Custom Orthotics

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Our Chiropractors have found that Custom Orthotics in Kansas City can be helpful for many lower body ailments, from plantar fasciitis to knee pain or low back pain.

Custom Orthotics in Kansas City

Chiropractic Orthotics

Alterations in the biomechanics of gait can start with the feet. Over time, improper loading of the joints in the feet can result in cumulative trauma, leading to injury. Custom Orthotics, however, can help to restore normal gait mechanics to alleviate overloaded tissues.

What It Treats

Custom orthotics can help with:

  • Knee pain
  • Back pain
  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Shoulder pain
  • Hip pain
  • Foot pain
  • Achilles tendinitis
  • Shin splints
  • Heel pain

How Custom Orthotics Work

Our chiropractors can completely Customize your Orthotics in Kansas City to help establish proper loading and weight distribution of your feet when standing, walking, and running.

Our custom orthotics are more than simple inserts for your shoes. They aim to reduce problems that stem from an improper gait and other biomechanical issues. As a result, custom orthotics at F.I.T. Muscle & Joint Clinic can help alleviate conditions such as knee pain, back pain, plantar fasciitis, foot pain, achilles tendinitis, heel pain, shin splints, and more. 

Our team provides custom-made orthotics using a variety of tools & tests, including: 

  • Active Gait Analysis
  • Three-dimensional modeling
  • Pedograph (footprint analysis)
  • Taking a physical mold

Depending on a patients’ needs, an orthotic can be accommodative, functional, or both. An accommodative orthotic directs pressure away from painful pressure points while a functional orthotic helps promote proper biomechanical movement patterns to reduce pain and injury.

 

Custom Orthotics can correct many of the biomechanical issues that lead to pain and injury. Specialists build custom orthotics in Kansas City using various materials such as foam, plastic, leather, and fiberglass. These materials cushion and support the foot while correcting motion errors and structural imbalances in the body. They also work as shock absorbers during exercise and physical activity. 

The feet and their relationship to proper biomechanics throughout the body are extremely complex. That’s why custom orthotics are a better solution for our patients than over-the-counter (OTC) orthotics. OTC orthotics are catered to the general population. On their own, most people can’t diagnose themselves or understand the underlying causes of their gait issues. That leads them to purchase OTC orthotics that may not treat their unique condition. This could cause further issues and even future injuries. 

On the other hand, our custom orthotics use a combination of active gait analysis and other tests and tools to determine the source of underlying biomechanical problems. With the help of Xtreme Footwerks, customization allows us to create an orthotic that best fits our patients’ needs. Coupled with high-quality materials, our custom orthotics are longer lasting and more durable than orthotics you may find at a store. Because of this, we can actually help treat pain and promote better movement patterns.

How F.I.T. Uses Custom Orthotics

F.I.T. Muscle & Joint Clinic is proud to offer top-of-the-line custom foot orthotics, which we handcraft specifically for you. Our initial assessment is unique. We utilize a broad range of biomechanical evaluations for your orthotics, including videos, photographic analysis, motion-induced ink pedographs, and foam casting.

We start by speaking with you about your pain and concerns. Instead of general appointments, we cater each session to you, ensuring that we put time and effort into finding the best orthotic solution. During this time, we’ll also ask questions that may include where your pain stems from, how long you’ve had pain, and what you hope to achieve with custom orthotics in Kansas City. From there, we perform a series of unique tests and assessments to find the underlying source of your issues and pinpoint any biomechanical errors. 

 

One major test we perform is a gait analysis. A proper gait analysis is more than a simple walking or running examination, despite what clerks at running stores may say. At. F.I.T. we implement an in-depth analysis to create a movement map of the body. This map reveals not only how a patient walks and runs, but also measures mobility, stability, flexibility, and range of motion. 

 

With the gait analysis, we can better understand a patient’s movement patterns and muscle compensations that could lead to injury. Movement patterns create habitual motions that influence everything the body does, including physical exercise, sports training, and daily activities. But when there are gait problems and other biomechanical errors, those movement patterns become less effective and require compensation from larger, global muscles that don’t provide stability for the ankle joint. This may cause pain and conditions such as back pain, foot pain, plantar fasciitis, and more. Custom orthotics in Kansas City can help our patients and their movement patterns to avoid unwanted compensations that could lead to injury.

We will design your Custom Orthotics in Kansas City after an in-depth stance and gait analysis and assessment by our doctors. We’re proud to partner with Xtreme Footwerks in Idaho Springs, Colorado where Shawn Eno, founder of Xtreme Footwerks, takes the time to apply every detail from our assessment into your personalized orthotics.

Our chiropractors have created countless customized orthotics in Kansas City and have mastered the art of non-invasive musculoskeletal patient care. We don’t believe in generalized treatments simply because we don’t deal with generalized problems. At F.I.T. Muscle & Joint Clinic, we support our patients through their journey from start to finish. 

 

How Custom Orthotics Target Muscle Compensations

With our gait analysis and other assessments, our medically trained chiropractors gain insight on muscle compensations that could cause injuries down the road. This is important because when the body compensates a muscle weakness using a smaller muscle, the body compensates with recruiting larger muscle groups to overcompensate for the small stability muscles.

For example, small muscle movers—such as the hip stabilizers, and medial quads—may become inactive or weakened.  As a result, the body recruits larger muscle groups to provide function and movement. However, larger muscle groups are not meant to stabilize the joints and are explosive muscle groups, not endurance muscle groups. When those stabilizers weaken over time, this causes wear and tear. Without time to properly recover, broken down stabilizer muscles can limit training ability, and may become an injury in the making.

Fortunately, our custom orthotics in Kansas City can retrain the way the body moves. By solving underlying gait and biomechanical issues, orthotics can reduce compensations and promote muscle strengthening. In doing so, our orthotics help alleviate back pain, hip pain, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, shoulder pain, heel pain, knee pain, and even achilles tendinitis. 

We always recommend coming to one of our 6 offices across the Kansas City metro to determine if custom orthotics are right for your body and your goals.

 

Custom Orthotics and Biomechanical Dysfunctions

Custom orthotics aim to correct biomechanical dysfunctions to improve overall movement patterns. Problems with the body’s biomechanics often stem from the feet, including fallen arches and excessive pronation or supination. Pronation is when the ankle rolls inward, causing the midfoot to bulge in as well. Pronation may also flatten the arch. Supination is the opposite, meaning the foot rolls outward and could lead to an arch that’s too high. Biomechanical dysfunctions can also stem from further up the chain, usually caused by the hip.

When they become excessive, both supination and pronation can create an extra strain on muscles and other soft tissue structures higher up in the body. This may lead to problems such as foot pain, shin splints, hip pain, and more.

These problems don’t develop the same for each patient, and that is why we make it our number one priority to understand our patients’ unique needs. Reasons some problems may arise include:

  • Muscle weakness
  • Tightness in lower limb joints and muscles that alter movement
  • Ill-fitting shoes
  • Lack of arch
  • Poor motor control
  • Excessive activity that the muscle can’t stabilize
  • Decreased mobility

With custom orthotics in Kansas City, we analyze and examine your body and create foam castings to design the best orthotic insert for your conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

F.I.T. & Hanger Orthotics: What's the difference?

Much like you would experience at Hanger, here at F.I.T. Muscle & Joint Clinic, we too will take molds of your foot structure to develop orthotics that best complement your specific biomechanical needs.

are Custom Orthotics right for you?

Take a couple of minutes to tell us about your symptoms and pain areas. Prefer to chat over the phone? Call us for a free phone consultation.

Virtual Consultation

Visit your local F.I.T.

Meet the team at any of our 11 locations: Lee’s Summit, Leawood, Crossroads, Blue Valley, Paola, Liberty, Olathe, Kansas City, Overland Park, Raymore & Shawnee.

Contact Us

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