Key considerations when treating medial knee OA with orthotics:

Often, the medial compartment of the knee may become osteoarthritic and painful from prolonged compression seen in patients with a genu varum knee position – accompanied with a cavus foot type. Through gait, patients may exhibit a varus knee thrust where the medial joint space is narrowed and bone impingement may occur.

One method documented in research is to reduce the medial knee compartment pressure by valgus wedging the foot. This can be achieved intrinsically with full length, ¾ length or forefoot eversion ramp. Functionally, an eversion ramp will encourage rearfoot and midfoot pronation, limiting the varus knee moment, redistributing pressure through the anterior knee.