Metatarsal Shoe Inserts
Pain in the ball of your foot or the feeling of a pebble in your shoe that won't go away may actually be a condition called metatarsalgia. Your metatarsals are the small bones that connect the middle of your foot to your toes and they can bear a lot of pressure and strain. When they become painful, it is a good idea to see a doctor to get a proper diagnosis.
What is metatarsalgia?
Metatarsalgia 1 is a condition affecting the ball of your foot where it becomes painful and inflamed at the head of a metatarsal.
What are common symptoms of metatarsalgia?
Metatarsalgia can cause pain or a burning sensation in the ball of the foot. The pain can feel worse with activity and sometimes feel like a shooting pain or as if there is a pebble in your shoe.
For Metatarsalgia We Recommend:
The T-Series offers the greatest degree of arch support and is ideal for daily wear in regular volume shoes such as athletic trainers, work boots, and walking shoes. The T-Series incorporates Protalus's patented alignment technology to provide the structure and comfort you need.
Designed for casual or slip-on shoes with a removable insole.
Designed for casual or slip-on shoes with a non-removable insole.
What are common causes of metatarsalgia?
Metatarsalgia can happen to anyone but there are some factors that can make it more likely. Participating in high impact sports, wearing high heels or shoes that do not fit properly, being overweight, having anatomical abnormalities of the foot, or having gout can all make metatarsalgia more likely to occur.
What is metatarsal support?
One way people combat the pain of metatarsalgia is to add padding under the ball of their foot. The padding may come in the form of a simple toe pad or a full-length shoe insole.
What are the best insoles for metatarsal support?
Shoe insoles do more than just add cushion to a shoe. A good shoe insoles will help to align the foot properly which can minimize the pressure on the ball of the foot, reduce the impact of natural biological anomalies, and may correct the issues found in ill-fitting shoes such as a lack of arch support or flat soles that don't absorb shock. The M-Series provides the most arch support and cushion to ease the pain of metatarsalgia
1. Charen, D. A., Markowitz, J. S., Cheung, Z. B., Matijakovich, D. J., Chan, J. J., & Vulcano, E. (2018). Overview of Metatarsalgia. Orthopedics, 42(1). doi:10.3928/01477447-20181206-06
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Alignment - Patented Heel Cup
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We are so confident that you will love your insoles that we offer a full 90 day Love Them Or Your Money Back Guarantee. At any time during the first 90 days if you don’t love your new insoles, contact our Customer Service team for answers and solutions. If we cannot offer you a solution, we will accept the insoles back for a *full refund. Contact us directly for a prepaid return shipping label.
*While Return/Exchange shipping is always free any original shipping charges will not be refunded unless the return is a result of our error.
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Does the size not fit you? No problem - we will happily exchange them. For up to 90 days after your initial purchase we exchange our product for a different size.
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No matter how much you have used our insoles we will refund your full money at any time within 90 days from your purchase with no restocking fee.
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Patented Technology Makes It Possible
The difference lies in our patented TRI-Planar technology. Other insole companies place a stump under the arch and call it support. Our insoles focus on the cause of the problem rather than the symptoms, designed to help your body maintain a neutral ankle joint position, while still allowing full ranges of healthy movement. Proper joint alignment improves movement efficiency, reduces fatigue, and prevents injury to help you do what you love.
Reduced Risk of Injury
The bones of the ankle and heel are most stable when they are positioned in alignment. If they shift away from a center alignment, they become less stable.
Imagine pressure being placed on those unstable structures over and over again while you walk, run, or work. That is where the injuries can take place.
Injuries can present as chronic pain in the foot, knees, hips, and back. They may also include acute injuries such as an ankle sprain.
Keeping your hindfoot in alignment allows not only your bones but also the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments to properly handle the pressure placed on them from your feet through your back.
Better Balance
Your ankles and feet work together to manage how weight is distributed as you move
If your heels and ankles are not in their proper positions, they cannot properly distribute weight and this may lead to a less stable walking motion.
When your ankles and heels are out of alignment, your muscles, ligaments, and tendons often have to step in to ensure proper alignment and balance.
When these muscles become fatigued, they may not be able to handle the task properly and you become more likely to fall or become injured.
Increased Energy Efficiency
As you walk and move, your kinetic energy moves from your feet up through your body.
This energy can be seen when walking in sand. Sand kicks up behind you with each step. It is moved by the energy created when you move your foot.
Fatigued muscles don't pass as much of that energy onto the next structure. That is why walking in sand is tiring; energy is being lost and your muscles become fatigued.
An aligned kinetic chain allows the highest quantity of energy to be transferred up through your body, giving you more power and helping you feel less tired.
Better Pressure Distribution
The body is designed to distribute pressure so that your muscles can primarily be concerned with movement.
When the skeletal system becomes misaligned, especially at the joint between the heel and ankle, pressure is no longer distributed across the structures that are most able to deal with it.
Instead, other structures, such as the ligaments in the knees, hips, and ankles, must take on the job and that can lead them to become fatigued, sore, or injured.
Protalus insoles correct the misalignment so you can avoid fatique and injury.
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1 Year Product Guarantee
Effective for purchases made after 7/1/2023: If your insoles fail due to imperfections in the materials that go into the insoles or failure of those materials to perform due to compression or lack of fidelity to the original shape prior to 1 year from your purchase date, Protalus will replace the insoles for free. In the event that your insoles are no longer available due to a discontinuance of that model, Protalus will replace the insoles with a similar pair of equal value. Please note that all claims require proof of purchase and the original insoles to be shipped back to Protalus in Tualatin, Oregon and all claims must be approved by the Protalus customer service team prior to honoring this guarantee. customerservice@protalus.com. Limit one replacement per original purchase.
“I love them. Before discovering these Protalus inserts I’d experience severe knee pain. With wearing Protalus inserts in every pair of shoes I own I no longer have any knee pain. I don’t wear shoes without them.” -Donald E.L.