When we choose basketball shoes, we frequently only concentrate on the shoes themselves but ignore the basketball insoles. Many people buy basketball insoles either because the shoes are too big, or they feel that the shoes are too hard to wear. In fact, the acquisition of basketball insoles is additionally exquisite. It is important to know that many players will specially customize the insoles because if the insoles do not fit, it will cause empty footsteps and affect the performance of the game. Of course, ordinary people don’t need to customize it, but there are still some problems that need to be paid attention to. For example, the fit of the insole, the shock absorption effect, the wrapping property, etc. Let’s take a look at the knowledge of basketball insole purchase!
We may have a misunderstanding all the time. Basketball shoes are the most important thing. As long as you purchase good basketball shoes, you’ll protect yourself well or have excellent athletic performance; and therefore the purchase of basketball insoles is essentially targeting the shoes that are too large. Buy a pair of insoles or the shoes are too hard, buy a pair of soft cushions, or even if the insoles are worn out, buy another pair to replace them; but how many people will realize how important the insoles are? It is important to know that the first contact point of shoes is the ground, and then the insole; the first contact of our feet is the insole; the quality of the insole directly determines the feedback, landing stability, and comfort of the foot. It can be said that many times In many aspects of sports protection, insoles are needed to do the first step of protection.
So what kind of insole can be counted as a good pair of insoles? It should be said that there is no standard answer, but a few standards are definitely required.
1. The fit of the insole should be high
Why is fitness important? Quite simply, many NBA and even domestic top players and athletes will tailor their own insoles, and some insoles are even as high as $5,000 a pair. So why do you want to customize it? Yes, yes, this is the question of fit. The high degree of fit can ensure that the force-bearing area of the foot is maximized, thereby reducing the risk of excessive stretching of the local muscle fascia. A specific explanation requires simple physical principles: F=PS, F represents force, P represents pressure, and S represents the area. Compared with the flat insole (the contact points are concentrated on the forefoot and heel), the insole S1 with a high degree of fit >S2 (flat insole), then under the condition of a certain external impact, the pressure of the sole can be reduced to a minimum. So what kind of insole is considered a high-fitting insole? a. Must have arch support; b. Insoles are not completely flat and need to have a certain degree of foot wrapping, especially the heel; c. Metatarsal support. Simply put, it is to completely wrap the feet and minimize the neutral area.
2. The insole features a good shock absorption effect
The shock absorption effect of the insole is necessary, especially for some hard shoes, such as AJ1 and AJ6 shoes. Here I want to emphasize the difference between cushion and cushion. When choosing insoles, many JRs will emphasize the softness of the insoles, especially the strong sense of stepping on the feet, which is mainly represented by TP9. Many netizens can easily conclude the web comments: the insole is extremely soft and cozy, but it’s suitable for shopping, not suitable for enjoying golf, and the arch of the foot will be tired after wearing it for a long time. Why are you tired? You can imagine the following scenario: Playing volleyball on the beach, JRs should have been felt by some people, soft and comfortable, but strenuous. This is the utility of TP9. From this point of view, although the soft insole is comfortable, it is really not suitable for playing, especially for long time playing, it is especially easy to get tired and the feet are easy to be sore, so it cannot be used as professional basketball insoles. So what are the characteristics of professional basketball cushions? First of all, there must be a particular degree of softness. This is a consensus. The softness can increase the action time to achieve its shock absorption effect (P=Ft, F is the force and t is the time). Secondly, there must be a certain degree of hardness. Many people will be surprised. Hardness is also helpful for shock absorption? In fact, if the insole is too soft, it will have the effect of TP9, which is comfortable but not strong enough. The hard part mainly plays a supporting role and the effect of a soft valve. But how to achieve a certain degree of flexibility and hardness at the same time? In fact, this is quite simple, and many domestic insole manufacturers have done it, that is, the insole is divided into a frame part and a shock-absorbing part. Basically, the frame part will use EVA as the midsole, and the bottom of the frame will be equipped with shock-absorbing pads. This structure is basically concentrated on the forefoot and heel, thereby reducing the impact of the foot. A soft and hard fit can provide good shock absorption, the soft part can well absorb the impact, and the hard part has a good supporting effect, and it can also be used as a soft valve. Of course, the shock absorption of these two parts is absorbed by the material structure, and now most manufacturers at home and abroad are designed in this way. A more sophisticated way of damping should be damping in a different way of material + structure. But from the shock-absorbing pad, it should be both soft and hard.
3. The shock absorption effect of the arch of the foot
The introduction on this point actually belongs to the content of shock absorption, but because the shock absorption of the arch of the foot needs to be discussed separately, it is the third point. Why do basketball insoles need arch shock absorption? It should be said that arch shock absorption is needed. After all, the support of the arch can increase the contact surface, and at the same time can increase the shock absorption and tension resistance of the arch (especially excessive tension). I have read an introduction on foot arch design on the Internet before. I personally think it is quite comprehensive. Here I will quote some of its content: “The design of the foot arch pad is designed to protect the foot during exercise, not just Refers to the arch of the foot”. The main meaning of this sentence is often divided into two parts: 1. In order to protect the arch of the foot, we only need to fill the arch of the foot with sufficient filler to avoid the injury of the arch; 2. Sports protection of the arch support is not just a support The arch of the foot also needs adequate shock absorption. This puts forward relatively high requirements for the planning of foot arch shock absorption, one is to support (a certain degree of hardness), and therefore the other is to soak up shock (with a certain deformation ability). The support and shock absorption we talked about existed in the previous discussion. This is difficult to achieve on one material and requires two materials to cooperate. Therefore, it is difficult for many integrated insoles to achieve this effect, not only the TP9 we have seen before, nor even Nike or other high imitation or domestic insoles, and it is easy to cause arch fatigue if they are not done well. The problem. Many insole manufacturers will decompose this into two parts, the support part and the shock absorption part. This can solve this problem well, such as Decathlon basketball insoles and Sofsole. But what impressed me in that article is that the arch of Spenco GRF uses three-density materials to divide the shock absorption effect of the arch into three levels. This design has to be admired by us. From this point of view, the design of the arch of the foot should be both absorptive and supportive, not simply soft!
4. The wrapping of the heel
In fact, the wrapping of the heel is a little bit the same as the first point. There are two main points to emphasize independently: 1. The domestic does not pay enough attention to the wrapping of the heel. Many times everyone is emphasizing softness, and there is no domestic literature discussing it; 2. The package of the heel is very important. It not only involves the fit of the insole, but also the resistance to the imbalance of the outside world. It can be said that it has the same effect as high-top shoes.
Generally speaking, there is no single standard for the choice of basketball insoles. Everyone’s needs use, and characteristics of shoes are different. We need to choose according to our needs, or even not choose. But for JRs who play basketball, a good pair of basketball insoles is not only a better performance, but also a more responsible manifestation of your body. And we should jump out of a misunderstanding. A good basketball insole is not only soft, it should have at least the above four points: high fit of the insole, good shock absorption effect, arch support effect and strong heel wrapping. The choice of those four points isn’t only hard, but also soft. A good pair of basketball insoles should be composed of multiple components rather than one-piece compression pads, and different materials can be applied to different areas to meet their needs.
