breaking in orthotics

doh!  meant to post to Injuries & Health Issues.

How long to break them in I think depends a little bit on whether you've ever worn them or not.  I've worn custom orthotics for over a decade...so when I get a new pair my break in period is less than someone who has never owned a pair.

To break them in, you FIRST should wear them just walking around.  Don't even try running in them yet.  I would do that for at least a week.  In fact, most of them recommend wearing them for an hour the first day, two hours the second day, etc. until you can wear them all day for normal activities.

For running you can either back up your volume to where you are only running very very short distances to start out then up your distance slowly.  Last time I couldn't really afford to drop my distance so what we did was I alternated...10 minutes with the new orthotics, 10 minutes with the old ones, repeat.  It was annoying, but it worked.  After about a week I was able to run in them exclusively.  For what it's worth, I actually attempted the first run in them as a 40' straight thinking that was "short" for me at that point.  BAD IDEA.  I had all sorts of pains in one of my legs and had to quit about 25' in.  Did the alternating thing instead for about a week and was fine.

How are you going to know if they are okay?  Something is going to hurt.  For the first new set I got earlier this year it was a spot on my kneecap.  It was consistently hurting for several week so I went back to the orthotics place and told them where the pain was and they did some grinding.  It stopped after that so I guessed the tweak worked.

When I got the second new pair and tried to run 40' in them I had a bad pain in my hip and hamstring.

So, trust me...if they are not right, you'll know.

Thanks, Jennifer!

I've never owned a pair before, which is why I'm clueless.  I did the whole walking in them for a week, and had no real problem taking an hour-long stroll on the first day and doing a little bit of jogging here and there in the first week.  My run volume is next to nil right now, so I feel like I'm almost completely starting over, anyway.  I guess my other concern is that I haven't been without knee pain since the beginning of the calendar year, so don't know what to expect in the knee department.

Did you get them for knee issues?  Do you remember how your adjusting period went when you first started wearing them?