Fitting Tips from the Product Engineer

The directions say you should start by placing them 1/8" from the back of your shoe. These seems like it would place the bump right in the middle of your heel. Not the heel bone, but the heel pad.

So I put mine about 1 1/4" from the heel. In that position, they feel strange too. - Leslie

Leslie:

Please, follow the instructions. The "bump" as you call it is designed to be placed just in front of the tuberosities of the calcaneus - which is a part of the major heel bone, which is over the heel pad. Start as per the instructions - and only move forward if they are in fact uncomfortable.

What should happen is that the major heel bone, i.e. the calcaneus - see below - is slightly raised and rotated back. This leads to the entire body shifting slightly, and results in the weight shift and the improvement in posture that comes from proper placement of Insolia Inserts.

The 1/8th inch from the back of heel was the correct place for about 50% of the women we fitted over an early two day test at a hair dressers convention. (We fit a lot of Insolia Inserts that weekend...)

What this looks like from above is shown in the images below. The image on the left is the pressure map of a woman in 3 inch heels. The image on the right shows the same woman in the same shoes, with Insolia Inserts, and where the Insolia Insert was located.

It is important to see how the foot actually sits in the shoe. For example, if there is a visible 1/4 gap at the back of the shoe, I'll add that to the starting distance. When I'm fitting a woman wearing a Mule - a slip on heel with no back - I'll start with the Insolia Insert relative to the back of the foot and not the back of the shoe, which in some styles can be 1/2 inch behind the foot.

An other trick is I'll look for a visible foam pad in the shoe, and line the back edge of the Insolia Insert with the back edge of the foam.

Placement differences of as little as an 1/8th of an inch can make the difference between "Wow!" and "Huh?"

During that two day fitting marathon we fit several hundred women. We saw placement differences between feet as much as a half inch, and we sometimes rotated the inserts - as we show in the instructions - looking to find that comfortable placement. One woman with size 7 1/2 feet needed a small in one shoe and a medium in the other. And there were a few women who couldn't feel any benefit - but 80 percent did.

It is also important to note that feeling “weird” or “different” is ok - but pain isn’t. That is, you may notice the Insolia Inserts in your shoes - that’s ok - but, if they are uncomfortable or painful - they need to be moved. If after many moves you still can’t find a position that isn’t painful - remove them - and use our help form to ask for a refund. About 3% of women will not be comfortable with Insolia Inserts. That’s the price we pay for making something that actually works — someone has to be at the wrong end of the bell curve.

Not everyone will have the immediate "Wow". The big benefit of Insolia Inserts is actually pretty subtle - you can wear your high heels 3 to 4 times longer. The problem is, how do you notice the absence of pain?

In a killer "15 minute" shoe, the effect of Insolia is obvious immediately.

In a pretty good "4 hour" shoe, you have to wait awhile before you notice the difference, and by then most women have forgotten about the Insolia Inserts they installed. (Which is good.) One of my favorite emails (5th testimonial on this page) was from a woman who wore new high heels to a wedding, and it was her boy friend who pointed out to her the next day that she "didn't complain once" about her feet hurting. She went on, " I realized that he was right! I have never worn high heeled shoes for the first time without ending up with blisters or my feet hurting terribly."

One of my favorite blog posts about Insolia from the Stiletto Jungle nailed the "problem" of not noticing what Insolia Inserts have done for you. The writer wears "4 1/2 inches of pure pointy toe divaliciousness" for 10 hours and is disappointed that they felt "the exact same" as when she'd first put them on. Then she stopped and thought about it, "Damn. That's impressive." The relevant section is below.

"These babies are 4 1/2 inches of pure pointy toe divaliciousness poised on a single thin stiletto with nary a platform in sight. Seriously, they are so high that I practically get a nosebleed just by putting them on. They are not shoes for the weak at heart.

When I got the Insolia situated, after a rather involved and confusing procedure that required me to reposition several times, and finally tried on my shoes I was unimpressed. They felt just like the shoes always do when I first put them on: high, and not exactly sneaker-ish, but not painful. 10 hours later-- after a full day in the office and then hoofing it around the city from mailbox, to grocery store, to dry cleaner-- they felt the exact same. No happy spa feet feel. No squishy softness. I was disappointed until I stopped and thought about it. 10 hours in 4 1/2 inch stilettos and they still felt the exact same as when I first put them on. Damn. That's impressive."

I suspect that if she hadn't been wearing them to write a review she would have never noticed the absence of pain - just like the woman at the wedding who had to be reminded by her boyfriend.

One more issue: Most of my shoes have about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2" heels. Will insolia work for them as well?

Yes - Insolia Inserts will work from 1 1/2 inch heels on up. As described above - the effect will be subtler with lower heels - but - it's still there.

We have seen women be just as delighted with Insolia Inserts in 1 1/2 inch heels as others are with Insolia Inserts in 4 1/2 inch heels. It's all a matter of the fit of the shoe on your foot.

One final bit of advice - Insolia Inserts can make a Good Shoe Great - they can't make a bad shoe good. If the shoe doesn't fit, or is poorly made, Insolia Inserts are probably not going to fix the problem.

Hope this helps!

Brian Hughes - Insolia Product Engineer