orthotics

Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes

How Custom Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes
How Custom Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes 724 464 Ace Health Centre

The Lifesaving Support: How Custom Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes

Diabetes is a complex medical condition that affects millions of people worldwide. While managing blood sugar levels is a primary concern, diabetes also brings a host of potential complications, particularly for the feet. Foot problems are common among individuals with diabetes, but there’s a powerful ally that can make a significant difference in their overall foot health: custom foot orthotics.

Understanding the Diabetes-Foot Connection

Diabetes can damage nerves (neuropathy) and reduce blood flow to the feet. This combination can result in reduced sensation, making it challenging to detect injuries or blisters. Additionally, poor blood circulation can lead to slow wound healing, which increases the risk of infection. It’s a perfect storm for foot problems, ranging from minor annoyances like corns and calluses to severe conditions like ulcers and even amputations.

The Role of Custom Foot Orthotics

Custom foot orthotics, also known as orthopedic insoles or diabetic insoles, are specially designed shoe inserts tailored to an individual’s unique foot shape and gait. Here’s how they can be a game-changer for people with diabetes:

1. **Pressure Redistribution:** Custom foot orthotics are crafted to distribute pressure evenly across the foot, reducing the risk of high-pressure points that can lead to calluses, ulcers, and wounds. This is critical for individuals with diabetes who may have compromised sensation and are less likely to notice these issues.

2. **Arch Support:** Many people with diabetes develop flat feet or other structural problems. Custom orthotics provide essential arch support, reducing strain on the feet and ankles and improving overall comfort.

3. **Shock Absorption:** These insoles are designed to absorb shock and reduce the impact on the feet during walking or other activities. This is crucial for preventing injuries and reducing discomfort, especially for those with neuropathy.

4. **Accommodating Deformities:** For individuals with foot deformities or irregularities caused by diabetes, such as Charcot foot, custom orthotics can be designed to accommodate and support these unique conditions, aiding in stability and balance.

5. **Preventing Complications:** By reducing pressure, improving support, and enhancing comfort, custom orthotics play a significant role in preventing common diabetes-related foot complications, including diabetic neuropathy and ulcer formation.

6. **Improved Mobility:** Comfortable and properly aligned feet encourage individuals with diabetes to remain active and engage in regular physical activity, which is crucial for managing blood sugar levels and overall health.

Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes

Foot Orthotics Help People with Diabetes

The Process of Getting Custom Foot Orthotics

Obtaining custom foot orthotics typically involves a series of steps:

1. **Assessment:** A healthcare provider, often a podiatrist, assesses the patient’s foot and gait to identify specific needs and any existing issues.

2. **Scanning:** The provider takes a digital scan of the patient’s feet to create a precise model for the orthotics.

3. **Custom Design:** The orthotics are then custom-designed to address the patient’s unique requirements, such as pressure points, arch support, and foot deformities. This is done via CAD-CAM software.

4. **Fitting:** Once the orthotics are ready, they are fitted into the patient’s shoes to ensure a proper fit and comfort.

Conclusion

Custom foot orthotics are invaluable tools in the fight against diabetes-related foot problems. They provide crucial support, reduce pressure, and enhance comfort, all of which are essential for preventing complications and maintaining mobility. For individuals with diabetes, investing in custom foot orthotics is an investment in their long-term foot health and overall well-being. These simple inserts can make a world of difference, helping individuals with diabetes step confidently on their journey to better health.

 

Contact us today if you have diabetes to get your custom foot orthotics.

Heel Pain in Children

Custom orthotics for severs disease
Custom orthotics for severs disease 600 400 Ace Health Centre

Custom orthotics for severs disease

Custom orthotics are widly used for severs disease. If done right they can have a great effect in help reduce pain in in childrens feet, alowing them to continue doing exercise and walking with less if not no pain.

Severs disease is growing pains in the heel of kids feet. It mostly occurs in in children aged 9-13. Although they will eventually grow out of it, it can be debilitating at times. The pain can make children avoid speding time on their feet, doing sport and activities. Keeping chrildren active, moving and therefore happy is the main objective. Nobody in pain and avoiding the activies they love is happy.

Orthotic prescription

When prescribing orthotics for sever there a a few things that we aim todo.

  1. To start, we are aiming to take pressure away from the heel area. This is done by providing adequate arch support. The more weight we can redistrobute away from the heel the less pain that they will experience.
  2. The next is providing extra cushiong. Hard floors and vibrating increase pain, and so adding extra lawyers of cushing can reduce pain.
  3. Adding a heel lift helps reduce pull of the achillies on the heel. This is done via footwear that have a heel pitch built in. The orthotics under the heel also add a slight heel lift to reduce pain.
  4. Pronation can cause strain on the heel. The foot rolling inward causes the calf muslce to pull on the heel bone. The orthotics can be used to reduce pronations to help reduce pain.
  5. Soft top covers on the orthotics can help further add cushioning.

We commonly use Custom orthotics for severs and found them much more effective than off the shelf ones. This is due to the range of customisation we have to aim the orthotics at the child at hand. Having the right support, the right arch height, the right amount of chsioning to maximises the effects of the orthotics. They are also much more durable than over the counter products.

If your child is experiencing heel pain then give us a call today to see how custom orthotics can help them.

 

Blog written by Mike, Podiatrist

Custom orthotics for hypermobility

Custom orthotics for hypermobility
Custom orthotics for hypermobility 804 750 Ace Health Centre

Custom orthotics for hypermobility

Custom orthotics are widely used for symptomatic hypermobility. This occurs in adults and children. Hypermobility is widely genetic. Passed down from parents to children. There are also other types of hypermobilty which are genetic abnormalities such as marfams, or Ehlers danlos syndrome.

Joint range of motion

Joint have a range of motion that is whithin normal limits. Hypermobilty is when these joints move much further than they should do. For example. The big toe joint is meant to have aprox 45 degess for walking and up to around 60 degress. More than 90 degress is considered abnormal and hypermobile. The are a few different tests that you can do in order to see how flexable you really are. The main tests are done under the beightons scale for hypermobility.

Here are examples of a few test that are used in order to diagnose your level of hypermobiltiy.

  • Bend forward and place your hands flat on the floor without bending your knees.
  • Straighten your elbows past a neutral position (hyperextend) (one point for each elbow).
  • Straighten your knees past a neutral position (hyperextend) (one point for each knee).
  • Bend your pinky (little) fingers back beyond 90 degrees (one point for each finger).
  • Bend your thumbs back to touch your forearms (one point for each thumb).

The Orthotics

The orthotics that this client has been made for has been suffering from aching legs, feet, knees and loweer back. When a joint it hypermobile it becomes very unstable. This instubility requires your muscles to work overtime in order stablise the joint. This results in fatique and aching.

Custom orthotics are commonly used for hypermobilty to help stabalise the feet which can help in reduceing overuse. This in turns helps reduce the aching and fatique.The orthotics are only as good as the shoes that they are put into. This is why it is important for the podiatrist to give footwear recomendations that are suitable to put the orthotics into.

If you think that you are hypermobile and experience aching feet or legs then book in with our podiatrist today.

 

Blog written by Mike, Podiatrist

ACE Custom made Insoles. 3d orthotics

Welcome to your new custom orthotics
Welcome to your new custom orthotics 1000 667 Ace Health Centre

Welcome to your new custom orthotics

Thank you for purchasing your new custom orthotics from Ace Health Centre. Here’s all of the information you will need about them. It details how your custom orthotics are prescribed, designed, manufactured, and what to expect.

Did you know it takes your podiatrist over an hour of extra work after your consult to finish your orthotics?

How your orthotics are prescribed

 

Your orthotics are prescribed from a mix of –

  • your injury
  • your flexibility
  • your posture
  • your alignment in your feet, knees hips and back
  • your weight
  • your shoes
  • your sport or activity
  • your medical history such as being diabetic
  • your blood flow to your feet
  • your nerves and feeling in your feet
  • your balance
  • history of other injuries
  • muscle strength
  • corns or callous
  • and more…

Orthotics prescription and design

When prescribing orthotics there are many different things that a podiatrist can do design-wise. The prescription itself will be determined from the assessment.

Your podiatrist will then have done a 3D scan of your feet. The 3D scan provides a base model of your feet giving them your base arch heights, foot length and widths.

The custom orthotics are then designed via computer software by your podiatrist after the consult. It takes a lot of time and practice to be able to use compete software to design up an orthotic to know how it will end up after being 3D printed. The software helps aid with consistency of the product being produced and is far more accurate than other methods of orthotic manufacture.

Every podiatrist will prescribe slightly different meaning you could go to 10 different podiatrists and get 10 different orthotics designs and prescriptions. The goal though will always be the same. The main difference is that many podiatrists get other companies to do computer design for them. At Ace, we do all of the computer design ourselves. Did you know Mike, our podiatrist does design work for other podiatry clinics around Australia as well in his spare time?

3D printing

Once your orthotics have been designed by computer the file is then sent to a 3D printer. The 3D printer is an industrial-size printer that prints around 30-50 sets of orthotics in one go. It cannot just print singles. It prints by laying down layers of very fine powder in microns and then heats the powder to fuse it in specific places. The printing process takes around 24-36 hours in total. The orthotics are then removed from the printer, sandblasted to remove any excess powder, and then washed. The orthotics are printed using an HP MJF 4200 using PA11 nylon material. This material is also eco-friendly and 3D printing minimises waste material.

Covering

Once the 3D-printed shell has arrived back at the clinic it’s time to cover the orthotics. This is all done via your podiatrist by hand. The covers that your orthotics will is decided by your podiatrist from your consultation. This is determined by factors such as – your activity, the shoes you will wear them in, your weight, your medical history, your injury and more. There are many different materials available. Covers on orthotics can be replaced if you ever want to give your orthotics a little TLC.

Fitting

Once the orthotics have been completed, our reception team will give you a call to arrange a fitting appointment. Your orthotics are always made slightly big for your shoes and require trimming up to ensure a good fit.

It’s important to remember that your orthotics are only as good as the shoes they are being put into. This means that although putting them into flat soft or flexible shoes will be much better than nothing at all, fitting them into a good supportive stable shoe will give much better results. Your podiatrist should have discussed footwear with you in the consult and possibly given you recommendations for shoes that your custom orthotics will work best in.

If you do require new shoes we recommended purchasing them before your fitting appointment. This way your podiatrist can check the fitting of the shoes, make sure the shoe is correct, and fit the orthotics into the shoes.

When fitting an enclosed lace-up shoe we usually recommended fitting them by – putting both shoes on, lacing the shoes up properly, standing up, and having a fingers width between the end of your longest toe and the end of the shoe. We also suggest being able to pick a small amount of fabric across the widest part of your forefoot. This ensures that the orthotics will fit the shoes, and will provide a more comfortable experience. It is always best to go shoe shopping at the end of the day when your feet are maximally swollen and expanded. This will give you a much better idea of fit and comfort.

For people that do spend a lot of time on their feet, it is sometimes beneficial to purchase 2 pairs of shoes and alternate them daily. The foam in the soles of shoes can take 24 – 48 hours to fully recover and expand back out. This means that having that rest day helps them last longer, maintaining more support and cushioning.

Shoes do have a lifespan. If you are in your shoes for 8 hours per day we recommended getting new shoes every 6-8 months. Just because the top looks ok doesn’t mean the foam is. We also recommended replacing shoes after having them for 1.5 years as the foam and glues in the shoes start to degrade. This means the shoes will not provide the same support and cushion as they once did when new.

Your orthotics may not fit every shoe but may be able to fit between shoes that are the same size. Just take out the original insole that is in your shoe and replace it with your custom orthotics

What to expect

Everybody is very different in the way their body reacts to orthotics. The orthotics as often designed to hold/guide your feet in a certain position. This means that different muscles will be used while wearing them. These muscles can take time to adjust. For that reason, we ask you to pay attention to your body. Aches or pains for up to the first 4 weeks are normal. If you experience this we suggest taking the orthotics out, putting the original insoles from the shoes back in, and then starting to use the orthotics again the next day.

Reviews

After the fitting appointment, we book you for a 3-4 week orthotics review. This review session is to see how you are getting on with them. Making sure you are happy, they are comfortable, and they are doing their job. If there are any issues at this stage the orthotics can be modified when needed. Things such as arch heights, cushioning, support, flexibility and more can be changed. Just like anything custom it can be changed and modified as needed. For the first 3 months reviews are done without any out-of-pocket cost.

If you are experiencing issues where you are not able to wear your custom orthotics due to pain we recommended calling up for a review appointment and coming in sooner.

We recommended having your orthotics reviewed every 12 months. This is due to changes within your body that may affect your orthotics prescription. This can be anything from strength, flexibility sensation, blood flow and more. You may also have a new injury or issues that the orthotic needs to be aimed at that may require a change in prescription again. Your orthotic shell may also become more flexible over time meaning it will provide less support. These changes may mean an update in your orthotics prescription.

If you need anything or have any questions please contact us here, or book here. 

 

What is arthritis?

Treatment for arthritis
Treatment for arthritis 722 406 Ace Health Centre

Treatment for arthritis

There are many different treatments for arthritis. We run through a few here.

Massage

As stated before massage can be a great way of suppressing pain and stiffness symptoms associated with OA. When arthrits is present the muscles con contract to help protect the joint. This can also increase pain. Relaxing these muscles can help reduce pain and increase mobility in the joint. Unfortunately, this is only short term until the body starts to guard or protect itself again.

Bracing treatment for arthritis

Bracing is a term used for adding support ot the area to reduce movement. As movement can cause pain reducing this help reduce the pain. On the downside, bracing can cause the joint can stiffen as it is not being used as much. This reduced mobility can mean that when it’s not braced it can be more painful. Bracing is good for the short term to help give the joint a break and reduce inflammation but isn’t always the best long-term option.

Custom orthotics

Custom orthotics work extremely well for arthritis. Not just in the feet, but are also very effective for the knees, and hips and can be for the lower back as well. They do this by redistributing pressure, changing ground reaction forces and changing the angles of the legs and feet. They can help reduce movement where needed, open up joint spaces, provide cushioning and more.

Strengthening

Usually, when it comes to people that have OA they are typically older; have had more stress placed on their joints and are also weaker. This means that they will typically need lots of strengthening. We need to target the most important. Physical assessments from physiotherapists allow the best and most specific exercise prescription to occur, thus allowing the most improvements within the shortest period and easy to manage for clients.

Injections

There are many different types of injections available for arthritis. A few include prolotherapy, Synvisc, cortisone, and local anaesthetic. At the clinic, our podiatrists perform local anesthetic injections into arthritis of the big toe and perform mobilisation. This helps free up the joint, increases mobility and breaks down some of the arthritis. This requires a few weekly appointments. Together with orthotics, this is extremely effective in reducing pain and increasing mobility in the joint.

Other treatments may include Surgery, anti-inflammatories, footwear, custom orthotics, mobilisation, heat, pain medication and more

If you are interested in seeing how we can help you contact our clinic today for more information.

What's custom about your custom orthotics?

What’s custom about your custom orthotics?
What’s custom about your custom orthotics? 1920 1001 Ace Health Centre

What’s custom about your custom orthotics?

Many people receive their custom orthotics thinking that they looks like something they could have just purchased for a lot less from the chemist. This is defiantly not the case. The same as glasses from the chest look the same as glasses from the options but both are very different. Each sense is made to each eye, just like orthotics are designed for each foot. Each glass frame is tailored to each persons use for example reading glasses will be different to sports glasses. Orthotics are the same, each is tailored to the activity you want to use them for and the shoes they are going into. If they were that simple podiatrists wouldn’t spend 4 years learning how to to prescribe them.

We thought we would just name a few things that we can tailor but remember that this is only a shorted list of everything that can be done.

The arch height

This is an obvious one. The arch height is tailored to your feet. Depending how much the podiatrists wants your foot to move and how much pressure they want to redistribute to other parts of your foot. This can be based on your injury, your foot flexibility, the shoes that you wear and more.

Custom widths

The widths of the orthotics heel and forefoot will help control your foot. Your foot needs to sit in the heel of your orthotics to  help guide it. If it is too small it will dig into your foot. if its too large you’re foot will roll around on it. We also need to keep in mid of fitting it into the shoe. Too wide and it won’t fit. Your foots width change from non weight bearing to weight bearing. The podiatrist needs to work out how much and what shoe it will go into to decide the widths.

Custom angles

Podiatrists can chose what angles we put your foot at. This means the heel or foot forefoot angle can be tailored. So if your foot collapses inwards an angle is put on to roll it outwards, and if your foot rolls outward an angle may be put on to make it roll inwards. These angle are dependant on your injury, flexibility, structure of your lower limb and more.

Extra padding

If you need extra padding in places the podiatrist can decide where it needs it and what material to use. Usually if something is so you will need padding around the area and not under the area. This is to take pressure away from the sore area. There are lots of different ways todo this and lots of different materials that have different properties to decide from

The material

Orthotics can be made from many different materials. EVA in many different densities, carbon fibre, pa12 nylon, pa11 nylon, poly propylene to name just a few. Each material has different properties and can be altered in many different ways. Podiatrists need to know what to use and when.

The thickness / flexibility

This is one of the most important factors when prescribing orthotics. The thickness of the orthotic will be one of the main properties to determine how flexible the orthotic is. Thing that will factor into this is the persons weight, flexibility, foot arch height, extra additions on the orthotics that affect the flex, the injury, the severity of the injury, the activity its being used for and more. This is usually changed in increments of 0.1mm

These are just the basic points of what can be done to customise your orthotics. The is a lot more you can do to change the design. Most designing is not done via 3d cad cam engineering software. Orthotics are then 3D printed using machines that cost upwards of $700k. These machines have a high accuracy and product a stable, durable product. Cheaper 3D printers do not yet have a material that can produce a product with the same strength and flex charactoristics.

 

If you want to get some new orthotics or have any other questions please contact us today on 0755726222 or book online.

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