Inserts Outed - 2 of 3

I’d do a TV ad for Superfeet.

8 or 9 years ago, I was having some ankle pain. Part of what was stressing me out was I knew someone at the time who had been having similar pains and had an operation to correct their situation.

I was not enthused by the idea of an operation on my ankles.

But while I was in a running store in Saskatoon (I’ve forgotten the store name or I’d plug ’em), one of the clerks suggested that the issue could be arch-related and an insert could help.

This triggered a repressed childhood memory of having to wear shoes with extra arch support as adults believed that I had flat feet.

So I bought a pair of Superfeet and within 3 days, my pain vanished and I never looked back (hmmm... I’ve told this story before so I suppose I HAVE looked back and often... tricky business these idiomatic expressions, BID).



Compare these to the Polysorbs in the previous post.

• higher heel walls

• lots of curvature and arch support

• the edges, especially along the arch, are cut on an angle so as not to lacerate your foot

• that thing on the underside is hard plastic -- serious support, Buddy. None of those limp polysorb noodles here.



Similar price point to the Polysorbs ($25-$30). Well worth the cost. I’ve done a lot of running in these and own several pairs.

Inserts Outed -- 1 of 3

In the course of my many injuries running research, I’ve had cause to experiment with a few shoe inserts. So I’m going to discuss the three I’ve tried, starting with Spenco’s Polysorb.

My recommendation is to save your money.

They look comfortable and the extra padded “heel strike” seems just the thing to help avoid planar-type injuries, something I’ve had issues with at times.

But they didn’t help my foot issues at all.

In fact, I found them painful to wear.

Look at the edges of the insole -- they’re cut flush, perpendicular to the ground. While running, that becomes a sharp edge in your shoe that rubs and eventually cuts into your foot (ask me how I know that). You'll also notice that there's not much curvature happening here.



In the bottom photo, you can see a yellow reinforcement. That’s foam not much stiffer than jello. i.e., no support at all.


As I recall, these things were in the $25-$30 range. I could've had a dozen donuts washed down with 12 premium beers for that.