I would be interested to hear what everyone thinks about which type of running shoe you should wear your orthotics in. I have chronic PF (now improving) and during the last couple of years have been to 4 podiatrists…….2 said I should wear the orthotic in a neutral shoe and that the orthotic does all the work and the other 2 said I should not be wearing them in a neutral shoe but in a shoe that supports my high arches and over pronation so that the shoe assists the orthotic.

Your views would be most welcome.

CJ

I can't answer that - but as a fellow high-arched-pf-sufferer, would be interested in the responses you get.

Hi CJ,

I just got orthotics for planta fasciitis and my podiatrist advised me to get a "straight last" running shoe. If asked to guess, I would say that was a neutral show. The running shop that I now go to sold me a Brooks Dyad. They felt great from day 1 and are still good after 450km.

I guess though it might depend on how the orthotic is constructed.

Cheers,

PS.

I also wear the orthotics in work shoes, casual shoes, motor bike boots and fire brigade boots. This other footwear would be neutral and therefore I would agree with the neutral running shoe option.

You really need to see your current shoes with orthotics in slow-mo filmed running. Your podiatrist should have done this.

Only mild overpronators can get away with a neutral shoe under their orthotics. Heavy pronators will crush the medial side of a neutral shoe (and often moderate control shoes such as 21xx,Kayano, Trance, Adrenalin, almost everything made by Mizuno), even with an orthotic on top. Got hours of footage of lots of people doing this. One guy had the ASICS Foundation with a severe DCWedge (SEVERE varus)orthotic on top and he still crushed it right over in about 2 months and his symptoms returned.

Basically, you need to be filmed running at full speed with your current shoes/orthotics before anyone can give you an informed opinion. Standing/walking over a force plate, while pretty and high in the bedazzlement factor, doesn't help much.

I two have had conflicting answers from different podiatrists, I have had the same orthotics in about 6 different shoes. Neutral, stability, different brands, ran without the orthotics, nothing seemed to work. A lot of money spent I started to look at myself, if it was in fact me and how I was running. I had suffered with shin pain for about 3 years and always thought it was because I rolled in too much, which is why I needed orthotics, but neutral shoes were not enough so I was also wearing stability shoes, but then I was getting a lot of other muscle complaints from this...

Doing a bit of research I found that I was hitting the ground too hard when landing on my heel, which was causing the shin pain. So I decided and was suggested by a pod to change my running style to midfoot strike. Presto, shin pain no more, plus I didn’t need the orthotics and bought a pair of Newton shoes which are designed for midfoot strike. It was a long road though, I had to do heaps of calf raises, glute work, and had the sorest calves, but in the end, my shin pain has disappeared and my running times have improved.

So I guess it’s not just the shoe and orthotics, but also what you are doing

This thread and another need to be merged as they both start with the same post.

I agree with Andy that the big problem is neutral shoes not supporting the orthotic. You might as well not have an orthotic in that case because it often can not do what it is supposed to do. The more controlling an orthotic is the quicker it will destroy a neutral shoe.