What are Custom Orthotics?

Orthotics are medical devices customized to fit the exact form and contours of your feet and are able to fit inside your regular shoes. The inserts are constructed from durable materials to provide optimal support, distribute body weight properly, and correct faulty biomechanics, like issues you may have with your gait.

More specifically, these inserts are prescribed for effective: 

• Alignment of your feet.
• Balance restoration and optimal foot positioning when you stand or move.
• Improvement with regard to biomechanical functioning of your feet and lower legs.
• Pressure relief from specific areas of your feet that may be causing pain or discomfort. 
• Prevention of foot deformity or the worsening of an existing condition.

The amount of physical stress we place on our lower extremities—even from simply walking around and performing daily activities—is tremendous. According to The New York Times, feet support a cumulative force equal to several hundred tons during an average day. If you have biomechanical abnormalities, all of this force can have a tremendous effect on your feet. Custom orthotics can help control motion irregularities and redistribute force loads more consistently.

Made Specifically For Your Unique Feet

You may see inserts at the store and think they are the same as what we offer, but those mass-produced devices should, at best, only be used for providing additional cushioning or extra arch support. When you come to our office, however, you will undergo a thorough evaluation from our team. They will diagnose any underlying foot condition you may have and determine the best course of treatment. 

Depending on your foot or ankle problem, level and type of activity, gait analysis, and biomechanics of your feet, orthotics could be a beneficial treatment option. When this is the case, we make a mold of your foot to create inserts that fit every unique contour and will minimize stress forces for you. We use a range of materials to effectively achieve treatment objectives.

Advanced Orthotics for the Modern Age 

At Crown Foot and Ankle, we know how valuable the right pair of orthotics can be for someone who is in pain. That’s why we’re proud to provide genuinely modern orthotics based on the latest scientific understanding of biomechanics, using the incredible Go 4-D 3D scanning and 3D printing platform for our custom orthotics.

At most podiatry clinics, when you are prescribed a custom orthotic, the doctor will probably make you stand in a foam box (which is a very inaccurate means of “casting”) or make a plaster cast for your foot. Those impressions will then be sent to a lab to be manufactured, before arriving a couple of weeks later. These methods haven’t changed much in decades.  Don’t get us wrong—custom orthotics made this way are still going to do a much better job than over-the-counter insoles. 

The Go 4-D system we are now using is a high-tech alternative that offers massive advantages over the “old school” methods of casting, ordering, adjusting, and fitting custom orthotics. 

What Is Go 4-D? 

Go 4-D is a high-tech orthotics fitting and fabrication system that harnesses modern laser scanning, data collection, and 3D printing technology to provide faster, better results for our patients. 

Precise measurements of your feet are made using a sophisticated 3D scanner and gait plate, which not only gives us precise figures for the dimensions of your feet but also (crucially) tells us exactly how weight and pressure are distributed across the soles of your feet while standing and while walking.  

Those precise measurements are then loaded into a sophisticated 3D printer, which can make your custom devices using an innovative biomechanical lattice design. We know—those probably just sound like buzzwords, but in simple terms, it means that the orthotics offer a combination of lightweight construction, flexible support, and durability that’s almost impossible to achieve using traditional manufacturing methods.

Custom-made orthotics allow your feet to function at their highest potential and move in a manner that results in healthy, pain-free feet.