Anyway, reflecting on this hard task, it was actually beneficial. It has paid off the perseverance. C'mon, orthotics and biomechanics are the bread and butter of today's Podiatry world. they're the money making bit of Podiatry. At the hospital I'm working musculoskeletal consultation alone costs around £60-120 and these orthotics would normally cost up to £200-600 a pair!! How and why should I mess it up? It's my bread and butter soon.
Talking about the cheat, well, it was because I skipped a step, Which was to put expansions to the positive cast. Which resulted the orthotic material to float on the 1st ray upon inversion to put subtalar joint into neutral. But I could have used forefoot expansion which meant I would have to bevel more and looking at angles etc. Too much work! Then I thought I would try the cheeky way to cheat by heating the ends and press it hard by using hairdryer at home. So I brought it back and tried it. I was pessimistic towards this however as the polypropylene hardly moulded in temperature below 200 deg, let alone the heat from a home hairdryer!! But hey, never say never. It worked! AD the orthotics guru, who is my bestmate couldn't believe it himself. He kept on saying "oh my days!" to his disbelief! On that note, I am happy!
Cheating in the action
The result
To the curious peeps out there, these were made from just plain flat sheets of materials, into what you have just seen above!!
On top of this, the notion that made me proud is that, I did it all by myself with no input from lecturers!
It's actually fun to see people's faces in orthotics. It is always filled with drama! Broken foot casts, things falling apart, tears, fights, accidents... and not to forget, burns! yes I burnt myself before!
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