Has your child been experiencing foot and leg pain and been diagnosed with supination? Are you looking for a pair of orthotics to improve the way that your child walks and runs? Orthotics are shoe inserts that are specifically designed to offer cushioning, support, stability, and relief pressure areas of the foot. In this resource, you will find a list of the best orthotics for supination.
Let me start by clarifying what supination is: Supination occurs when a person strikes the ground first with the inside of the foot, which causes an uneven distribution of weight. If your children have been diagnosed with supination, then you must find a pair of supportive shoes and orthotics to help align your children’s feet and legs, and alleviate the pain that they have been experiencing. The correct type of shoes and orthotics will improve your children’s overall posture and allow them to walk and run straighter.
There are only a few orthotics that are effective in helping treat and correct your child’s supination. The good news is that I know exactly which ones they are from having fitted them before.
My Experience Fitting Children’s Shoes and Orthotics
I have been working for a specialized children’s shoe store for over 10 years now that focuses on children with “complicated” foot shapes and foot conditions, but we provide regular shoe fittings as well. Over the years I became familiar with the best shoes and orthotics for kids with supination.
When your kids supinate, the inward roll of their feet might cause your child’s knees, hips, and back to shift out of alignment. If you don’t find the correct pair of shoes and orthotics and leave this issue untreated, expect your children to have pain in their knees, hips, and back.
Orthotics for Supination — What a Difference These Orthotics Can Make!
We all have a degree of pronation and supination, the issue is when it becomes excessive. Let me show you an image of a child with supination:
Now let’s take a look at an image of the same child standing in a pair of the orthotics I recommend. Do you notice how the feet look a lot straighter?
If we fit this child in a pair of supportive shoes with the orthotics I recommend inside, we will see an immediate improvement in the child’s walking gait. Let me show you how straighter the feet look:
Something so simple as providing your child with the correct pair of shoes and orthotics might be all your child needs to treat the condition.
There are different types of orthotics such as soft, semi-rigid, and rigid. The ones I am most familiar with are not the custom-made ones but the ones “off the shelf”. How effective the orthotic will be for your child’s feet depends on whether it’s fitted in the correct type of shoes, and your child’s individual foot anatomy.
Are Children with High Arches More Likely to Supinate?
Children with high arches are more likely to supinate. This type of foot has stability and support but lacks flexibility for shock absorption. Please avoid a rigid orthotic for this foot type since it may actually increase the risk of injury, using an orthotic that provides cushioning will be helpful and make a difference in the way your child walks and runs.
Below you can find an image of a child with a high arch:
I have fitted several orthotics for children with supination before, and I know which ones are better from actually testing them by watching the child walk and run with them. There is one particular orthotic that has proven to be the most effective one when it comes to treating children with supination. This orthotic is biomechanically engineered to relieve over supination, forefoot, heel, arch and leg pain.
I will show you which are the best orthotics for supination, but first, let me show you which features these orthotics will provide to your child’s feet.
What Makes the Orthotics that I Recommend Ideal for Children with Supination?
The orthotics that I recommend are some of the most recommended by pediatricians and podiatrists to prevent supination. They have been specifically developed by podiatrists for treating kids who suffer from flat feet, rolled ankles, and supination. One of the greatest advantages of these orthotics is how they can be fitted in most shoes including school shoes, sports shoes and dress shoes.
1️⃣ Both of the orthotics that I recommend provide deep heel cups with targeted support right below the heels. This feature will help cushion and protect your child’s heels. Take a look at the images below for better visualization purposes:
2️⃣ The orthotics that I recommend can also help align your child’s feet and prevent foot imbalances that might be leading your child to put extra tension along the plantar fascia.
The type of orthotic that we want to provide for a child with supination must have a high arch and provide extra cushion to help redistribute the pressure on your children’s feet more evenly. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the best orthotics for supination.
The Best Orthotics for Kids with Mild Supination
Fits Toddler Shoe Size 5 up to Big Kid Shoe Size 3
- Fits a toddler shoe size 5 up to a big kid shoe size 3
- Medically approved insoles with targeted cushion and support
- Deep heel cup with strong arch support
- Made from lightweight yet supportive cushioning material with shock-absorbing heel and forefoot padding
- They can be trimmed to size with scissors if needed
Fits Big Kid Shoe Size 3 1/2 and Above
- Fits a big kid shoe size 3.5 up to a big kid shoe size 7 (available in adult sizes so you need to convert to kids’ shoe sizes)
- Built-in metatarsal raise
- Deep heel cup
- Developed by Australian podiatrists
- They can be trimmed to size with scissors if needed
If this orthotic is fitted properly in the correct pair of shoes, it will help align your kids’ feet and legs and improve their overall posture. This orthotic helps reduce the stress that your kids were placing in parts of their bodies where they were not supposed to.
Do You Need to Remove the Original Shoe Insoles Before Fitting this Orthotic?
Yes, you will have to remove the original insoles of the shoes before placing this orthotic inside the shoes.
The Best Orthotics for Kids with Moderate or Strong Supination
littleSTEPS orthotics provide a deep heel cup that helps control the alignment of the heel and lower leg, as well as medial and lateral flanges to help keep the foot aligned over the orthotic.
1️⃣ Deep heel cup that helps control the alignment of the heel and lower leg.
2️⃣ Medial and lateral flanges to help keep the foot aligned over the orthotic.
You Must Enter a Referral Code to Order this Orthotic
To place an order for littleSTEPS® Orthotics, you must submit a Referral Code during the ordering process. Enter the referral code JVFCS100121 in the Discount Window and you will get 10% off your order.
Do You Need to Remove the Original Shoe Insoles Before Fitting this Orthotic?
You won’t have to remove the original insoles of your child’s shoes before placing this orthotic inside the shoes.
Take a look at the chart below to figure out what size to order based on your child’s shoe size:
How effective these orthotics will be in re-aligning your child’s feet and improving your child’s walking gait depends specifically on the degree of your child’s supination. Do not hesitate to contact me if you are unsure about which orthotic will work best for your child’s supination:
fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com
Can You Fit Orthotics Inside Any Pair of Shoes?
The orthotics and the shoes work together when it comes to trying to reduce or fully eliminate the pain that your child is experiencing. If you provide your child with a pair of good and supportive orthotics but the shoes are too soft or flimsy, your child won’t get any of the benefits that the orthotics have to offer and vice versa.
Not all shoes will work with this type of orthotic. The shoes must be deep, supportive, but lightweight and flexible at the same time. It’s also important that the shoes come with a firm heel counter to provide good ankle support. The shoes must also come in different widths since orthotics do take extra space inside the shoes.
It’s also important to find shoes that come with removable insoles, otherwise, you will be raising your kids’ feet, giving them the impression that their feet are coming out of the shoe. Every time you fit an orthotic inside a shoe you must remove the original insoles. Go to the link below:
The Best Kids’ Shoes for Orthotics – Supportive and Comfortable Shoes
If your children are experiencing severe supination, you should strongly consider providing them with shoes that come with shoelaces instead of velcro closure. Shoes that come with shoelaces always provide better support and more stability, so it might be worth spending that extra time tying your kid’s shoes to get the full benefits of the orthotics.
Treating Supination Before it Leads to Bigger Issues
Having a certain degree of supination is normal. Your kids’ bodies are always growing and constantly changing, and when there is a slight roll in your child’s ankle it doesn’t mean that you need to rush off to see a doctor.
Just make sure you keep an eye out to make sure supination is not excessive and symptomatic. What I mean by this is to watch out for pain, fatigue, clumsiness, and developmental delays. Those are all symptoms of excessive supination.
It’s important that you act fast if your child has been diagnosed with supination. If you leave your child’s supination untreated, then your child might develop the following foot issues:
1️⃣ Calluses
2️⃣ Foot rigidity
3️⃣ Hammer toes
4️⃣ Ankle sprain and foot instability
5️⃣ Claw toes
6️⃣ Plantar Fasciitis
7️⃣ Back and hip pain
Children who supinate might be more inclined to sit rather than run and play due to the extra stress that they place on the outside of the foot with each step they take. This means that when your children are walking or running long distances they will experience foot fatigue and they might even refuse to participate in certain sports or activities.
Are Any Other Shoe Choices Available?
Do not hesitate to contact me if you are having a hard time finding a different pair of shoes for your child with supination:
fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com
Have you tried a particular orthotic that has worked well for your child with supination? Please share your thoughts and experiences below so other parents can benefit from them!
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