Did you know that 80% of knee, hip and back pain comes from the feet? This is because we evolved over thousands of years to learn how to get down from a tree to walk around in bare feet on soil, grass and sand. Nowadays we spend most of our lives in shoes walking around on hard surfaces both in the workplace and in the street. Even in the home we’ve been encouraged to take out soft furnishing such as carpets and, instead, we walk on wooden floors, laminate and tiles.
When we walk on soft surfaces, much of the energy that we use when we walk is absorbed into the ground, cushioning the impact on the foot and our joints. When we walk on hard surfaces, it’s our bodies which absorb all the impact, putting greater stress on the joints and affecting our knees, hips and lower back.
People are constantly looking for cushioned footwear to absorb this pressure, paying upwards of £60 for shoes which have a filling of memory foam to absorb the shock. The problem with memory foam is that, after a time, it gets amnesia and flattens, rendering the cushioning in the shoes useless – time to buy another pair or two of shoes.
So how can Sole Mates insoles help? Sole Mates insoles aren’t made from gel or foam, they contain a fluid and a fluid doesn’t flatten or wear out. They work on the same principle as a water bed, forming to the shape of the foot to give overall protection but also acting as a shock absorber to the foot and the body. As you walk your foot pushes against the fluid which ‘gives’ by moving across the foot, using the energy to create a massaging effect on the foot which, in turn, helps increase circulation.
This cushioning takes immediate pressure of the knee, hips and the back, reducing stress on the joints and massively reducing the impact passing back up through the body. Even when walking on hard surfaces it’s almost like floating the difference is so great. And the other benefits of using Sole Mates, is that they are thin enough to fit in any pair of shoes and they come with a two year warranty. If they are damaged in any way during that time – they’re replaced. And at £27.50per pair – that works out at just over £1 per month. Not a bad price for comfort and being able to walk pain-free.