Best insoles for knee pain or lower back pain?

Yes – they are called "Strengthen and Stretch".

You can get details from you local physical therapist. Cost is about 20 minutes a day.

har har.

I suppose I should mention that there were injuries and botched surgeries in my past, along with having low arches.

I'm already much more active than most people who've been through the types of arthritis causing bone injuries I have.

Active people use insoles all the time, there's a huge market for them with runners. I have to assume that hikers also know their insoles better than the average city drone.

OK, then.

I've got no suggestions for an cushioning insole. And know nothing about them.

But it seems that if you are trying to reduce the impact getting to your knees, a 3 mm insole won't do much compared to a giant cushioned heel.

I'm not suggesting this specific shoe, only the concept.

Viable?

I've had ACL replacement in my right knee with a cadaver graft due to sports injuries. I'm sure I've also torn both of my meniscus a few times because I'm a maniac. Anyway, I bought some Superfeet insoles and they work well.

http://www.altrec.com/superfeet/orange-running-insoles-mens

I would suggest going to the orthopedist and getting a mold of your foot and shelling out some cash.

BTW:

Stretching your hammies and quads well is very important as well and will relieve a lot of pain. Also, make sure you wrap up ABOVE the knee, not so much on it or below it because your hammies and quads will overcompensate, not your calfs. But to the uninformed who have been able to go without injury, "strengthening and stretching" won't cut it after an injury. It's all about getting the sand out and sucking it up.

"But to the uninformed who have been able to go without injury, "strengthening and stretching" won't cut it after an injury."

Three surgeries so far. New knees in the not to distant future. And the way to best prolong what I've got is "S&S".

An unbalanced lateralis/medialis pulling the patella to the outside accounts for a lot of unnecessary surgeries, including the infamous "lateral release".

"S&S", especially after surgeries, is essential.

Living with pain and dysfunction is optional.

Have you tried those shoes on the trail yet?

I used to use some thick, green lined, neoprene insoles. At age 60, higher mileage days always hurt, so when I noticed my excessive pronation and my gait was not smooth, I went to a good, caring physical therapist who prescribed orthotic insoles. After the break-in period for the orthotics, the pain has not returned. The orthotics cost $250. An even larger expense was that they did not fit in any of my existing shoes. Orthotics were a similar, but better investment than a Nunatak bag or a cuben shelter.

Without getting to much into it, I'll have to agree with Greg. While, I've never been operated on, I have visited orthopedic surgeons, and sports medicine specialists for pains related to knees and and lower back. I tried superfeet green and blues in the past which worked well. However, what cured everything for me was being more mindful of my running form. Avoiding the heel strike, and buying shoes that encouraged a more natural gait have more or less done away with all knee related pains I used to experience. I don't even use insoles in my mountaineering boots anymore….even though stiff clunky double boots do bring back knee pains (very hard not to heel strike in those). For my lower back pains…I solved that by doing a lot of abdominal exercises (in reality, 10 mins a day, for a month). It's also hard to recommend someone an insole. I seriously searched for 10 mins with no avail, but anyways, there was a link to a science article here on BPL where a doc studied a large sample of soldiers who used insoles and who didnt. Those that used insoles had positive results, but there was no consistency as to what aspects of the insole were successful in helping the user achieve comfort. So if you're insistent on getting an insole, it seems like you're going to have to try everything yourself. But as mentioned, I had a pretty good experience with superfeet greens. A lot of people like the heat moldable "SOLE" brand insoles

Thanks go out to everyone who posted advice in this thread. I really appreciate it.

I'm going to continue to experiment with different insoles. I'm also going to look more into training my gait and the whole heel-strike thing. Sounds like it's time for more ab exercises.

The only thing I can really add is that sometimes living with pain is *not* optional or avoidable. I've had multiple surgeries but they can't get my knees right. I will say that staying as active as possible has lessened the pain I live with 24/7, so I can at least agree with the suck it up crowd.

Really, thanks again.

Yeah, I can't do anything to get rid of the pain completely; that's why I was a bit sarcastic about **only** stretching as pain relief (while it is true that it is the best thing, but can be supplemented).

I once went to a physical therapist after a probable meniscus tear on the knee that I was operated on and he measured the circumference of my thighs. My right thigh (the one that was operated on) was a full 2.5 CM smaller than my left thigh! Specifically, he said that my vastus medialus muscle was much smaller in my operated leg than my "good" leg.

This doc was ex-army and said that this muscle would cause many soldiers to fall down after 20+ mile days and need to be carried out because it wasn't developed as much as necessary for such strain. If you look at a diagram of the thigh muscles, you'll see that this muscle is on the inner side of the front of the thigh and is responsible for stabilizing the knee. So, you should work on strengthening this muscle for greater stability and less impact on your knee. A quick google search should help, but one exercise is to buy 5lb ankle weights and, while sitting, fully extend your leg out and hold it there until you can't keep it up any longer. Basically, anytime that you are standing or otherwise immobile you can just fully straighten/stiffen your leg and hold it for as long as you can. This will help your vastus medialus and thus your knee by extension.

Also, as was mentioned, strengthening your abs will greatly help your back. Thanks!