Best Fit in Running
Whether you are training for your tenth marathon or just taking a jog around the block, each stride a runner takes can cause quite an impact on the body, specifically on our feet. It's crucial to have the proper support and cushion in order to reduce fatigue and prevent running injuries. The combination of proper running technique, correct running shoes, and Surefoot Orthotics will provide the necessary support and cushion that our feet need.
Maximum Comfort
Ultimately, runners and walkers need to experience comfort to properly enjoy their sport. Surefoot Orthotics provide a mirror image of the underside of your foot in the strongest position for running. It is this mirror image that creates a more enjoyable running experience since the orthotic is supporting all of the ligaments, tendons, bones, and muscles in your foot. Surefoot Orthotics can be fabricated from several different densities and various top sheets. Different combinations of these materials can be used together according to your unique running needs.
Perfect Your Stride
Running shoes are designed to propel you from one step to the next. Unfortunately, the mechanics of our feet do not allow this to happen as efficiently as we would like. With each stride, the foot collapses to the inside resulting in fatigue and a longer gait cycle. Surefoot Orthotics support our feet and allow them to move through the gait cycle quicker. As we propel from one step to the other, the Surefoot Orthotic allows our stride to become more efficient. And as you may know, greater efficiency yields faster running times and more energy throughout your run.
Web Order Customers:
We now have the ability to provide the same comfort and performance that is offered by Surefoot Orthotics without leaving the comfort of your own home.
Have you ever walked on the beach and looked behind you to see perfect replicas of your footprints? This is the idea behind Surefoot’s foam impression boxes. The process is simple and starts once you have received our impression kit in the mail. Follow the straightforward instructions included in the box and your part of the process will be done in only a matter of minutes. Finally, place the foam impression kit back in the shipping box, apply the pre-paid return label, and send it back to us where we will complete the orthotics.
Once Surefoot receives your foam impression kit, we use digital scanners to convert your mold into an image that our milling machines can read. From there, we use the same process that customers experience when getting scanned in our stores. Surefoot’s CAD/CAM milling machines produce the orthotics in about thirty minutes. Your orthotics are then complete and will be shipped to you.
In-store customers:
1. Find a Store: Determine the Surefoot location that is most convenient for you. For a list of our world-wide locations, click here.
2. Customer Analysis: We start by gathering information about your history and participation in sports. We then analyze your feet, taking into account the nuances of tendons, muscles, ligaments and all 26 bones in each foot.
3. Orthotic Foot Scan: One of our technicians will then ask you to step on to one of our foot scanners. He/She will place your foot in a neutral stance, which is its strongest natural position. Using pressure-sensitive rubber pegs, your foot will be measured by a computer in 538 places. This produces a three-dimensional topographical “map’ of the bottom of your foot.
4. Altering the Orthotic to Your Activity: Once we have scanned the foot in the neutral position, the computer makes modifications to the orthotic depending on your preferred activity of participation. For example, the computer can perfectly place a metatarsal pad for bike shoes or decrease the orthotic’s arch a certain percentage for running shoes.
5. Fabrication: Using your personal computer-generated measurements, orthotics are milled out of EVA blanks on a three-axis CAD/CAM milling machine. This orthotic is then sealed with one of our non-slip Surefoot topsheets that best fits your shoe, body, and the activity that you wish to participate in.
6. The Results: In only thirty minutes, your Surefoot Orthotics will be placed in your athletic or daily footwear and are ready for use.
RUNNING INJURIES
It is an unfortunate truth that runners are susceptible to many injuries throughout their career. As a runner makes initial ground contact, their feet are designed to roll inward to disperse shock, resulting in pronation. The initial pronation is considered an important response to the recurring shock imposed upon the foot and is essential to propelling you forward. Pronation becomes an issue when a runner’s foot over-pronates or under-pronates as it results in the lower leg twisting inward as the foot goes through the gait cycle.
The most common types of running injuries are listed below:
IT Band Pain: Probably the most common type of knee pain associated with runners. It is a band that runs from the hip down to the outside of the leg and then connects to the outside of the knee. The pain occurs when the band rubs against the outside of the femur. The rubbing occurs because the lower leg twists in during each stride. The Surefoot Orthotics helps to relieve this pain by properly supporting the foot which then allows the lower leg to move straight forward during each stride.
Shin Splints: A very generic term for many injuries of the lower leg but usually refers to the inflammation of the muscle attached to the shin bone. Most often it’s not actually the bone that is bruised but is the inflammation that causes the pain that runners experience. Runners can normally tell the difference between stress fractures (result in pain during entire run) versus inflammation, which usually occurs at the beginning and after the run is over. Inflammation is often more common with beginner runners since their legs are not used to stretching and being stressed. Surefoot Orthotics are beneficial because the full length orthotics stabilizes the foot, which then controls the inward twisting of the lower leg.
Plantar Fasciitis: A thick band of tissue that runs from the base of the heel under the arch to each metatarsal head. Runners experience pain when the band stretches too far and small tears develop near the heel. Often, scar tissue develops near the tears and makes the problem even worse, often resulting in a small heel spur. Surefoot Orthotics provide cushion to the body and reduce the amount of stretching to the tissue by controlling pronation.
Achilles Tendonitis: Achilles tendon connects the two major calf muscles to the back of the heel bone. Often, the muscles tighten, putting too much strain on the tendon and overworking the tendon. This results in inflammation and possibly more damaging or dire situation of a partial and/or complete tear. Runners who over-pronote often develop this problem due to the lower leg twisting more than necessary. Surefoot Orthotics help to correct the over-pronation and twisting. This is not a good injury to ignore because it can result in a complete tear.
Runner’s Knee: Occurs from cartilage underneath the knee cap that is wearing away, resulting in bones that don’t move smoothly over each other. Runner’s Knee happens because of over-pronation and the leg twisting too much. Overtraining and incorrect or ill-fitting shoes are other reasons for runner’s knee to develop. Along with rest and exercise to strengthen the inside of the quads, Surefoot Orthotics help to support the foot through the gait cycle and decrease the amount of twisting of the lower leg.
In addition to the common injuries listed above, Surefoot Orthotics can help to alleviate or reduce the chance of back problems, Morton’s Neuroma, fallen metatarsal heads, heel spurs, and ankle injuries.