Orthotics and Arch Supports
Patients with low arches hypothetically have a reduced ability to absorb the forces resulting by the impact of a foot strike. The three most common in practice used certain mechanical corrections such as over-the-counter arch supports, custom orthotics, and arch taping. Orthotic and arch taping are significantly better than the use of cortisone injections, heel cups, and NSAIDs in a study case of randomized treatment for plantar fasciitis. Another study states that almost 2% of the patients with plantar fasciitis find arch taping as the best form of supportive treatment for them.
A single taping session is way less expensive than an over-the-counter orthotic or arch support. Taping provides transient support only with studies reflecting that as little as 24 minutes of physical activity can reduce the effectiveness of taping potentially. Arch taping can be a potential treatment or a trial to evaluate if the expense of orthotics or arch supports is actually worth the benefit or not. Taping might be more cost-effective for patients with an acute onset of the condition and orthotics or over-the-counter arch supports might be more economical for recurrent or chronic patients of plantar fasciitis to prevent injuries as well.
In case of athletes, arches must need retaping at least for every practice session or new game while an over-the-counter arch support typically lasts a full game season and a customized orthotic typically lasts for numerous seasons. Over-the-counter arch supports might be useful in case of patients with mild pes planus and acute plantar fasciitis. The support coming from over-the-counter arch supports highly varies and depends on the material in use to build the support. In general, patients must try to look for more dense material that is supportive enough to walk with comfortably.
Over-the-counter arch supports are specifically helpful in the treatment of adolescents having plantar fasciitis and whose rapid foot growth might need a new pair of shoes as well as the arch supports once or more every season. Moreover, custom orthotics are typically made by taking an impression or a plaster cast of a person’s foot and then making an insert specifically made to keep up with the mechanical risk factors such as discrepancies in leg length, valgus heel alignment, and pes planus. In case of plantar fasciitis patients, the most common prescription by doctors is for three-quarter to full-length, semi-rigid orthotics with longitudinal arch support.
However, the two major characteristics for a successful treatment plant for plantar fasciitis with the help of orthotics is the need to control metatarsal head motion and over-pronation, specifically of the first metatarsal head. According to a study on orthotics, 27% of the plantar fasciitis patients consider it the best treatment to ease the symptoms. The main disadvantage of orthotics is the expensive, which might range from 75 to 300 dollars or even more and most often the health insurance does not cover its cost.