Standing All Day Causing Heel Pain? Custom Orthotics Can Help!

Unlike when you walk or run, when you stand in one spot, your feet and legs can never relax. Instead, they remain engaged, supporting your full body weight the entire time. Given this pressure, spending hours standing up puts lots of strain on your arches. Tugging at your plantar fascia and causing the pain and inflammation of plantar fasciitis. 

Preventing Heel Pain When Standing Isn’t Optional

While standing puts tons of pressure on your feet, there are lots of things you can do to help prevent pain. 

First of all, sit down whenever you have a chance. Just five minutes of rest, scattered throughout the day., can take enough pressure off your arches to prevent flattening—and heel pain! When you take that break, try and elevate your feet above your heart. Or, if that’s not possible during the day, at least lie down and prop them up at the end of the day. At that time, it would also be a good idea to give your feet a nice soak in warm, soothing water, adding Epsom salts for extra benefits. 

While standing, try to shift your weight or stand in different positions. If possible, try to walk around a bit, even in a small area, to give clenched muscles a break and make sure one spot on your feet or heels doesn’t take all the pressure. 

To minimize the pressure coming from the floor, try to soften your standing surface by putting down special rubber mat designed to prevent foot fatigue. 

Of course, the shoes you choose to wear will also make a difference, as noted earlier. Choosing comfortable and supportive sneakers with plenty of wiggle room will help reduce the impact of standing. And, if sneakers alone aren’t enough to keep your aching heels happy, we’ve got a lasting—and simple—solution: custom orthotics! 

Custom Orthotics: A Long-Term Solution to Heel Pain

When you have to stand all day, even the most supportive sneakers may not be able to prevent heel pain. In those cases, adding custom orthotics to your shoes will offer the extra support you need to counteract that pressure on your arches and heels.

Why are custom orthotics so effective at reducing pain and inflammation in your heels? Because orthotics are custom medical devices crafted to fit your individual foot shape, they can reduce pressure exactly where you’re feeling the pain. In this way, they can support the exact spots on your feet and heels that were absorbing the pressure of standing. And the result? Lasting heel pain relief, no matter how long you spend on your feet each day. 

But heel pain relief is not the only benefit you can get from orthotics. Over time, these supportive devices improve your gait, eliminating pressure points on the feet and keeping you from overloading your support system. Because of that effect, many people who wear orthotics also find they become more efficient walkers, runners and athletes.