June 02, 2025

Custom Foot Orthotics After Orthopaedic Surgery: Supporting Recovery and Preventing Setbacks

Orthopaedic surgery, whether it’s a joint replacement, realignment procedure, or soft tissue repair, is designed to restore function, relieve pain and improve your quality of life. And while the surgery itself is very important, most people don’t realise that what happens afterwards plays a critical role in their long-term outcomes. And one of the best things that many of our post-surgical patients do that helps them get the very best outcomes? Is wearing custom foot orthotics. Here’s why.

How Orthopaedic Surgery Changes the Way You Move

When you’ve had surgery on a joint or limb, many people naturally experience changes in their walking, standing, and joint loading patterns. This can be due to pain, muscle weakness, joint stiffness, compensation strategies after the procedure, or simply because the surgery itself has altered your lower limb biomechanics and how you stand and move. 

For example, after surgery, your body will naturally adapt to protect the area, often by shifting weight away from the affected limb, as it’ll be too painful to bear weight on it. While this is a protective response, it can lead to compensations that throw off your biomechanics, placing added stress on your feet, knees, hips or back - all of which can affect your recovery. 

Whatever the cause of the movement change, these new movement patterns can then increase the strain on other parts of the body and potentially delay healing, lead to ongoing discomfort, or even cause new injuries. Custom foot orthotics can help manage these changes, restore optimal alignment, and reduce the likelihood of secondary complications, making them a very powerful post-op tool.

How Custom Orthotics Support Recovery

To clarify, custom foot orthotics are medical devices created very precisely (using a prescription form your podiatrist completes along with a scan or cast of your feet) to support and guide the way your feet and lower limbs function. When prescribed after orthopaedic surgery, they can help in several key ways:

  • Redistribute pressure away from surgical sites or healing tissues

  • Support joints that may be unstable, stiff or weakened

  • Reduce fatigue and discomfort by better supporting your feet through daily movement

  • Improve balance and gait stability, especially in older adults

  • Prevent secondary problems from emerging during recovery

Orthotics work much like prescription glasses in the sense that they are tailored precisely to your needs and designed to help you function at your best during recovery.

The Customisation Process: Matching Orthotics to Your Needs

Here at Merivale Podiatry, prescribing custom orthotics after surgery begins with a comprehensive biomechanical assessment as part of your post-op care with us. We evaluate everything from your joint range of motion and muscle strength to your foot posture and walking pattern. This helps us understand exactly how your body is functioning post-surgery, and what support it needs to heal well.

We then capture a precise impression of your feet and design the orthotic based on the specific surgery you’ve had, the symptoms you’re experiencing, and your recovery goals. We have a wide range of ‘features’ we can add to your orthotics to help you get the best outcomes and comfort, such as: 

  • Posting to adjust joint angles and foot function

  • Heel cups or flanges for stability and control

  • Cushioning to offload high-pressure areas

  • Specific modifications for joint replacements or fusions

  • Materials chosen for the right balance of support and flexibility

Being able to create and modify these features is also why custom foot orthotics and the generic shoe inserts sold for cushioning, which you can purchase from supermarkets or pharmacies, are absolutely incomparable - they are much more comparable to putting some foam inside your shoes.

When Are Orthotics Introduced After Surgery?

Orthotics are generally not introduced immediately after surgery. Instead, they’re typically prescribed once you’re mobile again (able to walk). These will be designed for your everyday shoes, and your podiatrist will consider a range of factors to ease you back into function safely and effectively, gently. Over time, as your recovery progresses, it’s not uncommon to make adjustments to your orthotics to ensure they continue to match your stage of recovery and mobility, providing the best support for you.

Long-Term Benefits: More Than Just Comfort

Orthotics don’t just make things more comfortable - they help you move better. Both immediately after surgery and years down the track, too. Most of our patients continue to wear their orthotics long after they’ve returned to work and exercise, keeping them inside their daily shoes. Orthotics can:

  • Reduce the risk of re-injury

  • Improve the longevity of surgical outcomes by maintaining better biomechanics.

  • Prevent strain on nearby joints and muscles

  • Help you return to daily activities, and even sport, more confidently

  • Help you stay active and comfortable for years to come

For many patients, orthotics become a valuable long-term tool that helps protect surgical sites and support a more active, pain-free life.

Having Orthopaedic Surgery?

Our podiatry team here at Merviale Podiatry is here to help. We specialise in pre- and post-operative care for those undergoing orthopaedic surgery, working as trusted surgical partners to many surgeons and practitioners. For more information on achieving the best outcomes for your surgery, browse our articles database. 

To register as a patient for our post-operative care or to find out if custom foot orthotics could be right for you, please call us on 03 355 9481 or book online here.