SOLE Custom Footbeds support the length of your foot from heel to toe, improving your balance. Balance increases athletic performance, reduces foot fatigue and helps prevent injury.

Balance is the ability of the body to maintain equilibrium. Your body achieves this through proprioception. Proprioception is the awareness of posture, movement, and changes in equilibrium and the knowledge of position, weight, and resistance of objects in relation to the body (Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary). For perfect proprioception your feet need to be aware of what is under them. If they are not properly supported, the body's internal balance is easily disturbed (Wikipedia, 2006). New research shows that custom insoles can improve proprioception which in turn helps the body achieve balance.

Mechanoreceptors are located throughout the body, including the joints, muscles and under the skin. These receptors respond to pressure by transmitting signals to the brain, which processes this information and then responds by activating the appropriate muscles (Rotundo, 2006; Wikipedia, 2006). Custom insoles enhance this effect by allowing the mechanoreceptors on the foot to detect the foot's position earlier while in motion (Razeghi & Batt, 2000). As a result, muscles controlling the foot are activated sooner, reducing excessive internal rotation of the lower leg and knee, known as overpronation (Bolgla, Hazle & Malone, 2004). The reduction of overpronation helps the body achieve balance.

Current research has suggested that when an individual supports their feet and improves their posture, they in turn stabilize the interplay between the lower extremity and the spine (Greenawalt, 2001). This is illustrated in a study by Stude and Brink (1997), where experienced golfers that wore custom-made orthotics daily for a period of six weeks showed improvement in balance and proprioception (Greenawalt, 2001). Since experienced golfers are likely to have already maximized their coordination and balance abilities, the substantial increase in performance can be linked directly to the custom footbeds (Ibid). Even if individuals do not have any symptoms of foot pain, their feet, knees and lower back can benefit from the increased balance, support and prevention of future injury that custom insoles can provide (Ibid).

SOLE Custom Footbeds support your feet from heel to toe, providing a continuous contact point between your feet and the ground. This increases stability and allows the body's innate sense of balance to work more efficiently. Increased stability means your body can spend less energy maintaining balance, providing more energy for power, coordination, and endurance.