Dear Readers,

I have a confession to make.  I am a junkie.  An orthotic junkie, that is.  I have recently added significantly to my collection of orthotics made right here in Tucson by the famous Bill Peterson of Foot Fitness.

Foot Fitness is a sports performance and pedorthotic center where Bill and his team mold custom orthotics, analyze your movement on the bike or run, and generally work their magic.  I first saw Bill a little over a year ago when I got my first pair of cycling orthotics.  At the time, he took measurements of my feet, hips, leg length, and more.  When I went back to Bill approximately a year later, my  arches had improved significantly in shape and were no longer dropping and flat.  Unfortunately, due to my knee surgery and diving back into racing too quickly with a gimp leg, I had twisted myself quite a bit on the bike.  Bill tweaked things a bit on my bike and told me to start doing my PT exercises again.    Bill will set you straight.  No pun intended!

So needless to say, I took some time off this fall to de-twist my hips and do my PT.  Meanwhile, since the surgery was supposed to fix my knee for running and walking, I decided to do those things again.  You know, those things you aren’t “supposed” to do when you are a bike racer.  So I went back to Bill and got some running orthotics.  The running orthotics have full support and work great for what they are intended for…running and hiking.  However, they are not so good for being on your feet for three days at Interbike, which is exactly what I did with them this September.  My feet retaliated.  They were not happy feet.  And since Bill and Foot Fitness are all about happy feet, I knew they would have a solution.

So back to Bill!  I asked him to set me up with some casual orthotics, which are good for standing around and casual walking.  Now, with most orthotics, there is a little adjustment period, but the casual orthotics felt great from the start.  I wore them for 3-days straight working at the El Tour Expo for Cliff Bar a few weeks back, and coupled with some awesome Recovery Socks, I felt great after 3 days standing on a concrete floor.

Needless to say, I am running out of new orthotics to add to my collection.  I have most of my bases covered…that is until Bill comes out with a flip-flop sandal orthotic.  For anyone who is having trouble on the bike or running, orthotics are definitely the way to go.  They have made a huge difference for me on and off the bike and have helped me to correct years of being out-of-whack.  I am hooked!

Go to the Source – melaniemeyers.missingsaddle.com