To be or not to be: why do we need instep support in children’s shoes

When a child is facing some orthopedic problems, it’s always very frustrating for the parents. Particularly, most of them don’t know what instep support is and why children need it in their shoes. In this article, let's find out why was instep support even created and what functions it should perform, keep on reading!

First of all, as a parent, you should know that while walking, the child’s foot makes many movements. If we simplify this as much without referring to the complicated terminology, then we will get the following description. A healthy foot isn’t flat, but arched. During walking, and especially running, when the foot touches the surface, this arc straightens (this process is called pronation by experts), and then comes back to its previous state (it’s supination). Due to this simple action, we receive a load shock absorption during the foot contact with a hard surface. Why do we need this? In order to relieve the load on the joints, the spine, and even to prevent micro brain concussions. People who have flat feet, don’t have such pronation-supination connection, that’s why they don’t have any amortization effect while moving. In order to correct this disorder, instep supports were created. These are small rollers that allow creating foot supination.

Speaking about instep supports, we should say right along, that not all of them are the same. The most popular ones are the so-called orthopedic backings, which are used exactly for the treatment of flat feet, as well as for the post-injury foot or lower leg treatment. They help to restore the foot deflection, give the foot stability, and bring the ligaments, muscles, and joints of the leg to their proper anatomical position. However, there are some other options of the instep support that don’t have a therapeutic effect but can affect the development of a child's foot.