Foot orthoses in lower limb overuse conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis--critical appraisal and commentary

PainSci » bibliography » Richter et al 2011
updated Apr 7, 2017

Tags: treatment, overuse injury, running, orthotics, foot, knee, hip, bad news, injury, pain problems, exercise, self-treatment, leg, limbs, biomechanics, etiology, pro, devices

Five pages on PainSci cite Richter 2011: 1. The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome 2. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain 3. The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome 4. Shin Splints Treatment, The Complete Guide 5. Are Orthotics Worth It?

PainSci commentary on Richter 2011: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.

A review of studies of foot orthoses to treat overuse injuries of the lower limb with a mostly negative conclusion: “no difference between custom and prefabricated foot orthoses” and “the evidence was insufficient to recommend foot orthoses (custom or prefabricated).” (One thin ray of light was that the evidence supposedly supports the use of foot orthoses to prevent a first injury … but, even if true, hardly anyone seeks out orthoses before they develop an overuse injury. And why would they be good only for a first injury? Makes no sense, therefore likely not true.)

~ Paul Ingraham

original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

CONCLUSIONS: The evidence supports the use of foot orthoses to prevent a first occurrence of lower limb overuse conditions and shows no difference between custom and prefabricated foot orthoses. The evidence was insufficient to recommend foot orthoses (custom or prefabricated) for the treatment of lower limb overuse conditions.

This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:

Common interventional procedures for chronic non-cancer spine pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials. Wang 2025 BMJ.
Gabapentinoids and Risk of Hip Fracture. Leung 2024 JAMA Netw Open.
Classical Conditioning Fails to Elicit Allodynia in an Experimental Study with Healthy Humans. Madden 2017 Pain Med.
Topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) and eccentric exercises in the treatment of mid-portion achilles tendinopathy (the NEAT trial): a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Kirwan 2024 Br J Sports Med.
Placebo analgesia in physical and psychological interventions: Systematic review and meta-analysis of three-armed trials. Hohenschurz-Schmidt 2024 Eur J Pain.