Medical

Welcome to the "Balance You" line of arch supports. A medical-only version of our balance support range.

Foot orthoses are used in adjunct to standard medical care of patients with foot and lower limb problems including pronated foot, plantar heel pain, rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, or hallux valgus. They are intended to alter the function of the joints of the foot and lower limb during weight bearing activities including standing, walking or running, to reduce pain and improve the function of the foot and quality of life. Global demand of foot orthoses has dramatically increased over the past years and the market is estimated to reach $US 3.5 billion by 2020.

Podiatrists favour the use of custom made orthotics ,however the research around custom versus prefabricated orthotics has not justified the considerable cost passed onto a patient for prefabricated orthosis;

A keystone 2008 systematic review by Hawkes et al⁽¹⁾ found no difference in effectiveness between a custom made or prefabricated orthotic and a recent follow-up 2019 review by Tran et al⁽²⁾ confirmed these findings with evidence showing no difference between custom-made and prefabricated foot orthoses for pain reduction or functional improvement after short-term (6 weeks), medium-term (12 weeks) and long-term (12 months) treatment in adult patients with plantar heel pain.

(1) Hawke F, Burns J, Radford JA, du Toit V. Custom-made foot orthoses for the treatment of foot pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008(3):Cd006801

(2) Tran K, Spry C. Custom-Made Foot Orthoses versus Prefabricated foot Orthoses: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness. Ottawa (ON): Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2019 Sep 23