Can I rehabilitate my feet and get rid of my orthotics?
I play soccer and have been doing a weights program for a couple of months. I've just started reading starting strength.
I've been wearing orthotics in my shoes for years. I used to get sore ankles and knees after soccer games and also my feet would often roll outwards also causing foot/ankle pain. I saw a physiotherapist who said my feet had "fallen arches" and I had "lax ligaments" in my ankles. He gave me orthotics for my shoes which stopped the general ankle and knee pain. I also found I had to strap my feet/ankles for games to stop my feet from rolling.
I was wondering if there was anything I could do to restore my arches and maybe tighten the ligaments (if that's possible - don't know much about ligaments). I found this blog post online:
http://traineradvice.blogspot.com/20...ng-calves.html
The author says you can do isometric drills to strengthen muscles around the metatarsal joint and that clients of his have been able to throw out their orthotics after this type of training.
I'm just wondering if others here have heard of this method and used it with any success. Also, I'm wondering how you'd know when your muscles have become stable enough to forgo the orthotics.
Am I right in thinking I shouldn't lift barefoot if I can't rehabilitate my feet like this? Do orthotics work okay in weightlifting shoes?