What do orthotics and knee arthritis have to do with one another? The concept that how your foot hits the ground changes what happens in your knee is one that most physicians ignore, but most podiatrists embrace. If you take a minute now to perform a simple experiment, you’ll understand why podiatrists have thought this for decades. Put your hand on the front of the knee and make sure your fingers extend just well below your knee cap. Now rotate the sole of your foot inwards and outwards as shown (not side to side). You should notice quite a bit of motion of the tibia (the bottom knee bone). So how your foot is positioned does seem to modify the position of the knee bones. So what does this have to do with knee arthritis? The position of your foot when walking may place more or less pressure on certain parts of the knee. Is there any research? Turns out the answer is yes. This month a paper was published that used a computer technique to see if placing a lateral wedge in the shoe would help patients with medial knee arthritis. The lateral insoles did help reduce force on the inside of the knee. A second study published this month tested customized orthotics with the same lateral build-up and found reduction in pain in knee arthritis patients. The upshot? You may want to consider custom orthotics for you knee arthritis pain. This link is for finding a store where you can get fitted for an inexpensive pair of custom orthotics at the Dr. Scoll’s web-site or you may want to find a good physician’s office or podiatrist who does this kind of work.
