Millions of people suffer from pain in their knees, ankles, and back on an everyday basis. Have you ever suffered from such pains and aches of your body? Like the majority of the population your response most likely would indicate a screaming answer of the word yes. The solution to relieve the pain and aches of your body simply resides in your soles…No not your souls, your shoe soles! Are you in disbelief? No worries, I had the opportunity to sit down with a doctor who explains how using certain shoe soles can improve your body’s health.

As a doctor of chiropractic care who has owned his own practice for eleven years, Dr. Robin Roberts observed personally how certain shoe soles can improve the health of your body. Chiropractors actually focus a lot on feet because of the fact that your feet are the foundation of your body. You can improve your body’s function by using customized shoe insoles, to correct your feet’s imperfections. These shoe soles are most commonly known as orthotics. I asked Dr. Roberts what orthotics are and he said, “Custom fit insoles that give the proper balance and support to the body”. This is where I began to realize how important your feet really are when it comes to the movement and support of your entire body.

Next, I asked Dr. Roberts how orthotics improve the body’s health. He said that the orthotics improve the foundation of the body, and affect the knees, ankles, and back region. “Orthotics will often help to realign the bones within the foot and ankle and therefore take pressure off other parts of the body such as the back, neck, shoulders and hips,” he said. Fascinated, I asked him how long it takes your body to begin to feel the difference. “Break in period is about two weeks, but usually only takes about one week for your body to begin to feel the difference,” he replied.

Then I asked him why orthotics make us feel better. He started by saying they make us feel better because of weight distribution. “This gives the body better function by improving balance and support of the body,” he said.

We have all seen the Dr. Scholl’s products either on television or at the store. I asked Dr. Roberts what the difference was between the two types of orthotics: Dr. Scholl’s orthotics versus custom foot orthotics. He responded that the Dr. Scholl’s orthotics product is “generic and not specific to your own foot”. This meaning that your foot is either high arch or flat. From here your body’s pains and aches are not properly improved. “When only one arch is being supported the problem then shifts to another part of the body,” according to the Foot Levelers website. Foot Levelers is the actual company of custom foot orthotics. Meanwhile the Foot Levelers product is “molded to your exact foot for direct improvement of your body’s balance and support,” he said. Between the two available choices of shoe insoles, the clear, best option is the custom foot orthotics.

The custom foot orthotics are individually designed to improve your unique body, not just your feet. “Correcting imbalances in your feet can properly align your spine and pelvis regions,” said Dr. Roberts. The benefits of using custom foot orthotics are plentiful. Advantages include improvements of your balance, support, reduced pain and aches in areas from your feet all the way to your neck. He also adds that it “contributes to your total body wellness”. I finally asked Dr. Roberts if he wore orthotics himself, since they can improve your health. He answered, “Yes, I order about two pairs every year. I order a set for my shoes and a set for my sandals, I wear them everywhere I go.” He then began telling me that two of his professional athlete patients order multiple pairs a year as well. They both play football for the Detroit Lions. He said that they too noticed the difference immediately after using them.

Therefore, I asked Dr. Roberts how a person could order a pair, and how much they cost. He replied, “Easy, all you have to do is order them through either a podiatrist or a chiropractor. Then you have to get your foot digitally scanned, or use a foam foot imprint that would then have to be sent to the custom foot orthotics company, Foot Levelers.” The cost of the custom foot orthotics “roughly cost about $400 dollars a pair,” he said. Each pair is also sent with at least a year warranty. He then stated, “Depending on which insurance that you have, the costs could potentially be completely covered by your insurance company.”

Custom foot orthotics can be beneficial to basically anyone who wears them, regardless of age and physical shape. Dr. Roberts said “Yes, they benefit everyone regardless of whom the person is. You can have all kinds of different feet, body types, and different genders, but no matter what, the custom foot orthodontics will benefit and improve one’s body health.”

To end our interview, I asked Dr. Roberts if he thought that custom foot orthotics will be used by more people in the next five years, and he said “Yes, the more people that learn about the benefits of orthotics and see first hand what a difference they actually create, more and more people will begin to use orthotics.” He plans on helping spread awareness of this great product because it contributes to total body wellness, and as a chiropractor that is his job.

Sources: Roberts Chiropractic Life Center Website, Foot Levelers Website