Insoles advice.please.

crx===

Does anyone here have advice on whether I should ditch my insoles. To put things in perspective I started running about 3 years ago and had an imbalance in my foot and was over pronating leading to serious iliotibial band band pain. The physiotherapist recommended excersise and insole support so I bought Dr.Foot sport insoles which the physiotherapist corrected to suit my arch. They worked well running but I also used them in my everyday shoes also. This year I have no pain and stretch regularly, my distance is up to 24km runs and up to about 60km per week, but I now find my legs tire easily and I get tendon pain above my knee, and in my groin area. Could this be due to the fact my adjustment from support in the running shoe is counter acted by normal everyday support in my normal work shoe, and therefore putting muscles under pressure running.My distance gain was less than 10% per 2 weeks.I can do 10k in 39-40 min and have no issues with shorter distance. Does anyone think running without support is worth a try? My shoes are asics gt3000.
Thanks.

ecoli

My advice would be to get re assessed. Without going into medical advice often it can actually be the other way around (i.e the iliotibial band issue or to be more specific your glute medius can have an impact on the pronation of your foot)

My advice would be to get assessed for you glute medius strength as well as a biomechanical assessment just to be sure you needed the orthotics in the first place. If nothing else it will put your mind at ease that you do in fact need them or will confirm that you don't.

crx===

Thanks for the advice, the physiotherapist has said my glute medius are weak and I have being doing clam exercises to try strengthen them. I will get my gait reassessed next week.
It is as if muscle groups are working against each other over longer runs due to some imbalance.

ChickenBalls

I actually thought I was reading a thread that I posted! I have exactly the same conditions as yourself. I got orthotics made for me via physio scanning my foot quite a number of years ago and I still have them to this day. They were quite hard to run in at the start but got use to them quickly enough - I use them both day to day and training (mainly on the grass).

For races I don't use them I have Kayano's for the support (recently ordered a pair of Nike Eclipse as the arch support is supposed to be slightly higher). As you've said yourself the glutes are the weak spot and the clam exercise is very good (I assume your using a terra band) - I also perform squats to strengthen the gluts plus that knee to groin pain your having is more than likely weak VMOs - I had this issue last week while out on the bike training for wicklow200. I actually got it a few years back running and the physio gave me a simple glut/VMO exercise - squat with your back against the wall and activate/clench your glutes, this activates the VMO muscles to help strengthen them; hold for 20/30 secs when you stand up you'll feel the burn! - you can do this exercise almost anywhere (video here on something similar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5BDi8Oj5eM)

One last tip on the gluts, because it's the biggest muscle in our bodies it's the hardest to loosen up - I have a trigger point foam roller that I swear by but for the gluts it works to a certain degree for me so instead of that I've moved on to a golf ball inside a sock which is sore but does the job. Try that or even a Sliotar or medicine ball. I'd also look into doing yoga, being doing it for nearly 2 years now and helps a lot.

As ecoli says thou, I'd get re-asessed to be 100% sure.

crx===

Only got to read your post now, thanks for the advice, will defiantly try the VMO excersise. Ran Sunday with no insoles & feeling great afterwards, no tight aching. Need to give a trip to the physo to reassess.

fluff_daddy

'golf ball inside a sock' sweet jesus :O

Are any of the arch supports in chemists or sports shops any use?