Functional foot orthoses

then there are a wide range of devices which are foot orthoses. This range would include footwear with adaptions, ‘simple’ insoles and pads and the rigid foot orthoses produced from casts of the foot. It is the latter of these on which this article concentrates as it is these orthoses which suffer from a general lack of understanding of their principles and applications. This is not to say that the simpler insoles are always used to their best effect, to which many practitioners will readily attest, but it is because the claims made for the rigid foot orthoses seem to be rather extensive. These orthoses were developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s largely by a trial and error process, by a podiatrist in California, USA, Merton Root. His work, in association with other key colleagues, led to the Root functional foot orthosis which has been further developed over the years into a number of different designs. However, the basis behind all of them is the assessment and prescription techniques developed by Root and his colleagues.z.3 This article will review the biomechanical basis for foot orthoses and explain the processes by which dramatic functional improvements in the foot and proximal structures can be achieved.