Is It What's IN The Shoes?

I mentioned in my previous post that my bum foot has taken a sudden turn for the better. I've now run on the treadmill four times and each time, the foot hasn't been an issue. There was some slight discomfort during a couple of post-run days, but nothing like I was experiencing before.

Yesterday, I ran an easy two miles on the machine. Today, my foot feels better than it has since I first noticed the injury back in late May. Crazy!

In June, when I was going to physical therapy, I was pretty good about keeping a 3rd party insole in my shoes (Superfeet Green). I quickly became lazy and forgot to shuffle them around from pair to pair, also thinking that I would be doing my foot a disservice by supporting it, rather than strengthening the muscles by staying as minimal as possible. While I'm not going to start trashing on the "minimalist movement", I do think I made a mistake.

While my foot continues to heal and get stronger, I feel the additional support has been a key factor in how it has felt lately. I started wearing the insoles CONSTANTLY (i.e. even in my house slippers...and I work at home, so I wear them a LOT). That doesn't mean I'm allowing my foot muscles to get lazy. I'm doing self-massage, stretching my calves and achilles, and doing toe raises (up with both feet, down with just the injured foot).

Whether or not I'll seek out advice on custom orthotics remains to be seen. It depends on how the foot reacts when I finally start: a) running outside on varying terrain, and: b) increasing my mileage. Maybe the Superfeet Green insoles are just enough support to do the trick.

I know they're pretty anti-minimal, but if this is what it takes to get me running again, I'm wearing them (while still working on my form, turnover rate, etc).

Do any of you wear either custom orthotics or OTC insoles? What are your thoughts & experiences with them?

More Clarification

During the last couple of visits to physical therapy, I've discovered even more about how my right leg and foot operate. When I sit on a chair, knees bent, feet on the floor and rotate my feet inward while trying to keep my feet flat on the ground, and odd thing happens. My left foot rotates just fine, but my right starts arching up on the inside. I'm unable to keep it flat, or at least not without greatly forcing the issue (which causes discomfort). I'm still not sure whether this is purely structural or if it's correctable. Since my right heel instantly shifts inward on every landing, I'm going to put a Superfeet Green insole into my right shoe (as per my PT's suggestion) to see if I can counteract the motion. I may still be seeing a podiatrist about potentially getting a custom orthotic for my right shoe (my left foot is fine, so I'm averse to messing with it).

I ran again today (3.1 miles @ 7:48 pace, with a 6:57 mile two as a "speed check") and the heel felt about the same as yesterday. Still sore, but not as bad as when the injury first hit me.

Anyway, I thought the foot rotation test was pretty interesting. It's been great seeing all the pieces of this puzzle start to come together.