TRM Reviews: OrthoLite Fusion insoles

I'm not one of those people who spends a lot of time and effort and money customizing his running shoes. I don't use speed laces and I go with the stock insole/sock liner, for example. I've never really had problems with insoles that came with shoes, but being one to not miss an opportunity to fix something that's not broken I agreed to test and review a pair of OrthoLite Fusion insoles.


"I'm ready for my close-up."
I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not up on athletic shoe insole technology. But I was intrigued that the OrthoLite Fusion insoles had this brag list:

• Designed to fit all athletic and outdoor shoes or boots
• Made with open-cell foam, allowing air to circulate around the foot, keeping it cooler and drier inside the shoe
• Wicks moisture away from your foot leaving your foot cooler and drier
• Unique spring-back technology ensures that your insole won’t flatten out and it will retain over 95% of its thickness over time
• Our patented anti-microbial formulation (approved by the EPA and FDA) fights fungus, bacteria and shoe odor
• Lightweight and fully washable

Sounds good,right? Sounded good enough to me and I'm susceptible enough to marketing to think what the heck and say yes to trying them out.


"No, wait. Now I'm ready for my close-up."
The insoles arrived last Thursday, which I was going to use as a rest day but since I had something new to play with I decided to hit the treadmill at the gym for a few miles to test them out. I went to the gym and went to put the insoles in my shoes only to discover they were too big. I was sent size 11 insoles and I wear a 10.5 shoe.

This led to the most stressful thing I can imagine: trimming something to fit me better. If you trim too much you're screwed so I tend to trim not quite enough to give myself a little leeway, but since it's usually not quite enough I trim a little more and wind up trimming too much anyway. Dang. And here I was at the gym with no scissors or anything to help me out.

I went to the front desk, borrowed a pair of scissors, put the stock insole on top of the OrthoLite insoles, and cut around the old insoles hoping for the best. For the first time in my life I actually did a good job trimming and the new insole fit perfectly into my shoe.

If I could have ended there it would have been awesome, but I had another insole to trim. Luckily, and miraculously, I didn't screw that one up either. Seriously, I was amazed.

Anyway, I took it slow and easy and knocked out three miles in my new insoles. They felt really good, like the sole of my shoe regained support even if I'm not sure it ever lost it. I felt a couple hot spots on my feet, but that's pretty normal for me when I test out new shoes, and I guess I considered these insoles to be the equivalent of new shoes.

Pretty happy with the test run I thought I'd give the insoles the ultimate test and wear them for this morning's 8 mile long run, in the great outdoors.

The OrthoLite insoles felt really nice right from the start. And as the miles added up my feet were doing their job just fine. I was getting no negative sensory feedback and was able to chug right along for a while.

Eventually, my run turned out to be a lot more challenging than I expected because it was a lot more hilly than I expected. It was also cold and breezy. My thighs were shredded, my butt was numb, and my lungs felt frosted. However, I got to a point when I completely forgot I was wearing new insoles on my feet that only had three treadmill miles on them before this morning. When I finally got my miles in, went inside, and took my shoes off the sight of the insoles in them is what made me remember they were there.


Oh, yeah. Now I remember!
I guess saying that when I was struggling through a difficult run and thinking about everything that was making me miserable I completely forgot that I was wearing OrthoLite Fusion insoles is the best thing I can say about them. Honestly, I think that's saying a lot.

I encourage anyone interested in checking out an alternative to stock shoe insoles to check out the OrthoLite Fusion insole, which can be purchased from amazon.com. They're used in many different types and brands of shoes, and for every pair sold $1 goes "directly to the Level Field Fund, a grant-giving program that strives to bridge the gap in funding to uniquely talented athletes." I wish I was a uniquely talented athlete, but I guess being a running moron ain't so bad. Still, they're good insoles that help fund a good cause. Buying them is a win/win!

Disclaimer: I was provided a pair of OrthoLite Fusion insoles at no cost to me to test and review. Opinions about them are mine alone and have not been influenced by anyone associated with OrthoLite in any way. In fact, I was asked to give an honest review, which just happens to be the only type of review I do.