Disclosure: I received a pair of SOLE Footbeds for free in return for an honest review. I am not being paid to talk about or advertise their products. All opinions of the product are my own.
Ever since getting injured back in April/May, I've been taking every precaution I can to make sure that I don't get injured again. Injury sucks big time. I thought that I hated running prior to getting an Injury but it turns out that I really miss running when I'm not able to do it!
I knew that I didn't want to go through that again if I didn't have to, so I bought some items that would aid in recovery and injury prevention in the future(leave me a comment below if you'd find it useful for me to do a post on injury prevention!).
A while back, I was asked whether I would like to try out some SOLE Footbeds. I'd bought a pair of replacement insoles for my trainers back when I was injured but they weren't the best and we're quite cheap in quality, so when I had the opportunity to try out a good, quality pair of Footbeds, I jumped at the opportunity!
As a bit of a background to SOLE, they're a Canadian company founded in 2001 who create custom footbeds and footwear. They provide industry-best cushioning and support that is unique to each user and their feet.
Their footwear and footbeds have a unique orthopedic shape and mould-optimiszed materials that are used to adapt to your footbed and provide more arch support, and comfort for the user, much more than the generic insoles that you would usually find inside a pair of trainers/store bought insoles. The added benefit is that they don't come with the hefty price tag like custom made orthotics!
Many people who suffer from pain anywhere from the feet upwards, such as Sciatica, Plantar Fasciitis & Achilles Tendinitis have seen benefits when switching to Sole Footwear/Footbeds as they've helped to alleviate pain.
I picked out the Signature DK Response Footbeds from their website to try out. They were designed by ultra-marathon legend Dean Karnazes. The Signature DK Response insoles have a heat-mouldable layer which provides the customization support, ensuring maximum control and endurance - so they sounded perfect for what I needed.
In order to custom fit the footbeds to my own feet, there were two options to choose from. Wear Moulding or Heat Mould(in other words; Cook 'em!).
For heat moulding, I basically had to try them in my shoes(taking out the old insole first), make sure they were the right fit and didn't need trimming down to size.
I tried my trainers on with the footbeds to make sure everything felt right. However, I did had a weird pressure in one of my archs which I queried with SOLE. They explained that if I have one foot bigger than the other, then the arch can sit in a different position, hence why I felt more pressure - it could also be that my arch is lower on that foot but was re-assured that they wouldn't cause any problems and would probably help support my foot.
With this advice in mind - I went ahead and moulded the footbeds as per the instructions.
My oven was pre-heated to 90°C. The footbeds are placed into pre-heated oven for 2 minutes or until the opti-therm indicator on the bottom of the footbeds turned black(mine didn't turn black, so I just kept them in for maximum time recommended of 3 minutes).
After taking them out, they should be placed into footwear of your choice and you are to put your shoes on and stand still, shoulder width apart for 2 minutes to allow the footbeds to mould to your unique foot shape. After this, they're ready to use!
I built up my mileage slowly with my footbeds to be on the safe side and make sure that issue I had previously with the arch didn't cause any problems. I've been using the footbeds in my trainers for about a month now. I've not had any issues at all with them. They're comfortable and I definitely feel more supported with them compared to the cheap pair I had prior to these.
The insoles are also very sturdy and durable and definitely feel like they're going to last me a long time before they need to be replaced.
I'd highly recommend the investment into a good pair of insoles for you running shoes - especially if you're more prone to injuries or pain in the feet or legs!
You can check out SOLE's range of Footbeds for Women HERE and Men HERE if you're interested!
SOLE Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Ever since getting injured back in April/May, I've been taking every precaution I can to make sure that I don't get injured again. Injury sucks big time. I thought that I hated running prior to getting an Injury but it turns out that I really miss running when I'm not able to do it!
I knew that I didn't want to go through that again if I didn't have to, so I bought some items that would aid in recovery and injury prevention in the future(leave me a comment below if you'd find it useful for me to do a post on injury prevention!).
As a bit of a background to SOLE, they're a Canadian company founded in 2001 who create custom footbeds and footwear. They provide industry-best cushioning and support that is unique to each user and their feet.
Their footwear and footbeds have a unique orthopedic shape and mould-optimiszed materials that are used to adapt to your footbed and provide more arch support, and comfort for the user, much more than the generic insoles that you would usually find inside a pair of trainers/store bought insoles. The added benefit is that they don't come with the hefty price tag like custom made orthotics!
Many people who suffer from pain anywhere from the feet upwards, such as Sciatica, Plantar Fasciitis & Achilles Tendinitis have seen benefits when switching to Sole Footwear/Footbeds as they've helped to alleviate pain.
Read more about SOLE HERE!
I picked out the Signature DK Response Footbeds from their website to try out. They were designed by ultra-marathon legend Dean Karnazes. The Signature DK Response insoles have a heat-mouldable layer which provides the customization support, ensuring maximum control and endurance - so they sounded perfect for what I needed.
| Wear Moulding | Heat Moulding |
| the simplest way of moulding the footbeds, however, they take a bit longer for the footbed to mould to your feet - you basically just put them into your shoes of choice and wear them as normal. | provides the highest level of customization in the least amount of time and is the route that I took(plus, I was kind of intrigued to cook my footbeds ;) ) |
I tried my trainers on with the footbeds to make sure everything felt right. However, I did had a weird pressure in one of my archs which I queried with SOLE. They explained that if I have one foot bigger than the other, then the arch can sit in a different position, hence why I felt more pressure - it could also be that my arch is lower on that foot but was re-assured that they wouldn't cause any problems and would probably help support my foot.
With this advice in mind - I went ahead and moulded the footbeds as per the instructions.
My oven was pre-heated to 90°C. The footbeds are placed into pre-heated oven for 2 minutes or until the opti-therm indicator on the bottom of the footbeds turned black(mine didn't turn black, so I just kept them in for maximum time recommended of 3 minutes).
After taking them out, they should be placed into footwear of your choice and you are to put your shoes on and stand still, shoulder width apart for 2 minutes to allow the footbeds to mould to your unique foot shape. After this, they're ready to use!
I built up my mileage slowly with my footbeds to be on the safe side and make sure that issue I had previously with the arch didn't cause any problems. I've been using the footbeds in my trainers for about a month now. I've not had any issues at all with them. They're comfortable and I definitely feel more supported with them compared to the cheap pair I had prior to these.
The insoles are also very sturdy and durable and definitely feel like they're going to last me a long time before they need to be replaced.
I'd highly recommend the investment into a good pair of insoles for you running shoes - especially if you're more prone to injuries or pain in the feet or legs!
You can check out SOLE's range of Footbeds for Women HERE and Men HERE if you're interested!
SOLE Links
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Question: Do you have the generic insoles from your running shoes? or have you bought a pair of insoles for them?
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