Influence of Contouring and Hardness of Foot Orthoses on Ratings of Perceived Comfort.
Mills K, Blanch P, Vicenzino B Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Jan 12;
Does this appear to be contradictory to anyone else or am I just reading it wrong? It appears to say that a soft, flat generic orthosis was preferred. Does that sound like a "contoured" device?
I know that over the years nearly every patient that I have provided an orthosis made from a volumetric cast, which I assume is more "countoured", that patients report greater comfort than with previous prefab or generic shaped devices and that is subjective.
Ok I read the study, thank you Ian (am I losing my mind or was there a response on this thread from Ian offering to send us the studies, which he did? Thank you).
Not to tear at another person's work but it appears the 'orthoses' used were a 3mm EVA prefab vs. Vasyli prefabs (all EVA) of differing shore rating? In all there were 20 participants, measured and subject to VAS on 5 visits and all preferred the 3mm prefab.
Interesting because most people I encounter and patients comment that the shape and support of the medial arch is one feature that they find key, not the softness of the material or a very low MLA.
I'm really confused why they used prefab devices for the study but refer to 'contouring' as being key and then state they preferred the flat, soft orthosis to the contoured one? Still not getting it...