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September 21, 2005
New orthotics
Today I had some new orthotic inserts finished. The three primary differences with these are the soft heel center to allow shock absorption in my shoes more than my feet, the built up area behind the balls of the feet to rotate more weight beyond the balls of the feet onto the toes, and the raised right heel to equalize total leg length.
The podiatrist reminded me that I need to get used to them gradually, so I might not run in them right away. I don't have any runs shorter than 8 km (5 mi) until mid October though so I'll try them for that length next Monday. My hope is to be able to use them in earnest starting next week which is a step back week.
The podiatrist molded these inserts right onto my feet. He heated the basic orthotic assembly on a machine that pulls them together as they heat by vacuum pressure. Then he puts the orthotic inside a plastic bag, ties that onto the foot, positions everything, and has a tube to generate a vacuum inside the bag. You wear the warm othotic until it cools in the shape of your foot. After that he finishes the job, cutting, grinding, adding the raised heel, and so forth.
So far they feel okay, but I've only walked around the office and home for a couple of hours.
Posted by Mark at September 21, 2005 08:42 PM
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