Read the experience report of a surgeon from Italy:

Dr. A. Tutzer, specialist in orthopedics and surgeon, Bolzano, Italy:

As an orthopedic surgeon in a large Italian hospital, I performed foot surgeries to treat foot problems. I started using Step Forward to treat patients in 2015 and was impressed with the correction of many problems, particularly hallux valgus. By using these aids plus simple exercises. This is something I haven't seen before with any other tool. In particular, with specially made insoles. Some of my surgical colleagues are now also using Step Forward as the first and often only treatment for what would otherwise require surgery. I urge health professionals and surgeons to give due consideration to these medical devices to ensure the best patient care and outcomes. (October 2018)

Foot Diseases - Surgery Or Insoles?

The biomechanical system of the foot is an interplay of static and dynamic structures, of passive and active components, which ensure the ability to withstand the enormous forces we are exposed to every day. However, the morphology of the foot is subject to continuous physiological development, which begins in childhood and extends into old age. Physiological changes are strongly stimulated and primarily influenced by individual activity and the different types of shoes worn and can lead to pathological changes. These pathological changes are mainly the cause of the exhaustion of the structures, which is found in the laxity of the ligaments, joint capsules and muscles. These symptoms can be found, for example, in the clinical picture of diseases such as flat feet, crookedness of the big toe (hallux valgus), plantar fascia, metatarsalgia, which in turn can be remedied by special physiotherapeutic treatment, surgical interventions and the support of insoles.

Surgery and traditional insoles

One might think that physical therapy is the best way to cure these foot diseases. But the reality is very different: It has almost become fashionable to treat the symptoms of "exhausted" feet surgically. The development of less invasive techniques necessitates surgery aimed at treating bone anatomy and changing the action of the muscle tendon, which is a very effective solution for both the patient and the doctor.

The market for insoles has also grown strongly in recent years, so that it has become really huge: insoles that are more or less made to measure, prescribed as symptomatic treatment and aimed at compensating for the deficits of the exhausted foot, but nothing else pretending to make it even weaker than it already is: passive means for a passive foot.

The role of the physiotherapist

And what happens to the active foot system? Is it not known? This is where the physiotherapist comes in and plays a major role. In fact, the active structures remain the basis for the proper functioning of the podiatry and in this context it is necessary to start the actual treatment aimed at combating the cause that is the origin of the Represents foot pathology. It is important to reactivate the musculo-tendinous apparatus and actively realign the bone and ligament structures. However, the effectiveness of physiotherapeutic treatment is closely linked to the cooperation of the patient: exercises that must be performed independently after re-education, after illustration and explanation by the physiotherapist. Therefore, without continuous, independent collaboration, the results will not last, if not negligible.

Innovative orthoses to support the physiotherapist

An excellent instrument for expanding the possibilities of physiotherapy and supporting the specialist staff is treatment with the new types of active insoles, which have recently also been introduced on the German market: These are insoles that not only act as proprioceptive stimulators but because they are elastic, they also train the intrinsic muscles of the foot. With every step, the foot actively adopts the ideal anatomical shape of the footbed. The medical device is set up to function like a real little gym for the foot. The concept is really revolutionary, because the Step Forward insole does not passively support the foot like a classic orthopedic insole, but trains it continuously and actively supports it. The principle on which this insole is based is innovative and, although it has been tried and tested in other countries for decades and recognized in America since the 1970s, the lines and methods used in traditional orthopedic treatment in Europe still have to be overcome and “broken through” " will. In fact, these proprioceptive insoles represent a whole new approach for the physical therapist, a powerful tool in combating the most common foot diseases since their inception. So that the operation is no longer just the only way out.