The Phil Oren Fit System (www.philorenfitsystem.com) and the Superfeet Custom Fit Center (www.Superfeet.com) are by far the most precise and practical way of evaluating an athlete or a non-athletes fit needs. Yes, we have a treadmill with the TV monitor and video camera pointed at the heels, but we don't use it in assisting us in fetching the right shoe size for you. We use it to visualize what we are trying to verbalize, and that's it, period. I don't care what you've been told about 'treadmill analysis' and it's relevance to assisting a shoe choice. We have a better way. It's an experience like nothing you've seen in a running shoe store, plus it's fun. We still use the treadmill, but more of that later, and now on to the Fit System.

The Fit System is, well a system and here's what we do:

Visual foot exam : In order for it to work best, we need to start at the start. First thing we do is have you remove your socks and that will be the only part of your clothing that you have to remove. Then, we do a visual examination of the tops and bottoms of your naked feet and make notes accordingly as to things like calluses, crowded toes, and other oddities.
Sock recommendation : Next we make a sock recommendation based on your foot shape, activity, and the type of footwear you seek. The proper fiber and construction of a sport sock make a huge difference in moister management, blister protection, and cushioning. There is a so much to a good
sock and a bad sock. Mainly, we try and stress the importance of the technical fibers, a dense reverse terry weave and the proper size. The worst sock fiber and construction is combed cotton and wow, we see so many people wearing this type of sock for an athletic use. The sock needs to protect the foot from friction and the reverse terry works so much better. This is especially important to diabetics. Think of it like putting Pep boys tires on a Ferrari 360 Modena. Yes, the car will work if you drive it easy, but just like athletics, it won’t work when you start to get serious about things.
Lockdown test : The lockdown test has nothing to do with maximum-security prison policy. The reason we do it is because it shows precisely the magnitude of your pronation. When standing with knees fairly locked, we check the flexibility of your first metatarsal joint. The joint should be fairly free as your body weight coming down your
tibia loads the mid-metatarsus. Now, we have you flex knees forward to shift the weight to the metatarsal heads and check the flexibility of the first joint again. If you are locked down, and just how locked down, will determined the magnitude of your pronation. This is so helpful for everyone to understand the level of foot stability they require.
Measure : Now we measure your feet weighted and unweighted on our newly recalibrated Brannock devices. The measuring consists of heel to toe, heel to ball of foot, width, and volume. We record the numbers on a chart, we then subtract the measurements weighted from unweighted and conclude with an elongation factor. This
is the measurement of how much your foot mashes out sitting vs. standing. So many people think that their feet are getting bigger, well they are sort of, they are elongating actually. What needs to be done is stabilization. This is accomplished with the correct type shoe, the correct size, and the proper interface of the foot to the footbed.
Choosing shoes : There are quite a number of variables to be considered when picking the best shoes. The variables range from the athlete’s level of fitness, their flexibility, body weight, mileage, and the terrain they train on. So, we then need to get the athlete in either a shoe that is cushion focused, stability focused, or maximum motion control
focused. Within those three groups of training shoes, there are more variables to consider based on where we arrived with our findings during the measuring process and the lockdown test. Overall, we still apply the same rules to shoe choosing as we always had, but we can now eliminate a whole lot of guesswork.
Checking fit : When we check for the proper fit, we want to eliminate unwanted space, we want the widest part of the foot exactly at the apex (that would be the widest part) of the shoe, and if that goes right, voila! The toe length should fall right where we want it. So, a tight, no slip heel fit, no
unwanted space through the vamp, a proper heel to ball fit, and of course enough room to prevent crowding in the toe box of the shoe.
We can then film you on the treadmill, and observe your heel strike, crossover, Q angle tendencies, and try to relate what you have as a running style combined with how well you like or dislike the ride of the shoe along with a confirmation of whether or not we are satisfied with our recommendations. It works well and it truly streamlines the shoe selecting process as it eliminates a whole lot of guesswork.