Classification of Insoles

The topic of insoles choice may seem strange to many people, why they need extra insoles, and even the fact that insoles are optional. A big reason is that insoles are an accessory to shoes, and most people probably never have the idea of buying extra insoles.

From a traditional point of view, people’s understanding of the insole comes from the insole that comes with the shoe. Some relatively “Professional”people may have a pair of cushioning insoles for their shoes, this is also why there are so many kinds of cushioning insoles on a treasure in China. These insoles are nothing more than EVA materials, pu foam or silicone, etc. . These insoles mainly emphasize shock absorption, but do insoles really have shock absorption effect enough?

In fact, from the functional and application areas, insole is also divided into cushion series, stability series and motion control series, but also for different types of sports, different people divided design.

Cushion Buffering series

Cushion insoles are primarily shock absorbers, like the EVA, Pu Foam, or silicone ones we mentioned earlier, and are relatively energy efficient for most normal foot structures. What do you mean? If your arches are normal and you don’t have back pronation and valgus problems, the regular cushion insoles are adequate for normal use. Of course, the use of this insole of the crowd is required to run on the road surface, mainly flat road or rubber track-based, that is, the stability of the soles of the relatively low requirements of the road conditions.

Single material insole:

Pu + Eva composite insole:

Plain silicone pads:

Arch support silicone pad:

As an aside, silicone insoles are generally heavier, so they are not recommended for long distance running, and Eva or PU foam insoles are recommended for long distance runners, that would be even better.

The Stability Series

The stability series insole structure will be relatively more comprehensive, such as arch support (medial and lateral arch support) , heel cup wrapping, metatarsal ball support, you may be relatively unfamiliar with these support, the conclusion is to provide a normal foot model that wraps the foot or integrates the foot into a normal group of structures (as opposed to people with flat, pronated, or high arches) .

In short, the stability of the series of insoles is to provide a normal arch contour of the foot to cover, and thus provide the corresponding support cushioning effect. As a result, these insoles can be relatively rigid, with other areas likely to be stabilized with TPU or TPV in addition to cushioning in specific areas, and the ball of the metatarsal position more likely to be held in place with high density foam.

What are the benefits of this type of insole:

1. Use insoles to cover your feet. Running is relatively more stable, which is why it becomes a stable insole
2. For people who run long distances, the stability insole is good at reducing foot fatigue. The principle is that the insole can cover both feet. During running, the whole foot is under stress, compared with the ordinary insole, the force exerted on the heel and part of the arch is more uniform
3. For people with mild flatfoot, high arch, or mild heel valgus, pronation, the stability insole will allow the foot to return to a more normal structure, that is, the plantar arch will return to a normal structure, and the force on the high arch sole will be uniform, pronation and valgus can be blamed on a more normal position, so for those of you with mild foot problems, the stability insoles will be your running savior. It’s a relatively good solution to running problems with defective feet. In short, the stability of the insole applicability will be wider, the focus is also on sports protection, it is more recommended and recommended to use a class of insoles.

Stability insole:

Motion control series

Motion control insoles and the stability series insole overall difference is not particularly obvious, but the material will be slightly different. The main difference:

1. The materials used in the motion control will be relatively stronger than the stability insole, especially the arch support and heel design, and the depth of the heel will be deeper. The advantage of this design is that it adjusts the arch and heel to a normal position by external force. So this kind of insole will not be comfortable, should be good overall. This kind of insole is designed according to the normal foot structure, so for people with normal foot structure, it just limits the foot structure to the normal area, the contact between the bone and the muscle tends to be normal, close to the normal person’s physiological anatomy.
2. The increased contact area of the insole, relative to the collapsed foot structure, reduces the range of pain problems associated with excessive contact. In addition, the Motion control features and the stability of the series of insoles is also relatively similar.