Dr. Scholls and Smart Feet – What’s the Difference?

So your feet hurt, and you want to buy some arch supports, or something to alleviate the pain. Your ankles, and shins, and knees, and hips or even your back and shoulders are feeling it! You've already bought everything on the rack at the drugstore, and about a dozen different pairs of shoes! You want to know "What's the difference between this one I'm wearing and the ones I bought at the drugstore. They look pretty much the same. It's just a piece of plastic, right?"

So what IS the difference?

The first thing we have to consider is, what is an arch support anyway? Are those things in the grocery store arch supports? The answer is no. A padded cushion, whether it's made of rubber or has a really cool blue gel in a transparent bubble is not an arch support. It's a cushion. It pads your foot and is an additional cushion to the one already provided in some shoes. Your shoes will feel softer with new cushions in them and you may feel some form of relief - if all you need is a little more cushioning. More often than not, however, they just crowd your shoe.

Did you know that your foot has four arches? Supporting your "arch" is more complicated than it appears. Suppose you did find an actual arch support. What is the function of that particular kind of support? Is it addressing the problem part of your foot? How would you know, except that you get it home and find out it doesn't work? How do you know what size to buy? With arch supports there are at least 2 sizes to consider: Your arch size and your shoe size. Do you know the difference and how it relates to the arch support?

How many times have you spent ten or forty dollars on something that looked like a good idea - but you had to buy it to try it! (And why are you still looking, still trying to solve the same problem?)

Remember, there are four arches in each of your feet. Each of them has a different job to do and is subject to different strains and pressures. When one of them gets worn out or can no longer do the task it's responsible for, it affects the way you stand, walk, run and move around. It can cause pain in your heel, the ball of your foot, your ankles, shins, knees, hip or back. Unsupported arches can contribute to bunions, shin splints, heel spurs, flat feet, bowlegs, and on and on. They can make you tire faster, kill your enthusiasm for any kind of activity that means getting up and walking, and increase your chances of falling.

To get the right arch support for your feet, you need to have your feet and your arches measured. Buying and wearing the wrong size can result in more pain than what drove you to buy arch supports in the first place. How long has it been since you had your feet measured, anyway?