Custom molded orthotics 2

The foot is made of 28 bones 33 joints and more than one hundred muscles tendons and ligaments. If you are not getting evaluated properly you can be hurting your foot in the long term. Many times running stores have professional runners  or semi pro runners that are giving advice on what type orthotic the patient needs. I compare this to a professional football player diagnosing their team mate with an ACL tear and also giving the treatment , that’s ludicrous. So to when you have a runner telling you that you pronate, which medical school did they learn that in. Do they have 4 years of medical school with 4 years of residency and another year of fellowship training .Countless times I have patients that come in and are told they pronate when its clear they supinate. I have many cases where someone is told they have a flat foot and upon x ray evaluation they have perfectly normal bone alignment, but the cause of their pain is a bone tumor in the heel. This is the problem when you are getting evaluated and treated by non doctors. I have had patients that have come in with flat feet and with MRI evaluation it showed a torn posterior tibial tendon. Running stores and drugstores that dispense orthotics don’t have the ability to take x rays and order MRI’s to properly treat each persons foot pathology. That is why custom orthotics prescribed and casted by your local podiatrist are better and safer for your feet. They have the most extensive training in feet. There are many ways to make orthotics and in future posts we will discuss different ways of getting the mold of the foot and how the doctor decides to give you a specific type of device. All orthotics are not the same and require good communication between the doctor and the patient as to its proper use. They are medical devices.