Formthotics – Custom Contoured Foot Support

Press, 10 July 1985, Page 38

Formthotics - Custom Contoured Foot Support

Formthotics for normal foot problems

(By a foot specialist) In nature, the ground is usually soft enough to conform to the foot. Some times, it is not: hard surfaces require the foot to accommodate them. The foot adapts to these unyielding surfaces by rolling inward, or pronating. In doing so, it becomes longer, wider, more flexible, and most notably, flatter. We speak of a pronated foot as a “flat foot.” Such a foot is not flat, it is trying to adapt to a flat surface, and is being deformed in the process. Pronation results in instability, malalignment of the foot and leg, and increased strain on the entire lower limb. In the process of becoming civilised, mankind has replaced the yielding and irregular walking surface of nature with pavement. Flat, hard, even surfaces are unusual in nature. They may be ideal for our wheels but they are bad for our feet. Such surfaces do not

allow the foot to function naturally The foot is constantly pronating in an attempt to adapt to the surface beneath it Perhaps, in time, we will develop feet like an elephant or a horse. In the meantime, this constant pronation results in flat, unstable, inefficiently functioning feet. Our feet are not abnormal even though they differ from each other. They are simply unique. It is the surface under our feet which caused the problems. These surfaces are unnatural and abnormal. They do not accept our feet or adapt to our feet. Even the soles of shoes are flat and hard. The continual strain of trying to adapt to this unnatural surface results in most foot problems, and also in damage to the structure of the leg. We have traded in our natural footprints for a multitude of aches and pains.

We have also created a situation in which the foot and leg are not properly aligned for efficient stability and function. Fortunately, a group of medical professionals known as podiatrists, or foot doctors, realised that many such difficulties could be cured by constructing a device, called an “orthotic,” to be worn in the shoe.

Unfortunately, they blamed the patient’s anatomy for his problems. Their theory was that people have “abnormalities” of the foot and leg causing excessive pronation, and that the orthotic treated these abnormalities of foot function.

In reality, it is not the patient but his environment that leads to the problem. Still, orthotics do work. They work because they produce an accurate “footprint” which can be worn in the shoe.

If the podiatrist is skilled and experienced, he can construct an acceptable

“footprint” of rigid, durable material, and the patient’s foot will, function quite naturally. Such orthotics are difficult to make and very expensive. Their effectiveness is limited by the position in which they are moulded and their suitability to the footwear in which they are worn.

Unfortunately, there are very few really skilled podiatrists, and many people have paid a high price for orthotics which do not suit them.

In developing Formthotics, Foot Science International approaches the problem from nature’s point of view. The material in these orthotics has been specifically formulated to have a density and texture similar to natural earth.

Design features which compensate for over-prona-tion in a natural way are machined into the footbed. These features facilitate the simultaneous imprinting of the contours of the foot and

alignment of the foot and. leg in the position of maximal efficiency and balance. Thousands of pairs have been used in the treatment of sports injuries and other problems. Small design changes and improved manufacturing methods now make it possible to offer, formthotics to the public through many outlets. Formthotics are simple looking and simple to use. This simplicity is the result of many hundreds of hours of thought, study, trial and error. -

Painstakingly built into each Formthotic are design features which virtually eliminate the need to modify it after fitting.

These features are sufficiently unique that effective patents or trademarks have been granted in many countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, Britain and Japap. The final fitting procedure involves heating the

material and forming a lasting, natural footprint in the footwear to be worn.

These footprints exert their desirable influences on the foot and leg with every step you take. Formthotics’ unique material provides precisely the right amount of resistance, give and stimulation to the sole of the foot for each activity from gentle walking to fullout running.

Formthotics are not for “abnormal” feet, although they do help and can be suitably modified by a podiatrist to correct congenital or acquired abnormalities like a club foot, or a foot which has been severely deformed by injury.

Formthotics are definitely for “normal” feel in an abnormal world. They are the only effective method available of replacing natural footprints in today’s footwear. All feet will function more naturally, more effec-

tively and more comfortably with Formthotics than without them. Ordinary people with ordinary feet will probably do as well in Formthotics as expensive orthotics, however, people with deformed or injured feet should definitely seek podiatric treatment.

Many leading New Zealand podiatrists routinely use Formthotics in their practices as a basis for temporary orthotics in the treatment of sports injuries. In such cases, the orthotic device is specifically constructed to direct load away from injured structures. Sports-medicine therapists

are the only people who can use inserts properly in treating injury. While Formthotics may help the symptoms of a sports injury and can be employed in self-treatment, the proper treatment and rehabilitation of injuries should be supervised by a qualified medical therapist.

We do not consider Formthotics to be a medical device. Formthotics are a necessary interface to facilitate normal, physiologically and anatomically efficient and healthy function in a manmade and hence, unnatural environment of flat, hard walking surfaces.