Published online Jul 18, 2022. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v13.i7.652
Peer-review started: March 6, 2022
First decision: April 28, 2022
Revised: May 13, 2022
Accepted: June 24, 2022
Article in press: June 24, 2022
Published online: July 18, 2022
There is currently mixed and limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of orthotics use in increasing comfort and speed and reducing injury rate during running.
Further research into the effect of orthotics use on running-related injury (RRI) rates would be helpful for the ever-growing population of runners, who frequently suffer from RRIs. Additionally, there is a need to clarify whether orthotics use increases comfort during running and helps improve running speed.
To investigate whether running with Aetrex Orthotics improves comfort and performance and reduces injury whilst running.
A randomised control trial study design was used. Participants were regular runners over 18 with no serious health conditions, ongoing foot pain or deformity, previous foot surgery in their lifetime or any surgery in the past 6 months, recruited on a voluntary basis through local running clubs and social media advertisements. Participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention group or a control group. Participants in the intervention group ran with Aetrex orthotics inserted into their normal running shoes, whilst participants in the control group ran in their normal running shoes with no orthotics. All participants were asked to complete runs as they usually would and provide data regarding comfort during running, running time and distance, and any RRIs over an 8-wk study period. For each outcome variable, the mean for each group, effect size and 95% confidence interval were calculated, and a t-test was performed to determine if between-group differences were statistically significant.
This article presents the interim results from the first 47 participants recruited to this study (intervention group = 23, control group = 24), who provided data for all three primary outcomes from a total of 543 runs. Participants in the intervention group reported higher comfort scores (8.00 ± 1.41 vs 6.96 ± 2.03, P ≤ 0.0001), faster running speeds (6.27 ± 1.03 vs 6.00 ± 1.54, P = 0.013), and lower RRI rates (0.70 ± 1.01 vs 1.21 ± 1.53, P = 0.18) than participants in the control group. Statistical significance was considered if P < 0.05. The findings were statistically significant for comfort and running speed but not for RRI rate.
This interim report finds that using Aetrex Orthotics whilst running significantly increases comfort and speed. Using Aetrex Orthotics also reduces the rate of RRIs. However, this was not significant.
Further analysis, once recruitment and data collection in this study is complete, is needed to expand on the findings given in this report and provide a full analysis of the cost-benefit of using orthotics for running.