Foot supports are a commonly used intervention for a wide range of foot and lower leg dysfunctional conditions. These are designed and used to correct alignment and biomechanical issues. All of the scientific evidence is that they are likely to be quite effective and the patient satisfaction type evidence demonstrates that they are well accepted by those that use them. That will not imply that they don't have problems. They certainly do have problems. They are able to only be used in a shoe that has the room for the supports to fit into. This implies that they can not be used in certain types of sports footwear and some footwear found in certain occupations. Also, in some climates closed in shoes are not that popular because of the temperatures. Some individuals just have a philosophical argument to foot orthotics as they look at them to be unnatural and as crutches that ought to not be used.
Even though foot orthotics are pretty straight forward and will very easily be designed to work in the short to medium term there are alternate options if patients choose to pursue that choice. Exercise therapy is one choice and muscle strength may be improved and used instead. On the other hand, this will take several months to work and it may be a wise decision to use foot orthotics at first as they can help get some good improvement nearly straight away. If shoes are the problem and it is not possible for monetary, work-related, sporting or lifestyle reasons to alter the footwear, then there are choices like the Archie Flip Flops which come from Australia and have a reasonable volume of arch support constructed in. There are other types of footwear like these which do have arch support built in, but the amount is fairly small compared to the Archies and may not do much good. As always it is recommended to talk to your podiatrist about what they believe is the better decision for you.