Custom Footbeds

[Cyanicenine]

Are shops not posting footbeds anymore? Last shop I went to was really reluctant to post my footbed saying something along the lines of "we're switching towards allowing the foot natural movement within the boot." I then happened to chat with a friend of a friend who is a bootfitter and he said a similar thing, saying his shop doesn't post their insoles at all anymore. WTF? This seems crazy to me. My first custom footbeds were unposted and they sucked. It wasn't until I got a nicely posted footbed that I finally felt the heel lock and stability that everyone had always claimed you get from dropping money on a custom insole. Any boot fitters want to weigh in on this, or explain the possible rational?

 

[tomPietrowski]

I mean even if you post a footbed you still allow the foot to naturally move you just control that movement. From my experience North America is much more reluctant to post as you get into podiatry territory and shops dont want to take on that responsibility in fear of getting sued. I worked in shops where they said they don't do it but once shown what it can do and how it can achieve better results they started doing so. So yeah good shops generally still post its just harder to find this side of the pond.

 

[SavageBiff]

What does, “post a foot bed “ mean?

I got custom beds ,and a lot of other boot mods, talking mucho!!! pretty darn good, but none the less, I’m starting to feel, and this is more noticeable barefoot, not a problem, but I think I’m placing most of my weight in my outside edges, and outsides of my feet barefoot, so I am looking to research this before I tell my fitter what I want, I gotta tell them what to do, their suggestions never line up with mine and I’ve got these things almost perfect.

I mean even if you post a footbed you still allow the foot to naturally move you just control that movement. From my experience North America is much more reluctant to post as you get into podiatry territory and shops dont want to take on that responsibility in fear of getting sued. I worked in shops where they said they don't do it but once shown what it can do and how it can achieve better results they started doing so. So yeah good shops generally still post its just harder to find this side of the pond.

 

[Cyanicenine]

I mean even if you post a footbed you still allow the foot to naturally move you just control that movement. From my experience North America is much more reluctant to post as you get into podiatry territory and shops dont want to take on that responsibility in fear of getting sued. I worked in shops where they said they don't do it but once shown what it can do and how it can achieve better results they started doing so. So yeah good shops generally still post its just harder to find this side of the pond.

Yeah I guess that makes a weird sort of sense. In BC the shops seemed to default to doing posting, in WA it was like 50/50, here in Utah it seems to be exceedingly rare, and apparently you are looked at funny for even asking. I trust your knowledge over the bootfitters here, good to know I'm not out of my mind for wanting some posting. My foot is flexible and my arch collapses and pronates a ton, without posting my foot will flatten my footbed easy. My friend is getting into park skiing and I've been helping her out and she just got new boots and footbeds, but they didn't post them. If anyone knows of any shops in the SLC or PC area that are pro posting inquiring minds would like to know.

 

[GayWolf420]

. If anyone knows of any shops in the SLC or PC area that are pro posting inquiring minds would like to know.

Its on the pricier-side maybe but have you reached out to Park City Ski Boot? I was there last fall in Oct. getting fitted but I got full work done + footbeds. Brent and Gerry are wizards.

**This post was edited on Dec 29th 2020 at 4:26:03pm

 

[tomPietrowski]

What does, “post a foot bed “ mean?

I got custom beds ,and a lot of other boot mods, talking mucho!!! pretty darn good, but none the less, I’m starting to feel, and this is more noticeable barefoot, not a problem, but I think I’m placing most of my weight in my outside edges, and outsides of my feet barefoot, so I am looking to research this before I tell my fitter what I want, I gotta tell them what to do, their suggestions never line up with mine and I’ve got these things almost perfect.

Posting is when the footbed which is molded to your foot then has additional material added to the base and that material is ground. This allows the fitter to control how your foot flexes on the footbed. Without it generally the whole footbed will flex evenly which is not usually desirable.

Feeling more weight on the outside of your feet barefoot may actually be a sign that the footbeds are working and they are stopping you from pronating as much to the inside. If you feel you are too much on the outside edge skiing however it may mean the footbeds are too stiff and they are not allowing your foot to roll slightly inwards which is need to get pressure on the inside edge.

This is why posting can be so important is all about controlling how much the foot pronates or collapses inwards. You cant lock the foot, you do still want it to pronate you just want to be able to control it so there is not too much movement going on.

However it may be partly down to fit too. If the footbed is not well interfaced with the shell there may not be enough space for the foot to roll. I used to see it a lot that the footbed was just too wide for the shell so there was no room for the foot to roll inwards. This is an easy fix however, either by reducing the width of the footbed if it is too wide for the foot or by creating more medial space in the shell which is more often the cuase.

 

[BradFiAusNzCoCa]

I was a bootfitter in Aus for a bit. Many places didn’t post footbeds simply because the clientele didn’t need it and margins were better on unposted.

Im lucky enough that superfeet green work for my feet. I swear by them.

 

[Cyanicenine]

Its on the pricier-side maybe but have you reached out to Park City Ski Boot? I was there last fall in Oct. getting fitted but I got full work done + footbeds. Brent and Gerry are wizards.

**This post was edited on Dec 29th 2020 at 4:26:03pm

I'll keep them in mind, I haven't tried them.

The posting job I got here in Utah was/is a mess, the footbed is unusable. I'm halfway tempted to show a picture of just how bad it is, not sure what they posted it with, it's a couple black foam bars that they just sort of glued to the bottom, no shaping was done, and the glue didn't hold completely so one of the bars shifted forwards into a really bad spot and started stabbing my arch. I guess that's what I get for asking for posting when they guy clearly didn't want to do it.

 

[onenerdykid]

I'll keep them in mind, I haven't tried them.

The posting job I got here in Utah was/is a mess, the footbed is unusable. I'm halfway tempted to show a picture of just how bad it is, not sure what they posted it with, it's a couple black foam bars that they just sort of glued to the bottom, no shaping was done, and the glue didn't hold completely so one of the bars shifted forwards into a really bad spot and started stabbing my arch. I guess that's what I get for asking for posting when they guy clearly didn't want to do it.

Yikes. Definitely pay a visit to Brent if you can manage it. He will totally solve your issues.