Has anyone had specialist orthotics made using NHS?

As I've mentioned on here before I have had a lot of problems with my hips which have had a huge affect on my walking. However I just came back from a trip to the new forest and was taking the dog out each day while using some shop bought inserts in my wellies. It wasn't ideal but for some reason I seemed to manage a lot better than I normally do - I was sleeping better and not doing anything else but rest which probably helped and the ground was totally flat everywhere whereas at home I have slopes as soon as I step outside the door which cause huge problems with my hips. But yesterday we found a wooded walk that was very shaded and all flat and I managed to do a 1 mile circular route which is unbelievable - I can usually barely walk to the car and back. I struggled as soon as we hit an open field and it was sunny so it's clear that this is the main cause of problems for me and this morning my stomach has been so bad I wasn't sure we were going to be able to drive home so I paid the price. And my calves are absolutely killing me as the muscles there were doing all the work. But although I was in pain doing it it was nowhere near the level I usually get and it really helped that the insoles stopped my hips/ankles/knees rolling out as much as normal.

It did get me wondering if specialist orthotics would help though. Does anyone else use them and for what cause? Did they help? And is it possible to get this sorted on the NHS or have you had to go privately?

Oh and the walk was beautiful - found by accident but I thought that with the photosensitivity I'd miss out on countryside views now but this was a gem and perfect shading for me 😊

19 Replies

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Lupiknits

a year ago

My physio said I'm hypermobile, too. I said I thought it might be due to ballet training when we were encouraged to turn the hips out ( this was just young girl ballet, nothing more serious than a handful of certificates passed). Her reply was that you need the extra mobility to be able do that. In my case, compensating for the pelvic/hips pain might knock my knees out of alignment. Gone as far as I can with the physio,

The mobility is interesting. Have a nephew who, from the age of two, could leap a great height and land in perfect splits. He still does a lot of dance as a hobby. My younger son can put his hands on a table, fingers out, then twist his forearm to make his elbows bend the wrong way. He often did this when being told off at school. Teachers would rapidly forget what he was in trouble for! He showed me how to do it, I practised, then once decided to leave a boring meeting early. I got up and hurried through what I had to say, doing the elbow trick at the same time!

By the way, none of us has dislocated anything

Mifford

in reply to Lupiknits

I've never been double jointed to be able to do that but the physio seemed to think there may have been an excess of "bendiness" when I was younger without me being aware of it. I used to be able to put my forearms on the floor and didn't think anything of it as I used to stretch a lot at the gym so assumed it was because of that. My gp when I was having a medical at school at 11 or 12 was surprised at how far my leg lifted and the way my back over arched and thought I did gymnastics although I never did. Because it's gone on so long though I move in ways that hide it apparently and the other muscles and joints are so tight that it's not obvious. Even doing Pilates with the physio they couldn't see when I was using the wrong joint unless they actually held my hips in place. And when I bend forward my back stays totally flat - it wasn't until the physio showed me how far she could bend doing the same and got me to try and bend with my back curving over that I discovered how odd it was. She was fascinated by it so at least I'm an interesting oddity if nothing else lol