‘Orthotics’ is the official term used to describe a device that helps to correct a part of the body. It is actually a broad term that defines all kinds of bracing, such as leg braces, back braces, wrist braces, and so on. In more recent years however, it was hijacked by off-the-shelf shoe insert companies and now it is mostly associated with shoe inserts. So typically, orthotics are shoe inserts that are made to help correct your foot. Arch supports is another term used to describe them, but is a little more misleading, since not all problems with feet require correcting the arch.
The quick answer is, yes. But are they 100% effective at treating whatever your particular issue may be? No. No one can really claim that. It’s just like with medications; the likelihood that they will work in your body is high, but not guaranteed. With that in mind, just know that there are mechanical principles that a good custom orthotic insole should be utilizing to help with your issues. Custom orthotic insoles are not just cushions made for your feet. Any fool can take padding and stick it in your shoe. If that’s what you choose to do, then you probably will have a bad result. If you are having issues and the person or persons trying to fit you with custom orthotics only puts soft padding in your shoes, you will find that they ultimately were not worth it. The real question you should be asking is not whether custom orthotics are worth it, but rather, is the place you are getting them from worth it? Do they actually know what they are doing?
The answer to that question is very broad. The most common diagnoses we see are pes planus (flat feet), Charcot foot, plantar fasciitis or plantar fascial fibromatosis, metatarsalgia, Morton’s neuroma, stress fractures, and arthritis. This is by no means a full list, just the most common. But there are a host of diagnoses that most people never see in their office that can be treated with custom inserts. If you have something not listed and want to know if inserts can help, give us a call or come by for a visit and we can do an evaluation and discuss your issues, and you can decide if any of the options are right for you. Some conditions require a little more than just custom inserts. Things like heel wedges and carbon plates can often round out the treatment.
Store-bought or off-the-shelf orthotics are typically made from a single pattern or mold, based on shoe size, and are not made for any one person in particular. They are hoping that the shape of the foot they have created is effective for every single person they fit it to. And while an off-the-shelf insert can feel beneficial while trying it on temporarily, in the long run, particularly when you have a diagnosed medical condition with your feet or alignment, they are not effective. However, they are good for helping to figure out whether something custom may be beneficial to you. If they do feel good, even in a very short-term trial, it means that something made just for you should be even better.
A custom orthotic is defined as one made from a patient model. What should set custom inserts apart from store-bought is the professional seeing you. They should be doing some form of evaluation to understand your feet and your needs. They should know what deficits there are and what is necessary to correct them. And to do custom, they have to take a mold of your feet, even if it is digital, and they need to know how to make corrections to that mold in order to give you the most benefit. If they do the same thing on every person they see, they are going to get a lot of people wrong.
First things first. Generally, if your feet are uncomfortable and you feel that custom inserts would help, we can do that for you. However, if you do have a medical diagnosis, we really need to have a prescription from a physician in order to make sure we are treating you properly. Since we are not doctors, that can be viewed as practicing medicine without a license.
Next is the evaluation. We do our best to see you quickly after your doctor’s appointment to get the prescription; usually the same day or next day. Whether you have a prescription or not, everything from here on out is the same. We need to know what is going on in order to help you in the best way possible. And that happens by doing our full evaluation to check your feet, range of motion, muscle strength, and your general alignment both as you stand and as you walk. Once we determine your needs, we will discuss the different options and show you examples of the different styles we make. We can also alter many of those designs to be even more tailored to your needs.
Once you agree to a design that is best for you, we take molds of your feet. We use either an impression foam or take a cast, depending on the need and the nature of the orthosis being created. Then, we get to work.
Because we set Step Techs up for efficiency, all of our fabrication happens in-house, and can be done very quickly. We have streamlined the process so that your custom orthotics can be completed in 1-2 days. We know you are uncomfortable and we strive to help alleviate your discomfort as quickly as possible. Most custom orthotic facilities take weeks to even see you in their office, and then they take weeks more to get your inserts finished. We can do better.
Once we are done with your custom orthotics, you will be contacted so we can get your fitting done soon after.
After you receive your custom inserts, adjustment and continued care are encouraged. We don’t make you come back, but you are welcome to do so if there are any fit or function issues. We can usually make adjustments to your custom inserts to help improve or even spruce up your inserts as needed. You can come by and see if we have the time to adjust something or make an appointment if you want to be sure we have the time to take good care of your needs.
Since our products are typically completely custom made to your feet, it is necessary to be seen in-person for the evaluation, and preferably for the fitting as well. We prefer the process be more hands-on to get the most optimal results. We do not sell our products online.
Once you come to see us and we take the molds of your feet, you should have your custom orthotics ready to be fit in 1-2 business days. If you get to see us the same day you see your physician, it is entirely possible to be fit the next day depending on scheduling. The only way to get anything faster is to only purchase something off-the-shelf. We can give you the best results faster than anywhere else in the area for custom devices.
This is a harder question to answer. Every insurance provider is different. In general, however, the majority of insurance plans do not cover custom foot orthotics. Many people call their insurance directly and a person tells them that their plan does cover them. But what the representative does not clarify is that there are stipulations that must be met before they will cover them and that most people do not meet those criteria. Or they fail to mention that there are different types of custom inserts, and that the kind you are likely looking for is not the kind they cover. There are a few plans that do cover them outright, like plans for Wal-Mart employees or for mail carriers.
As of right now however, our company does not accept insurance for custom orthotics. We endeavor to provide the lowest cost and highest quality custom orthotics, but part of keeping that cost low means not having a designated staffer to file and fight with insurance companies in order to get paid. And further, some insurances, if they did cover orthotics, would pay too little and the orthotic company would automatically lose money by filing. Working for another orthotics company, I watched and listened to people call in constantly and question and argue with the billing department, often longer than an appointment would have taken. To require staff to spend excessive time dealing with the billing side for custom orthotics makes a company lose money when doing them. To avoid this, many companies stopped providing custom orthotic insoles or only did them for very few insurances. It just isn’t a sustainable option anymore for orthotic companies.
So, many companies simply elect to not file insurances. But when they do that, they do not pass the savings along to the customer, often choosing to charge high prices, rather than reasonable ones. This is largely because these companies are having to deflect resources from larger, more profitable jobs in order to make them. When it comes to items made by custom orthotic and prosthetic companies, custom orthotic insoles are on the low end of the spectrum as far as aggressive control devices. Since our company has opted to avoid insurance battles requiring designated staff to take care of these issues, and the fact that we have streamlined the process since it is pretty much all we do, we are able to offer the lowest price for custom orthotic insoles, evaluated and made by a certified practitioner and experienced technicians.
The answer to this question is both yes, and no. Medicare does pay for inserts, even three pairs a year, but they are not what you think. Typically, they are only covered for diabetics, and as such, they are not considered corrective, only accommodative. They are of a certain thickness and made of soft materials because they want the insoles to break down before the diabetic foot does, which could lead to amputation. So, if you are having foot pain, Medicare is not going to help you out. They do make one other exception, and that is if the custom orthotic is integral to a brace of some kind. But be warned, this is a vague statement and they often do not follow that rule in my experience. Because they do not cover corrective orthotics, we do not accept Medicare.
In addition, there are hoops that must be jumped through to get something covered by Medicare. We do offer a style of insert that fits the bill for Medicare standards of diabetic inserts. Our diabetic inserts are much less expensive than other facilities, making them easier for you to obtain without all the hassles. However, if your foot is more aggressively out of alignment, they may not work for you and the custom option may be necessary.
Our price for a set of custom orthotic inserts is $325.00. Should you decide on more than one set, we offer discounts on each successive set. A second pair is 20% off. A third set is 30% off. And a fourth set is 40% off. That means that if you were to want four sets of inserts, you could have all four made custom, and different styles if you wanted, for half the price of one of the competitors that sells mainly off-the-shelf inserts in sets of four. Our standard price for a single set is around $100 less than other orthotic companies in the area.
No. Doing so, essentially extending credit, would likely create losses and drive the cost of our products up. Our goal is to keep the cost as low as possible, so we need to avoid needing extra staff to keep track of payments.
The price is an all-inclusive amount. The evaluation, the mold-making, the orthotics themselves, and any adjustments for up to six months are all included in the price. If there are other extraneous items needed, such as carbon fiber plates or night splints, those would be an extra cost. But the inserts themselves are the one price of $325.00.
A great question, and one we are asked quite often. The warranty on our custom orthotics is six months. That really covers any issues with the fabrication and materials. Basically, if we made it, it should last you the six months. That does not include you running over them with your car or putting them through a shredder. Those are not manufacturing defects. But does that mean they should only last six months? Absolutely not. Typically, they should last a year. Often, they last two or three years. We’ve even seen people coming back for repairs and refreshers 10 years down the road. That is certainly not typical, but possible.
There are several factors that can affect the lifespan of your new orthotics. The materials chosen can make a difference. Plastics tend to last longer than the dense foams but are less cushioning. Weight and activity can also affect them. For instance, a dense foam insert will last a lot longer with a 130 lb. woman than it would with a 300 lb. man. And how you use them can matter just as much. Excess moisture or walking in oils can cause the materials to separate prematurely. Essentially, the better care you give them, the longer they last.
With good care, a set of custom orthotics should last a couple of years. Feet tend to change over the years, so after 2-3 years, it may be a good idea to get them reassessed.
The answer to this question will vary depending on the type of insert you choose to purchase. Dense foam inserts can be cared for differently than plastic ones, and definitely different than ones with a soft top layer. Instructions are handed out with each insert purchase, and video instructions can be found on the website in our Footage Vault page.
Adjustments are included in the price for up to six months. Just call and schedule or come by at your convenience to see if we can make changes at no charge. After the six months, there might be a charge, but it would depend on the extent of the adjustments needed at that point. In reality, you should be good by the six months.
Returns are a trickier discussion. As these are made custom for you and no one else, there really are no returns. However, we do everything in our power to make sure they are right for you. We won’t just give them to you and never do anything to make them right if they are not. We strive to make your feet better, and we don’t give up easily.
Warranty, yes-six months warranty on materials and fabrication. Again, this does not cover intentional or accidental damage outside of normal wear and tear. Don’t drop it in a garbage disposal or allow your dog to eat them. That’s not normal.
Satisfaction guarantee? Not really. There is no guarantee that it will help with your issues, but there is certainly a high possibility. If there isn’t any likelihood they will help, we won’t recommend them or try to sell them to you. We are here to help you, not to make a quick buck. But because they are made specifically for your feet, if you choose to have them made, we can’t really use them on anyone else. For what it’s worth, We are really good at our job.
