********************************************************************************************* Relevant Background on safety shoes & Hazards: Most of the safety shoes protect your toes..but not the feet from the soles up! At construction sites, especially when framing walls and trusses, there are nails all over on the lvl. The nails puncture through the safety shoes easily violating the safe workplace policies...Open panels and hanging wires on a site may also cause safety concerns as safety shoes without rubber insoles do not provide a ground for the electrical current. Furthermore, walking barefoot in cold weather may lead to hypothermia and frost bites. The potential hazards from nail puncture and electrical shocks create a market for safety workboots that meet Electrical hazard standards and protective toe classification. For those shoes, that are not insulators or puncture resistant, a rubber insole may provide some temporary protection.
******************************** Relevant Background on orthopedic insoles: "A removable shoe insert, otherwise known as a foot orthosis, insole or inner sole accomplishes many number of purposes, including daily wear comfort, height enhancement, plantar fasciitis treatment, arch support, foot and joint pain relief from arthritis, overuse, injuries, leg length discrepancy, and other causes such as orthopedic correction and athletic performance. Medical use of foot orthoses has been criticized as lacking evidence of benefit, and practice is very inconsistent: reputed podiatrists prescribe completely different orthoses for a single patient. Further, effect of a given design of orthosis varies significantly by patient, and standard practice to personalize prescription is not available.[3] However, evidence is mixed: patients often report at least short-term improvements in comfort, and other studies have found effectiveness. There are three standard methods for fitting patients: plaster casts, foam box impressions, or three-dimensional computer imaging.... Traditionally they were created from plaster casts made from the patient's foot. These casts were made by wrapping dipped plaster or fiberglass strips around the foot to capture the form, then letting it dry and harden. Once the cast was hardened, the doctor would carefully remove it from the patient's foot and ship it, along with a prescription, to an orthotics lab which would use the negative of the cast to create an orthopedic insert. Recently, several companies have developed digital foot scanners that use specialized software to scan a patient's foot and create a "virtual" cast. These scans are made by having the patient place the foot onto a specialized flat image scanner that uses light and software to capture and create a 3D model. This 3D model is then electronically submitted (along with a prescription) to an orthotics lab, where it is used to program a CNC machine that will ultimately produce the orthopedic insert..." ("Shoe insert", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_insert).One may use 3d printed insoles of different sizes as a guide for orthopedic insole size. The main advantage is being able to measure size without removing insoles from packaging or using them to get a size on a foot. In both these cases, the price of the used or open box insoles will depreciate.
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