Custom orthotics
Your feet are the only part of you touching the ground, and everything above them inherits whatever they do. When a foot collapses inward, the knee, hip and low back above it compensate — several thousand times a day.
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Why a chiropractor cares about your feet
Consider what happens when one foot pronates — rolls inward — more than the other. That leg effectively becomes shorter through its arch. The pelvis on that side drops slightly. Your spine curves to keep your eyes level, because your body will always prioritize keeping your eyes level. Now every joint from your foot to your neck is holding a small compensation.
Do that for one step and nothing happens. Do it for the roughly seven thousand steps of an ordinary day, every day for years, and the joints doing the compensating wear differently from the ones that are not.
This is the honest explanation for a pattern we see constantly: the patient whose adjustment will not hold. The joint is being dragged back into the same restriction between visits, by the same asymmetry, thousands of times. You can keep adjusting it, or you can change what is happening underneath.
The examination comes first
We do not scan everybody. Custom orthotics are appropriate when the examination shows a foot posture that is actually contributing to what brought you in — and plenty of people with flat-looking feet have no problem attributable to them at all.
Dr. Tyler looks at how you stand and how you walk, checks whether your pelvis sits level, and looks at your shoe wear, which is an underrated piece of evidence: your shoes have been recording your gait for months.
Foot Levelers, and what “three arches” means
We are a licensed Foot Levelers provider. Their orthotics are built to support all three arches of the foot rather than the medial arch alone, which is the distinction from most stock insoles.
The reason that matters: the foot’s arches form a supporting structure across two directions, not just front to back. Support one and leave the others and you have propped up part of a vault. Support all three and the foot loads more evenly, the lower leg rotates less, and less compensation arrives at the pelvis.
After scanning, orthotics are manufactured to your prescription and arrive at the clinic for fitting. We check them in the shoes you actually wear — bring your work shoes, not the pair you keep for good.
Cost, and when they are worth it
Custom orthotics begin at $400, and they are not for everybody. If your problem is acute, recent and localized, orthotics are not the answer and we will say so.
Where they earn their cost is the long-running, recurring pattern — the one that improves with treatment and then comes back on the same schedule. Changing what happens across seven thousand steps a day does more for that than another visit will.
Come and find out what is actually going on
Consultation, full examination, any x-rays you need and your first adjustment — $45, one appointment.
Questions people ask
How is this different from an insole from the pharmacy?
An off-the-shelf insole is cushioning in an average shape. A custom orthotic is manufactured to a scan of your foot and prescribed to correct a specific pattern the examination found. Cushioning feels nice underfoot; correction changes what happens at the joints above it.
Why does the arch matter so much?
There are three arches in a foot, not one, forming a supporting vault. When it flattens, the lower leg rotates inward, and that rotation travels up through the knee to the hip and pelvis. Support the vault properly and the rotation reduces — which is why foot work often shows up as less low back pain rather than as less foot pain.
What does the scan involve?
Standing on a digital scanner for a few seconds while it captures how your feet load under your actual body weight. That last part matters — a foot at rest and a foot bearing weight are different shapes, and it is the weight-bearing one that is causing your problem.
How long do they take to get used to?
Usually one to two weeks. Wear them a few hours a day at first and build up. Some initial awareness of new pressure is expected; sharp pain is not, so tell us if that happens and we will adjust the prescription.
How long do they last?
Typically a couple of years for an averagely active adult, less if you are on your feet all day on hard floors. We will check them when they start to lose their correction rather than waiting for you to notice.