) or runners because of the support and cushioning material. This is because the foot was never designed to stand or walk on hard flat surfaces, especially for prolonged periods of time. Our foot is designed to adapt to the ground, a great feature when we had to walk over undulating pasture, sandy beaches or rough ground. But now we stand and walk in shoes with no support over hard flat surfaces, it’s no wonder it places a lot of strain on the arch!

Our Total Comfort orthotics provide you with that support, but are designed to your individual pressure profile and are made of material that’s soft and supportive, much like your shoes are.  We are able to design and make these orthotics using new technology and as they are not corrective, they can be made within 2-3 days and are VERY cost effective; especially if you have appropriate private health insurance, where the cost after rebate will be less than $100.

WARNING : This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional podiatric advice. Treatment will vary between individuals depending upon your diagnosis and presenting complaint. An accurate diagnosis can only be made following personal consultation with a Podiatrist.  

Do I need orthotics? What kind? What’s the difference between pre-made and custom made and what exactly do they do? You have probably heard of someone who wears orthotics in their shoes or perhaps you have orthotics.

There are so many types of orthotics available; it is hard to know which you need. Some people buy orthotics from retail stores, some through various health professionals and others from podiatrists.

Some people get better, some don’t. There are some, which make all sorts of claims. What does the research actually say about how orthotics work? Most importantly how can you be informed on these issues? We can help!

Almost everyone has some structural biomechanical misalignment such as bowing of the lower legs, knock knees or legs that turn in or out.

• Our bodies compensate for misalignments through the mobility in our joints and the flexibility and strength found in our muscles. Over time, this causes other adaptations and changes to occur to allow normal function.

• These changes and other factors such as footwear, work, sports, age, weight and overall health status place stress on our musculoskeletal system.

• When our body lacks sufficient compensation for a given activity, we place high forces through our body, which can lead to inflammation and pain.

• This is when we need to find out if improving your body’s ability to compensate, by improving the muscle and function and/or reducing the abnormal forces usually by orthotics and/or footwear, is the best option.

But my pain just happened and is not going away…

Plantar faciitis

Any current pain may be just the most recent effect of an ongoing condition that has slowly been occurring over many years. Other such effects, such as muscle tightness and/ or weakness, or perhaps restriction of the movement in some of your joints, may be present, but as they haven’t directly caused you pain, you may not have noticed them.

It may have been an event, such a holiday with a large amount of walking, a growth phase (where the person’s bones grow quicker that their muscles) or even just wearing a pair of new shoes, which pushes the body’s ability to compensate beyond it’s limit and injury and inflammation occurs, causing the pain you feel.

At this point your body has two issues to deal with; first it has to continue compensating your structure and changes to allow you to still walk around, play sport, etc… The second issue is to offload the injured tissues so they can heal. Often this is too much and the pain continues.

To resolve this situation we have to either reduce the Compensation required or increase the Compensation Available.  Simple treatment of the symptoms can prove very effective in the short term, but if the biomechanical and structural irregularities and the resultant compensatory changes are not addressed, then a repeat of the inflammation and pain will most likely occur at a future date when another event occurs.

Please note:  this advice is very general and an accurate diagnosis on the function of your legs and feet can only be made after consulting a podiatrist.

The term “foot orthoses” can describe many different types of insoles . The critical choice of which orthosis or insole is best for the individual depends on the application, lifestyle and personal requirements.

Unless the solution to this is straight forward, it is best to have a podiatrist examine the foot and leg and analyse one’s walking and/or running habits. By doing so you can be confident the appropriate advise on which type of orthotic device is best suited for your needs and the best value for money.

Also, the team can provide or refer you to any adjunctive therapy so to resolve any associated symptoms. Finally, they will provide you with ongoing care should the orthoses require adjustment.

What do orthoses do?

• To aid in correcting the foot and leg function so to normalise the damaging forces that can cause injury, inflammation and pain
• To actively re-distribute load and stress away from areas of trauma that have developed as a result of too much pressure
• To support feet while standing for long period of time that can result in foot strain, often causing the day to day foot aches
• To accommodate enlarged joints, arthritic changes and other lumps and bumps in our feet we get through living life
• To enhance the function of the feet, ankles, knees and legs when the body is placed under high stress such occurs in sports
• To redistribute pressure from prominate structures that can cause high pressure sometimes resulting in tissue damage such as ulcers.

WARNING : This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional podiatric advice. Treatment will vary between individuals depending upon your diagnosis and presenting complaint. An accurate diagnosis can only be made following personal consultation with a Podiatrist.