Custom orthotics - pain worse than ever?

Hannaho

Hi! I bought custom orthotics from an orthosist with supposedly 20 years eperience. I paid e350 for them and a week later the pain is worse - my knees are killing me and I'm finding it difficult to drive. When I rang him this morning he was very dismissive, and said I could have pain for months while I get used to them!! When I picked up my orthotics I brought my daughter along, she's 13 - he said she had worse feet than mine, and a lordosis of her spine, and tight hamstrings, but wouldn't prescribe her anything as she was seeing Prof. Damien McCormack, one of Ireland's leading orthopaedic specialists a few days later. Prof. McCormack said that my daughter absolutely did not have a lordosis and their was nothing wrong with her feet and their alignment, though she did have tight hamstrings (on this count the orthsist was right) due to how quickly she was growing and this led to back pain. Have I been had? Is this a usual experience with orthotics? Are orthotics a waste of money?

jlm29

Hannaho wrote: »

Hi! I bought custom orthotics from an orthosist with supposedly 20 years eperience. I paid e350 for them and a week later the pain is worse - my knees are killing me and I'm finding it difficult to drive. When I rang him this morning he was very dismissive, and said I could have pain for months while I get used to them!! When I picked up my orthotics I brought my daughter along, she's 13 - he said she had worse feet than mine, and a lordosis of her spine, and tight hamstrings, but wouldn't prescribe her anything as she was seeing Prof. Damien McCormack, one of Ireland's leading orthopaedic specialists a few days later. Prof. McCormack said that my daughter absolutely did not have a lordosis and their was nothing wrong with her feet and their alignment, though she did have tight hamstrings (on this count the orthsist was right) due to how quickly she was growing and this led to back pain. Have I been had? Is this a usual experience with orthotics? Are orthotics a waste of money?

Orthotics in general are definitely not a waste of money when prescribed right. In general custom orthotics work very well. I've never come across orthotics that worsened pain significantly when broken in properly. Did you go straight to wearing them all the time, or was it explained to you that you need to gradually increase the amount of time spent wearing them?

Aimeee

As mentioned above did you wear them all day long right away or an hour a day, working upto full day?
It took weeks for me to adjust to mine, hated them a lot, but tbh I think they did the job.

TracyWills

Orthotics is not a waste of money when it is prescribe correctly.

El_Duderino 09

In what kind of shoes are you using the orthotics? Orthotics should be used in shoes with neutral support. If you put them in shoes with extra support then you're messing with the prescription

Clearlier

That's a pretty shocking experience actually especially from an orthotist. I had a lot of bad experiences until I went to an orthotist. The first ones he prescribed for me did give me pain but he adjusted and adjusted them until they didn't. I probably went back 7 or 8 times in the end. I'd be pestering him until I had a solution that I was happy with.

Hannaho

Thanks everyone. Yes, I wore them as directed - have them 10 days now. I didn't know that you should always wear them with neutral support shoes - I have professional shoes for work that have extra suppors

El_Duderino 09

Hannaho wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Yes, I wore them as directed - have them 10 days now. I didn't know that you should always wear them with neutral support shoes - I have professional shoes for work that have extra suppors

I should say that I'm not an expert so don't take my word for it but definitely ask or bring your shoes in and ask make sure.

I remember experiencing pain in my arch ankles and knees for a while but it's hard to remember how bad it was. Hope it works out