Podiatrist vs. Bootfitter

U better be sure ur insurance.covers the inaoles, because if not they will cost u waaaayyyyyy too much money.

go to the doctor if your medical insurance covers it. just make sure they make SKIING SPECIFIC footbeds. ones for shoes are not good for your ski boots

rarely is a podiatrist a boot-fitter... but there are some good boot-fitters who are C-Peds (certified pedorthists), whom I bet you will have better luck with.

I've seen boot-fitters put way nicer products than either, and I've seen C-Peds put out stellar ski footbeds... it just depends how good they are at understanding feet/bio-mechanics AND ski boots, not only one or the other.

So I went and talked to my podiatrist. He didn't really seem to know much about ski boots. He said he rarely gets requests to make custom boot insoles.

He told me that he sends the prescription for my foot (the same mold that he used for my shoe orthotic) to the lab and then the lab would know how to make the boot insole.

He seems to be treating the boot insoles the same as a shoe orthotic (using the same mold for my shoe orthotic etc.)


Is it safe to say that I should just go to a bootfitter?

I'd stick with the bootfitter, or as said above, a certified pedorthist. A corrective orthotic in a ski boot creates a whole different set of problems, as a ski boot itself is corrective to some degree, it limits the amount of side to side movement. A ski footbed is designed to support, give power and an additional degree of support. An orthotic is designed to create changes in your gated movement, it makes up for inadequacies in your biomechanics, which isn't what we want to do in a ski boot.

You are probably looking for something really custom but if youre cheap like me, go to dickssportinggoods.  In the shoe section they have insoles that you can heat up and drop into your boot. they only cost like $30