Stella, So far they have helped. I can't imagine using them in my running shoes. Like I said it causes the heel to slip in my running shoes. The foot doctor taped up my foot really tight and it helped. I now have the inserts and so far so good. I'm walking in the morning with little pain. That coming from 6 months of incredible pain in the morning. No, I didn't have them fitted. I ordered on the web.
I'm trying to figure out how they helped. I think they helped for two reasons. First they control excessive pronation that stretch/twist the arch to the point of tearing. The second is that the arch insert might actually stretch the arch in a beneficial way from walking on the insert. This could add flexibility to my old abused arch that could be tight from age, running, and calf work in the gym.