Comfort, fit and control of prefabricated foot orthoses

Introduction: Prefabricated foot orthoses are being widely used in the management of foot and lower limb foot pathology (Landorf et al, 2001). There are many difference brands with many different design parameters available on the market for clinical use. They have been shown effective in the clinical management of pathology (Pfeffer et al, 1999; Landorf et al, 2003; Payne & Dawes, 2004). Given that there is a wide variety in the shape, material and other design parameters between the different types of prefabricated foot orthoses, there is very little evidence comparing the different design parameters. Previous work has shown that those prefabricated orthoses that have wedging under the heel are more likely to invert the rearfoot than those that do not have the wedging (Payne et al, 2002), but other design parameters have not been investigated. In view of this limited information on prefabricated foot orthoses, the aims of this project was to investigate the perceived comfort and the perceived control of the rearfoot from prefabricated foot orthoses available in the Australian market.