My Footcore MAX Review – Must Read Before You Buy
Back in August 2021, I bought the Footcore MAX from Kickstarter as a new way to help me train the soles of my feet. You see, I have flat feet, which is hereditary in my case. Everyone in my family has it, from grandparents to my father, and now me.
Most of the time, I really do not mind much about my feet. But when I started weight lifting, the pain just kept coming, and I was desperate for a sustainable way to fix the problem. I added multiple calf exercises and stretches to my routine, bought silicone arch supports on Amazon, shoes specifically designed for flat feet, but there is still something missing.
That is why I am excited to try the Footcore MAX. After 3 months, it is time to let you know about my thoughts on this product and how I feel. This is my honest review. I did not get any money from this company. I was pretty desperate to stop the pain at the sole of my foot.
Summary
What is a flat foot?
Let us rewind the conversation a little bit. I will explain the problem that I have in more detail so you can catch up. Maybe this is something you need as well.
Flat feet affect more than 16% of the American population. As a result, there are plenty of products out there that you can get, from expensive insoles to generic ones, or Amazon arch training pads to wrappers. You can choose to buy any of these products to relieve your pain. The Foocore MAX goes beyond it. The purpose of the device is to train your intrinsic muscles underneath your feet to become stronger, thus creating an arch and preventing pain in the future.
When a person has flat feet (or pes planus), both of their feet have little to no arch.
This condition is mostly harmless but the people who have this might have pain in the arch or at the heels of their feet. The pain may worsen with sports and activity.
You do not necessarily need to see a foot doctor (podiatrist) unless there is pain and/or swelling in your feet. For me, there was a small pain whenever I did weightlifting and I want to eliminate it so that it is safe to keep doing what I love.
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How do you determine if you have flat feet?
There are many ways for you to see if you have flat feet yourself. In this blog, I will show you two, one with assistance from someone else and one you can do on yourself.
For the first method, you have to stand up with your feet shoulder-width apart. Make sure that your back is straight and comfortable. Do not brace or stress anywhere in the body. Your assistance will slide their pinky finger under the sole of your feet, right around the middle part of their length. If they cannot slide their finger at all, then you 100% have flat feet as there is no arch for the finger. If they can slide in AT LEAST one knuckle, you are good.
If you do not have a friend to help out or do not feel comfortable with people’s pinky touching your feet, you can try to do it yourself. You will need to do it in a bathroom and prepare a dry clean towel. In the bathroom, wet both of your feet thoroughly. Next, confidently step on your prepared dry towel, making sure that you leave your footprint on the towel. Take a picture of your footprint and compare it with the illustration below.
If your footprint looks like a paddle like the one to the right, you have flat feet. Hope you try these two methods out and see if you like one of them.
Why are flat feet so bad?
While flat feet usually do not require you to see a doctor, it sometimes leads to pain in your legs, especially your knees.
You see, the reason you have flat feet is that the medial longitudinal arch is stretched over a long period of time. Other muscles in your legs have to work harder to compensate. You will experience muscle pain in the foot and leg. It might also affect how you walk. Because your medial longitudinal arch is stretched, your ankles change and you might experience pain.
That is why it is so important to take preventative measures to prevent the pains from appearing in the first place. You can strengthen your calf muscles by doing calf raises, stretching out your feet using a tennis ball, and doing 10-15 repetitions of arch lifts. The overall point is to strengthen the muscles in your medial longitudinal arch while relieving the stress from other areas.
There are many ways you can accomplish this goal, by exercising and buying some equipment that can make the process much easier.
About The Footcore MAX
You can read the full description of this product on its Kickstarter page. One thing to note, the fundraising there is over but you will be able to buy this product elsewhere soon.
→ Footcore MAX Kickstarter Campaign
The Footcore MAX has a very simple design. Anyone can assemble it for use. According to the published research on their website, Footcore MAX works by strengthening the intrinsic muscles underneath your feet, specifically with the muscles made up of the medial longitudinal arch.
You can read about their research results here:
Because this is a brand new product, it is still pretty limited in terms of the number of participants but it is not a scam either.
You work on one foot at a time. There is a board for your foot to rest on. Then, you can start crunching on the turning pad like you are trying to scrunch a towel. You will need to do this action for both feet for 3 minutes every day for 3 months to see visible results.
How is the Footcore MAX Different from Competitors?
Why do I need the Footcore MAX, aren’t there enough products to help? Believe me, I have tried many of them. I bought myself specific shoes with insoles to counter overpronation. There were also silicone insoles from Amazon to create the arches within my feet. I did tons of exercises to strengthen my muscles.
My situation improved with just the aforementioned methods. The problem is I could still feel pain once in a while. The pain was not all bad. But I hated the fact that it kept happening and wanted the pain gone forever.
That is why I purchased Footcore MAX when I found it on the flatfeet subreddit. I saw that its simple design allowed me to target more on the intrinsic muscles, rather than the bigger muscles that I was working on.
I was not buying expensive insoles that work passively as I walk. I can take control of the situation by working my muscles more than the usual exercises. To be honest, I liked it.
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What are your thoughts about the Footcore MAX? Is it worth buying?
After 3 months of diligently using the Footcore MAX, I can say that I saw a huge difference. To see how my arches developed, I sacrificed a pair of white socks to walk around barefoot. You can see the illustration here, click on it if you want to see the real picture.
It only took me 3 minutes every day to slide my feet on the board. I can do it while watching YouTube or browsing Instagram. It did not take much effort while producing the results that I wanted, strengthening the medial longitudinal arches on my feet.
The entire design is very simple. I only spent 5 minutes assembling it for use. One thing to note, the screws tend to be loosened quite easily. You will have to screw them in each time you want to use the Footcore MAX.
The price can be more on the expensive side. If you have the funds, do consider adding Footcore MAX to your daily routine so you can avoid more foot and leg pains in the future.
In conclusion
The Footcore MAX works as advertised in my case. I was able to lessen the extent of my fallen arches in my feet after 3 months of using it.
The price can be prohibitive to some people. But it is still a developing product at this time.
It is a good product to use in addition to every other preventative measure that you are taking. I did not stop doing calf raises or wearing my special shoes. I am sure they also help in the process of eliminating my pain.
Should you get it? Yes, if you have flat feet while taking a lot of steps in working to reduce it. No, if the price tag is too much of an investment for you.
