I am in complete agreement with the prior review. Peter Morin, the owner of Foothills Pedorthics, has an ego that makes him very difficult to work with. I went to Peter looking for orthotics for knee and hip pain. From the beginning, I made it very clear that I wanted something low-profile that could fit in many shoes. In discussing moving forward, he failed in a couple ways:
1) He did not show me a sample of what the orthotic would like like when I noted I was concerned about size.
2) He did not indicate that he would add additional pieces of cork to "fix" leg length discrepancies
For casting, he also failed:
1) He used a foam imprint box. Foam imprints can be effective for some people but, as I did research after being scammed by Foothils Pedorthics, a plaster mold is better in many cases like mine. That is, I am hyperextensive and it's difficult to get an accurate cast of the arch and foot without manipulating the foot in a specific position which he did not do. Instead, during the imprint he noted that my foot was difficult to cast and then asked me if it felt correct, which leads to the second issue-
2) He asked me, the patient, if the casting felt correct. For $500 I would hope that the practitioner can figure that one out, not me. He did not push my foot down all of the way which resulted in an inaccurate casting job.
For the first follow up, I realized I had made a major mistake. During the fitting, he had me walk back and forth and insisted on putting pieces of cork underneath different parts of the orthotic since I had a "leg length discrepancy". I've been to multiple physical therapists and was never told I had any major leg length discrepancy beyond what most of the human population might have-normal small asymmetries. I left feeling confused and nervous that I had wasted $500. For the next few days I tried to use the orthotics and started to have major back-pain, both in new shoes and old shoes, sneakers, and boots. I noticed that, since they weren't casted correctly, the balls of my feet didn't actually hit the floor while standing. Essentially, he had never gotten the balls of my feet to touch the bottom of the foam box because the hyperextension of my foot was deceiving using the foam box. I was also frustrated because of the shoddy construction of the orthotic. He used a foam liner for the foot bed that immediately started peeling back every time I tried to insert them into my work boot. I called and went back the following week for the third follow-up to address these issues. I relayed my issues and Peter removed the cork and went through the exact same process during the initial fitting. That is, he added the cork pieces again insisting they were necessary. This left me, again, with Frankenstein orthotics that weren't properly casted. He added a piece of fabric to the bottom to prevent the foam liner from ripping off, but not before letting me know they usually charged for that as well. Towards the end of that follow up, he started to become agitated that I was clearly upset and continuing to ask questions. He went back to his workshop and had his office manager come out and tell me that if I needed to see him again there would be an additional charge.
I called back a few weeks later demanding my money back. The office manager laughed and said they don't give refunds and said Peter would call me back. He did, and told me to go ahead and tell him what the issues were. I listed off the above issues, including that they were not casted correctly since the balls of my feet were not touching the floor. He said I could come in for further adjustments, at a cost of course. I said I wasn't interested in spending more money. At that point he exploded, reminiscent of an insecure adolescent, and told me that if I wanted to come into his shop and show him how to do it, since he's been doing this for decades, I was welcome to. I was flabbergasted and said ok and ended the conversation.
To summarize, Peter Morin is an egotistical maniac that thinks it's a good idea to majorly alter the biomechanics of your gait. He does this through making poorly designed orthotics and charging for anything where he can make an extra buck. My sincere advice-go to a podiatrist that uses a plaster cast and and a lab to construct a professional device that will fit into most shoes and hold up. read more