Disclosure: I was provided these products from Heel That Pain for the product review; however, all opinions are my own.
Welcome back to another product review for Heel That Pain. Several months back I was approached by Heel That Pain to test a few of their products. Heel That Pain specializes in shoe inserts and cups used to help prevent and reduce conditions such as heel pain and Plantar Fasciitis. You can read the other Heel That Pain product reviews here.
They use a concept know at the Fascia Bar. “The Fascia-Bar technology present in Heel That Pain’s inserts, wraps and splints realigns the plantar fascia ligament to its proper position while providing therapeutic acupressure and cushioning to the heel bone. This combination not only provides rapid relief from pain, but also stimulates the human body’s natural ability to heal itself. In essence, the typical customer experiences progressive recovery with each step they take wearing our patented Fascia-Bar products. Our top orthotic, HTP Heel Seats, has a satisfaction rating of over 90%.”
Because I do not currently have, nor do I want, plantar faciitis, I reached out to several runners in my running group to test the heel seats. Each of these runners currently struggle with plantar faciitis, and are going through treatments of varying levels, so I figured who best to test these than them.
Here is a second review of the heel seats with one of my fellow runners.
I’ve been suffering from plantar fasciitis off and one for about two and a half years now. As anyone knows who has had it, I was able to run through it the majority of the time aside from a few instances when I would have to take a couple of weeks off due to a vicious flare up. I was given the heel cups from my friend and fellow runner David and asked to give them a try and a short write up of how I liked them for his blog. It should be noted: I’m currently coming back from a tear in my foot that has been suffering from the plantar fasciitis so my mileage is down and the intensity is pretty low. I’m probably only averaging about 15 miles a week right now. With all that being said, here is what I have to say about them:
When I first put them on, it was noticeable, but not in a particularly bad way. It felt more like a lump in my shoes. However, I also noticed a slight relief in my heel pain just by standing in them for the first time so I was very optimistic. Upon the first few steps running, I was still aware that they were there but as I got going, they were hardly noticeable at all. The cup fits my heel very well and there is no sliding either. No blisters to speak of during road running and my heel hasn’t felt this good in a long time. I don’t know if it’s the heel cups or the extended lay off I had, but I’ve been very happy with them and plan on using them for the foreseeable future.
I do have two complaints about them though. One, I tried wearing them in my work shoes since I noticed instant relief from just standing in them. However, due to the thin layer of material in dress socks, I could constantly feel the lip of the cup in my arch all the time. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just annoying so I took them out after one day. I don’t have that problem in my running shoes though but that is due to the thicker layer of socks that I have. The other problem that I came across was that I had some issues with them when I went trail running. I noticed on a couple of occasions that when I was running on ground that was not flat (rocky, bumpy, rooty, etc.), I got some blisters from the pad not to mention some general all around discomfort in the heel area. I only tried running twice in the woods with them and both times I felt this discomfort. But I never felt any discomfort or got any blisters while road running.
So in summary, I am very happy with the product. I would recommend them to a friend, but I would not recommend them for trail running.
Brian Donohue
Charleston, SC
I would like to thank Heel That Pain for asking me to review their products, and I hope this has helped others in their consideration shoe inserts.
For more information on specifics on my review of the product, you can contact me at doombuggyrunner@gmail.com. If you are a product manufacturer and would like for me to review your product here on Doombuggy Runner, you can also email me at doombuggyrunner@gmail.com.
Good luck and happy running.
