How to Relieve Back and Leg Pain With Shoe Inserts

Improper support of your foot's arch and instep results in weakened posture and pain in your back and legs. This lack of support can be a genetic condition of your feet or can be caused by wearing shoes that are ill-designed for protecting your feet. Either way, you can relieve the pain you are experiencing and prevent further damage and pain by using special shoe inserts with a strong supportive structure built into them.

Things You'll Need

• Shoe insert
• Marker
• Sharp scissors

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Instructions

• 1

  Select a shoe insert designed for the type of footwear you want to use it in. So if you wear high heels, select inserts that are designed for high heels, and so on.

• 2

  Slip the insert into your shoe and smooth it out, moving from the heel toward the toe. Make sure you have the left insert in the left shoe and the right one in the right shoe.

• 3

  If the insert does not lay flat, mark a line along the toes of the insert with a marker approximately where it should end. Obviously it is hard to reach down into a shoe and make such a mark, but it provides a general target for cutting the insert to fit. The insert should end right where the insole of your shoe does.

• 4

  Take the insert out and trim it by 1/16 inch with sharp scissors. Do not cut right along the marked line yet.

• 5

  Put the insert back into your shoe and try to flatten it out again. If the insert still doesn't lay flat, take it out and trim it 1/16 inch again.

• 6

  Keep testing and trimming the insert by 1/16 inch at a time until it fits perfectly in your shoe. Do not cut past the line you marked on the insert. If you can't get the insert to lay flat once you reach the line, put your foot in the shoe to flatten it out.