Does Anybody Wear Orthotics?

My younger life has been full of rough and tumbles and I experience quite an amount of lower back pain these days. I manage it and I get through it but I also think maybe there's a better solution too.

So I look at my boots that I wear. Nothing fancy just lace up Kevlar capped boots and I notice my heels are all worn down. That's obviously my point of contact, heel first. Well I try walk different ways and plant different pressure on different parts but I feel a bit unco so I'm 29 and I ain't changing the way I walk.

So I'm thinking of the orthotic gel insert for my feet. I feel that with every step my back strains and jars and thinking possibly the compression of the insert could help minimize this and take away some of the pain I'm feeling?

Thoughts and opinions?

 

Everyone in my family wears orthotics except me. They all got weird shaped feet. I lucked out.

Are you gonna get the generic insoles that you can buy at a pharmacy, or go big and get custom fitted ones?

 

Just want to try the pharmacy cheap ones first before booking in for a proper appointment. I mean it'd be better to get an appointment and actually look at how my feet are when I step, but I think an insert will give me an idea too.

 

you're going to modify your feat to save money on shoes?

to each their own i guess.

if you can afford it, i don't suppose anything anyone had done to their body has much of anything to do with me.

hadn't heard of doing this. doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

i'm mean yes i understand the concept mechanically, just not the cultural or emotional motivation for it.

just another one of those to each their own.

 

Whaaa?

I'm going to buy a spongy insert for my boots. :unsure:

 

Ok then yeah I've bought the inexpensive mass produced insoles for my shoes before. This was very handy when I had to work a standstill job for several hours. My dad has deformed feet and he refuses to walk without his custom made orthotic insoles.

 

It's worth it to go and have custom orthotics made.

I did years ago but haven't kept up with it.


You're in danger of wearing down your joints if not corrected.

 

I bought them yesterday but haven't used them yet. They have small massaging spurs on them and more for my heel area. If they work then I'll go and get them properly fitted.

 

I would recommend getting custom for orthotics made, too. It could make you feel so much better and you could avoid making your problem worse--worth the cost.

I would stop trying to walk differently--that can do real damage to your back, feet, hips, etc. Unless a doctor says you don't walk correctly. But heel-toe is the right way to walk, I believe.

Another option which has made some difference for me--invest in some really good shoes. Danskos, Earth Shoes, or Birkenstocks are pretty ugly but they made a huge different for me, almost instantly.

 

Well the boots I do get are really expensive and very comfortable I've just worn them down over 9 months I literally wear them everywhere for everything. I'm down to the chords on the heels and I've stopped trying to walk different that was about a 10 second experiment and I didn't like it lol.

 

You could also look for some heel protectors/repair for your boots. Maybe put heel protectors on new boots.

 

And some spurs while I'm at it.

 

Really good expensive boots should be resoled/reheeled.

Have you been doing any extra stuff lately that would cause this lower back pain such as gardening? I've been doing more outside work, planting plants, picking up and dragging around big bags of soil and compost and my back and damn sciatica have been about to drive me crazy. I've been wearing this wide back "brace" that has magnets in it but it drives me insane to wear in the bed. I was wondering because I think if the back problem is coming from different/more physical activities, then getting an orthotic won't help much.

Although having your heel worn down that much might be an indication the orthotic might help something..

AND - I have to always recommend the best pain relief for my back (and any type of pain relief) has been acupuncture.

 

Hmm I haven't really been doing anything differently, it really is just a nagging injury I had done when I was younger basically, my sciatic areas play up with the discs down near my lumbar areas L3. They're either herniated or they bulge but it literally feels like I have no fluid between my discs and that's why every step hurts.

It's a come and go injury, I guess it flares when I do something wrong, just I don't know what to do right, I stretch and try and build around those back muscles but seems like the older I get the harder it is.

I can deal with the pain for now I just don't think I should have to do trying some different things now. I've bought compression mat around the places I'm always standing like on my garage floor.

The more I read though it sounds like this flat foot problem I'm getting where our feet we designed to absorb on soft ground but everywhere we walk these days is man made concrete and hard ground so my heel is flattening out on it. And that's what it feels like, that my heels is flattened and the harder skin around my heel almost seems to be warped a little bit, like you can see where or how my heel flesh is flattening.

 

You'll eventually want some custom fit orthotics, I think.

 

So far these aren't too bad. I feel slightly taller but I've been lazy and haven't done much this morning lol so haven't tested them out too much. Does feel like more support though.

 

They weren't too bad I can feel they helped and my heels weren't as sore as they would be after walking. They're a little small for my boots though and only it is like half an insert, just a foam pad for the heel and they aren't spurs like I thought apparently your heel is called a spur. I thought there'd be like rubber massaging spurs on it but nope I was way off.

So I'm going to get a full insert for my boots and use these for my flat shoes for a while and see about getting fitted for something more suited to my foot.

 

Heel Spurs are osteophytes...extra bony growths... People with heel spurs use cushioning pads in their shoes.


https://heelthatpain.com/heel-spur/

 

Oh ok. Well I haven't been diagnosed with that. But the cushions are nice. and like, okay my heels are bit sore still but I think that'll take a little while to calm down they're probably all swollen and sore tendants etc.

I did notice though that my lower back wasn't hurting while walking. like that jar and jolt wasn't there or as prominent anyways.

 

That's good!

I think the thing that works best for tendon pain is getting at the inflammation. Take some ibuprofen and try to stay off them a little more.


You had to pick a sport where you stand up on hard floors; didn't you???

:smash: