The Insoles I Dropped Into My Walking Shoes

For about three years I have been negotiating with my knees. Mild to moderate osteoarthritis in both, the right worse than the left. I am 61, retired from a dental office, and I live in Bloomington, Minnesota, where the paved trail around the lake near my house is the best part of my day. Before my knees flared, four miles was normal. Then it was three. Then two and a half, with a bench stop in the middle and a nagging feeling that I was watching something shrink.

What I noticed, and it took me an embarrassingly long time, was that my knees complained more on concrete than on the softer stretches of trail. Same legs, same distance, different surface. That told me the problem was not only the joint. It was what the joint was absorbing. So I started looking at what was under my feet, and seven months ago I trimmed a pair of Dr. Scholl's Walk Longer Insoles into my walking shoes with a pair of kitchen scissors.

I want to be careful about what I claim here. The Dr. Scholl's insoles are plush foam cushioning with arch support, sized for women's 6 to 11 and trimmed to fit. They are not a treatment and they did not fix my knees. What they did was change how much of the pavement came up through my shoes and into my legs, and that turned out to matter more than I expected.

My knees complained more on concrete than on the softer stretches of trail. Same legs, same distance, different surface. That told me the problem was not only the joint.

The first week was strange. The insoles sit higher than the factory footbed, so my heel felt lifted and my shoes felt snug across the top. I wore them for a mile the first day and half of my usual loop the next, then gave my feet a day off. By the end of the second week I had stopped noticing them, which is exactly what I wanted. If you try them, give them that ramp. Do not do what I did with a pair of sandals years ago and wear something new for four miles on day one.

By about a month in, the honest version of the change is this: my knees still ache on stairs and after sitting, and they still tell me when I have overdone it. But the morning loop stopped being the thing that decided my whole day. I was finishing two and a half to three miles and getting on with my morning instead of sitting down with ice. I also noticed the difference on errand days, the ones where you are on your feet in a store for an hour and a half. That used to be a guaranteed evening on the couch.

I have replaced the Dr. Scholl's pair once, at around the six-month mark, because plush foam compresses. That is not a defect, it is what foam does. I keep the current pair in my walking shoes by the back door so I cannot talk myself out of a walk by claiming I cannot find them. When the weather turns, those same shoes go down to the treadmill in the basement, so the insoles come with me all winter.

The rest of my routine has not changed much and I think that is why I can tell you honestly that the insoles did something. I still wear a compression knee sleeve on the right knee for walks, still use a gel ice wrap for 15 to 20 minutes after a longer day, still use a topical gel on achy days exactly as the label directs, and I asked my doctor before I started that. I still take my trekking poles for the downhill stretch on the lake trail. The insoles were the cheapest, simplest piece of the whole setup and the one I would replace last.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

I would tell you to check with your doctor or your physical therapist first, because I am a retired office manager with sore knees and not a medical person, and because what helped me is not automatically what will help you. I would tell you that no insole repairs a joint, and anyone selling you one that does is selling you something else.

Then I would tell you to look at what you walk on. If you do your miles on concrete, on a treadmill belt, or on the tile floors of a big store, and your knees are worse on those days than on grass or a soft trail, cushioning is worth trying before you spend more on anything complicated. That is the whole reason I ended up with the Dr. Scholl's pair and not something with straps and a diagram. Trim them carefully along the guide line, break them in over a week like a sensible person, and expect to replace them in about six months. If your shoes are old and worn through, replace the shoes first. An insole cannot rescue a shoe that has given up.

And if you are someone who needs firm, rigid support under the arch for a specific reason, this plush foam is probably not your pair. Ask the person who treats your feet. I would rather tell you that now than have you buy them and be disappointed.