5 Best Orthotics For Athletes

Real foot doctor ranks the best 5 orthotics for athletes summer 2022

Confused on what custom orthotics to get? This guide has you covered:

These are my top 5 orthotics for athletes especially court sports and running but all of these inserts on this list I also like for every day use in shoes and sneakers when I am looking for the best orthotics and inserts for work shoes, walking and standing jobs.

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My Favorite Shoe Laces:

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As a foot doctor I look at tennis and basketball shoes and orthotic and sneaker technology a bit differently as I focus more on what foot types benefit from these shoes as well as the basketball shoe's functional attributes on the basketball court

DISCLOSURE: I often review or link to products I regularly use and think you might find helpful. Wherever possible we use referral links, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase I may receive a small commission or other compensation.

Disclaimer : This is not medical advice, nor can I give you medical advice. Everything here including videos and comment responses is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing medical advice. You should contact your doctor to obtain advice with respect to any health issue or condition. Nothing here should be construed to form a doctor patient relationship.

[DamianLillard]

Shoutout to Dr. Zach for the Move Insoles love!

[NotKurt]

As a recreational basketball player, I picked up a posterior tibialis strain. I looked into orthotics to help me ease back into work (walking a lot) and basketball. Powerstep Pinnacles were a great recommendation by you! I love them and I ordered two pairs

[anthonyquinonez]

Game day pro’s are goated for me. These have literally brought my feet back to life. I’m ordering the regular ones for everyday wear as well. The vktry’s messed up my Achilles with the rubbery feel and stiff carbon fiber but the flexibility of the pros helped a lot. I am also flat footed so idk if that made a difference with the high arch of the pros.

[Wladislav]

Thank you for also including the skate-oriented insoles like FP.

[donniev]

Best cheap insoles I've found are the Sofcomfort sport insoles. I've not really tried the expensive insoles as I seem to go through them so fast. One thing I wish insole companies would pay more attention to is comfort for the toes. Thanks for the video.

[sl]

I have to give high praise to an insert you didn't mention, Spenco Total Support Max, best I've ever worn -- and I wore Powerstep Pinnacle and Pinnacle Maxx for years, but no more. If you have Peroneal Tendonitis, it is hard to find an insole that does not put more pressure on the lateral part of the foot, all along the peroneal tendon area along the outside of my foot and underneath the outer foot. Powersteps helped when I had Plantar Fasciitis, but gave no relief for my Peroneal Tendondits and actually made it more painful. Spenco Total Support Max gave me relief, thank God. Finally. I've suffered with this for over a year and kept thinking it could not be the inserts, but it was. They were making it worse. I didn't realize it until a podiatrist told me to try the Spenco. Instant relief, after 14 months of pain. The deep heel cup cradles the outer foot instead of pressuring it like Powersteps.

[levelxrock]

I play tennis, squash and pickleball. A while back, probably a year+ now, the PPA was running Ads for this orthotic brand Zelus, so I decided to try them out. I have their Pro and Sport models. The Pro's are fantastic, very supportive.
I am notorious now for having turf/tennis toe on my big toe on my right foot ( I am a right handed player), and some ball of foot pain off and on on the right foot as well. These Pro models alleviated that right away and are very comfy, they have these rubber like cupped cells underneath your forefoot and heel.
Though the downside is they are a bit bulky and slightly hefty and will change the fit/feel of your shoe, unless if you go a 1/2 size up and then use them to help fill that little bit of extra space, it seems to work out nicely.
The Sport models are also great, comfy with decent support, I don't feel much of the tennis toe/ball of foot ache/pain in them, but it's not as great as the Pro's as the amount of the cupped cells are smaller areas and more limited.
The benefit of the Sport's though is they are a little slimmer/thinner profile, so they won't mess with your shoe fit.
Would love to hear your thoughts on them - Zelus Insoles. I can't paste a link in a comment or YouTube deletes my comment for whatever reason.

Now having said that, I just came across these older videos of yours, and first I've heard of these Move insoles, I am tempted to try out the Gameday Pro's because I want great support and the performance aspect for these dynamic moving sports, but with not as much of a bulk or heft.
Thanks!

[tennnis]

I have to agree on the Powerstep being a great value. Although they are not meant to be cut (with a plastic plate), I use a dremel to cut this to match my insole exactly. If I have to put some glue in at some point, so be it. The insight from Footprint was that if you don’t trim insoles for exact match to original, they catch on the sides of shoe and affect performance. Although I’m not staying with FP, that tip alone was worth the price of a set of their insoles for me.

[mykey]

Question... how often should you be replacing your orthotics? i.e. Game Day Pro if i buy one. Thanks!

[KarlMusic]

I have been considering the Game Day Pros and the VKTRY insoles. I have flat feet and play basketball. Which would you advise? Thanks for your help and love your content

[OMINOIDmusic]

hi. im a drummer and have a prolonged (5 year) stress fracture in my right foot from the bass drum pedal in the second and third metatarsals. i also made it worse by running. is there anything that you can recommend for my feet? i need to be able to play drums for two hours a day. i usually play high intensity rock n roll. its my life.

i had switched to barefoot running shoes both for running and drumming and they may have caused problems.

[Leon-eufc]

Great vid! I feel like this topic gets overlooked by most in the athletic shoe space for some reason so thanks for shedding some light on it!

Another potentially interesting vid idea may be ranking stock insoles that come with the latest various tennis / basketball shoes and their quality or mainly lack there of lol

[luckyaces]

Been waiting for this content doc! Another fire content! 🔥🔥

[gonefishing]

Thanks for this review! I developed pf after running in "for looks" shoes for a few days bc I couldn't find one of my reg workout shoes, bad mistake! But the Powerstep pinnacle Maxx support really helped me instantly! Thanks again.

[ScottDreyfus]

Went with powerstep this year and they are even better than the Move insoles if you need more stability. The move is more comfortable but the powerstep is better if you gotta go all day. I’m using the pinnacle and maxx in my hikers and the pulse in my trainers for dry afternoon quick loops. I did just order the bridge and am looking forward to trying the softer memory foam.

[LordVlad]

Great review Dr Zach, always given us great quality content!! 💪🏿🧠💯

Cannot wait for the review of the Li-Ning Bad Five 3.0 Ultra those are bad boys !!! 🏆🏆🏆

[kdrkid]

I have had 4 back surgeries and have limited disc material in l 2 3. Every time I impact my spine I get shocks into my glutes. Can you recommend an orthopedic that is the best as absorbing shock?

[Nucifero]

Awesome video! I had the superfeet green and black and they were extremely painful. Was disappointed at the price and how they didn't help much. The move GameDay pros is 100% the best I've ever worn. Definitely earns the top spot

[MC-omom]

As a figure skater, would you think it would be viable to COMBINE the FP (flat, shock absorption) with a properly shaped orthotic? Perhaps place the FP over or under the other orthotic?
Or would this compromise support by allowing slippage between the layers?

[maciejgawronski]

Hello Zach, thanks for a great video. I have two questions. The first one is about the PowerSteps, you mention "PowerStep Pinnacle Max" in the video several times, but what you show is in fact the standard PowerStep Pinnacle insole. You also link to the standard one. Can you explain this? And the other question, I've got the Move Game Day Pros and they are very good, but after a couple of hours they got really flattened out in the ball of foot area. They're like 1mm thick there and almost rock hard. The balls of my feet have been hurting lately because of that. Can you recommend an insole that will have a similar arch support as the Game Day Pros, but better (more durable) forefoot cushioning? Will the PowerStep Pinnacle (Max) be better in that aspect? Thank you