Myth buster: You don’t need ski orthotics (footbeds)

Ray grinding away in the workshop making a custom ski orthotic

This is one of the more amusing myths going around about bootfitting at the moment: “You don’t need ski orthotics (footbeds) in ski boots”.

Clinically, we see this myth is untrue.

It’s important to remember that the foot evolved to walk, not ski, and many of the functions that support that ability when walking are counter productive in a ski boot. The foot is great at shock absorption and adapting to uneven surfaces. Not everyone needs general orthotics in their day to day footwear, but almost everyone sees immediate and significant benefits (and comfort) from them in their ski boots.

Thinking you can strengthen your foot enough to control a 6 foot long metal lever attached to your lower extremity so you can travel at 60+km/hr without support is one that’s hard to wrap our brains around and we go into our reasoning below. What might work for one person, doesn’t mean it translates into working for everyone.

Aspects of a boot fit that are directly driven by a ski orthotic in a ski boot are:

Movement

• Pronation is a good thing when walking—it’s a sign of a healthy foot. But in a ski boot, overpronation becomes a problem. It can lead to ankle roll, A-framing, and a foot that shifts and lengthens inside the boot. The result? Sore ankles, unstable turns, and a boot that feels loose. The more flexible your foot, the more dramatic these issues can be.

• Allowing the foot to continually change shape too much in a ski boot makes it very difficult to anchor the foot effectively in the ski boot. By getting a well-made ski orthotic in your boots, you stabilise the foot. This keeps the foot anchored in the right part of the boot, allowing your bootfitter to make any modifications or changes to the rest of the boot knowing exactly where the problem is.

• Stabilising the foot is key to better technique—no one performs at their best without control. It’s like trying to shoot a three-pointer with a medicine ball and trying to use maximum muscle strength to control it. A ski orthotic stabilises the foot’s movements.

Plantar pressure

• If you have ever looked at your footprint in the sand you can see that some parts of the foot have a deeper indent (take more load than others), and some don’t even touch the ground. In a ski boot this focused pressure over an entire ski day gets more than a little bit uncomfortable. A well made ski orthotic matches the bottom of your foot to the boot and evens out the load so that no one spot is taking too much pressure. It also allows a bootfitter to make an accommodation if one part of you foot needs to take less load for whatever the reason may be (like when you have curly toes).

• Since we’re talking about pressure on the soles of your feet, let’s look at another key difference between how your foot works in real life verse when in a ski boot. When you walk or run, pressure starts at the heel and moves forward, and there’s a swing or float phase meaning your foot gets a little break between steps. But in a ski boot, pressure moves from the forefoot to your heel as you turn, and there’s no float phase at all. That’s where a ski orthotic helps—it supports and manages that constant pressure transfer without overloading any one spot.

Muscle Fatigue

• The foot is built to manage 2 to 5 times your body weight when walking and running, in a primarily forward motion. Skiing at 60km/h can create well over 10 times your body weight in load- with much of this force being applied through the plastic shell and absorbed through the stiff structure of the boot. The big muscles – quads, hamstrings, glutes are ok with this, but even the muscles of the calf cannot manage these forces for a prolonged period. This is why ski boots are a hard rigid shell that go ¾ of the way to your knee.

In summary, ski boots and ski turns ask your feet to do things they were never designed to do—and that’s where ski orthotics step in. By stabilising the foot, distributing pressure evenly, and reducing unnecessary movement, a good ski orthotic makes your boots more comfortable and your technique more effective. It’s about foot support in an unnatural foot environment. So, if you want to ski longer, stronger, and with less pain, a ski orthotic might just be your new best friend on the mountain.

Bisecting the surface anatomy of the calcaneus for RCSP measurement

Want a bit more depth from a podiatry focused view? Read on below.

1. Feet evolved to walk, not ski

Over a quarter of the body’s bones are housed in the feet—26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. This complex structure is designed for adaptive movement, shock absorption, and propulsion during gait. In daily activities, feet manage 2.5 times your body weight while walking and up to 5 times while running. They’re built for dynamic, ever-changing terrain—not the rigid, high-speed demands of a ski boot.

2. Plantar pressure patterns are reversed in skiing

In walking gait, plantar pressure progresses from heel strike along the lateral border of the foot, across the forefoot, and exits via the first MTP joint. A float phase in running (swing phase in walking) allows the foot a break from ground reaction forces and the muscle contractions can ease.
In skiing, it’s the opposite. The centre of pressure begins at the medial forefoot when initiating a turn and travels posteriorly towards the midfoot and medial heel as the turn progresses. There is no swing phase—both feet are under load at all times. These sustained ground reaction forces, especially when skiing at speed or in variable conditions, are unlike anything encountered in normal ambulation. The foot didn’t evolve to handle these loads unsupported. A custom ski orthotic helps manage this abnormal loading pattern and is an integral part of the ski boot system.

3. Ski boots function best with even, controlled pressure

A well-fitted ski boot distributes pressure evenly across the dorsal and plantar surfaces of the foot, particularly when in a neutral stance. Without a contoured footbed, the mismatch between the foot’s complex plantar curves and the flat boot board results in excessive plantar pressure in focal areas (hot spots), reduced proprioceptive feedback, and diminished comfort and performance. There is little definitive evidence about ski boot fitting, so a lot is based on clinical findings and expert opinion - which is similar to much of health and wellbeing (go check out the Cochrane Library for what evidence is truly around). A properly designed ski orthotic supports the plantar surface, enhances alignment, and improves pressure distribution—while still allowing appropriate midfoot motion such as controlled pronation. Rigid arch-blocking orthotics are not suitable; a flexible orthotic that doesn’t block muscle activation and some medial arch flex for absorption is key to performance and comfort.

4. “You can strengthen your foot enough to ski without a footbed”

This one’s a tricky claim. From our point of view: the intrinsic foot muscles are not designed to manage the forces generated during skiing—particularly edge control at speed on hard snow. If you believe strength alone is enough, consider this: would you also try skiing without the rigid plastic shell of the ski boot? (Spoiler: soft shell boots were trialled in the early 2000s, and they disappeared for a reason—they didn’t work.) In our sports podiatry clinic we see a lot people who do not have enough intrinsic muscle strength to walk or run comfortably, let alone ski. To build the strength to manage these forces would take hours of daily specific exercises throughout the whole year. This seems like a lot of effort for a one week ski holiday. And even then, is it enough strength? There also is no evidence that using orthotics weakens muscles.

A ski orthotic isn’t about weakness—it’s about mechanical advantage. It’s a tool that allows the rest of the kinetic chain to function efficiently, reduces compensatory movement, and improves force transfer. The foot benefits from a stable, supported platform inside the boot.

Conclusion:

Skiing places the foot in a rigid, load-bearing position with reduced abduction and unique biomechanical demands—demands that far exceed what the intrinsic and extrinsic musculature can manage alone. A custom ski orthotic not only improves alignment and pressure distribution, but also enhances proprioception, reduces fatigue (and cramping), and allows the skier to perform with greater efficiency and control. Far from being a crutch, a well-designed orthotic is an essential tool in injury prevention and performance optimisation for skiers of all levels.

This is all based on clinical, anecdotal and research evidence in the literature, but we’re happy for an open discussion. What have you seen in practice?