These can be an easy task once you know your shoes and needs.
The first thing is to check the toe room of your shoes.
Some shoes have a minimum or no space at all to accommodate insoles with extra padding,
especially at the toes area.
Also, you need to know if the current insoles, if any, can be removed or not from the footwear,
some sneakers have a removable insole with a small cup at the heel area, others are glued and can’t pull it out from the shoe.
Once you have inspected the midsole of the shoe and the toe box, you can decide what insole thickness can fit adequately into the footwear without being tight.
If your shoes have plenty of room to accommodate ” full-length insoles,” it is the best choice since you can have a well cushioned from the heel to the toes, providing some comfort or excellent comfort depending on the materials and thickness on the insoles.
If the shoes have limited room at the toes area, you might choose insoles in length called “Sulcus or 3/4 of total length insoles” it means that the insoles have trimmed the toes area, so there is no pressure at the toes. This type of insoles will give cushioning to the heel area, the arch area and the area of the ball of the foot, where most of the weight and pressure falls.
If the shoes are tight with no room at the toes area and at the ball of the foot (this is the area that you can flex to go almost on your tippy toes) very common on dressy shoes and female pumps. Then you can use short insoles also known as ” met length or metatarsal length insoles.” These insoles will give cushioning mainly to the heel area and arch of the foot.
Also, you need to have in mind your activity level, will you use your insoles for walking a lot or running? If so, try using thicker insoles that can absorb shock better than the thin ones.
Persons with extra weight or heavy should try insoles that have a bit stiffer materials, so they do not compress too soon.
Another approach to better cushioning is to know if you have a flat foot (no arch at all), medium arch (regular high), very high arch foot (Cavus foot). You might need to add an extra cushioning at the arch of the foot or add a dome padding at the ball of the foot to give some relief of burning sensation at the end of the day after standing or walking for long periods of time.
Check our other post about materials used on our flat insoles and how to make an insole template for making custom size insoles.