Exercise therapy and custom-made insoles are effective in patients with excessive pronation and chronic foot pain--a...

Excessive foot pronation is a causal mechanisms described in relation to injuries of the lower extremities. Evidence to support an effective treatment is insufficient.

To investigate the effect of exercise and custom-made insoles to patients with excessive pronation and chronic pain conditions in the foot at short and long term follow-up.

Single blinded Randomized Controlled Trial with 80 subjects randomized: (1) Standard Intervention, (2) Insole, (3) Exercise, and (4) Insole+Exercise. Exercise - 12 week supervised program. Insoles - individually molded and posted. Pain was measured during walking, resting and running. Static and dynamic foot postures were measured as calcaneal angle, navicular drift, drop and height.

The average duration of foot pain was 7.3 years. There was a significant pain reduction during walking within all groups at 4 and 12 months follow-up. No differences were seen between groups in any of the pain parameters. Weak correlations between changes in pain and foot postures were observed at baseline and one-year follow-up.

A significant pain reduction was seen in all groups, none of the treatment modalities seem to be superior with the number of patients included. Compliance in the standard intervention group was a concern at 12 months.