The Best Shoes for High Arches, Plantar Facitis, Painful Feet

The problem: You have diagnosed Plantar Facitis, high arches, or lingering pain in your ankles, knees, and lower back. I had to figure out my foibles alone and will give you the Cliff's Notes for a pain free life.

 This is difficult to solve for Americans since the big manufacturers are 95% focused on window dressing minimally supported footwear.

1. Shoes are all different. The most important component is the "last". This is the shape of the footbed in three dimensions. They can be pointy, squared, rounded at toe. Footbeds vary in width and height at key points.
1.A. The best features and buzzwords to look for are:

• Deep Heel (settles the base of the your foot for stability)
• Firm Arch (a floppy or flat arch is destabilizing and causes joint tenderness)
• Orthotic (this isn't a bad word!)
• Support (and some Neutral) lasts

1.B. Avoid the following

• Flat "Pillow insoles"
• Dr. Scholls (Gel and the multicolored "zones" are hype)
• Motion Control

2. The easiest solution to adjust existing (or desired footwear) is the SOLE Brand inserts (NOT Sof Sole or Superfeet as they are inferior, based on experience). This will fix around 90% of your problems.