Foot inserts are generally typically used to treat a range of biomechanical ailments of the foot and lower leg. These foot orthoses are inserts that are worn in the footwear to attempt to adjust positioning of the foot in a way that they help disorders in the feet and leg. These problems range from, for example, plantar fasciitis in the heel to medial stress syndrome that may happen in the legs of athletes. All the research evidence shows that the clinical outcomes with foot orthotics are generally beneficial and most people that have foot orthotics are happy with them. Nonetheless, foot inserts are only ever do any good if you actually use them. You do need to have proper footwear to wear them in and use them for long enough for the problem they were required for to resolve.

One of the issues with foot supports is that you simply need to use them in footwear. This may be a issue if you don't like wearing footwear or live in a warm environment in which the using of footwear is difficult. In these climates people like using jandals (referred to as ‘thongs’ in Australia) which you can not really wear with a foot orthotic. There are several options that are offered. One of those is to reduce the time that you are not using the foot inserts, so that you wear shoes with the foot orthotics enough and do not wear the sandals too much so that the painful condition does not occur. Another option is by using such things as the arch support sandals or jandals such as the Archie Thongs from Australia. These have some arch support included in them and may typically be used instead of foot supports. Shoes much like the Archies will usually not be as effective as a properly made foot supports, but they would be more than sufficient to supplement them and use when the proper shoes cannot or will not be worn.