Good Feet to Host Doctor Day Event in North Haven

Written by Barbara Thomas

Good Feet® is not just the name of a business whose tagline is “Your Arch Support Store.” It’s also the goal of a company that believes good feet are important to the human body.

“Ninety percent of the U.S. population will have foot problems during their lives that can cause pain in their feet, legs, hips or back,” said Arlene McDevitt, store manager of Good Feet® in North Haven. “People may not understand the connection between feet and the body’s foundation. It’s all about proper alignment.”

Good Feet®’s arch support products, also called orthotics, show a 98 percent success rate in reducing pain, McDevitt said, compared with traditional orthotic devices and generic inserts that have a 42 percent success rate.

The store in North Haven, located in the Home Depot Plaza, has scheduled a Doctor Day event for Saturday, Nov. 14 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can receive a free custom arch support fitting from the Good Feet® staff, plus get a free 10-minute foot evaluation from podiatrists Dr. Sparta and Dr. Enu of Associated Podiatrists of North Haven and Fairfield. Appointments with either doctor must be made in advance by calling the store at 203-239-1100.

“We often work with medical professionals because we don’t consider ourselves competitors,” McDevitt said. “If the client’s condition is too severe, we will refer them to a doctor we know and trust.”

Good Feet®’s orthotic products help people with the full gamut of foot issues, the most common being plantar fasciitis. They may also slow the progression of bunions, she said, and have prevented surgery for people with certain foot issues.

“All of our orthotics are designed by orthopedic doctors based on the ideal human foot,” McDevitt said.

When the foot is in the “ideal foot” position, she explained, it is functioning at maximum effectiveness and aligning the entire body, which may eliminate pain due to improper pressure and weight distribution. Each foot has four arches that work together to stabilize the foot and help to balance the entire body while standing and walking.

Many foot problems are caused by wearing improper footwear or walking/standing on hard surfaces for long periods of time, she said, noting that feet were designed to walk on natural surfaces, not man-made ones like concrete.

Good Feet® employs specially trained and certified arch support fitters who use several devices and measuring tools to analyze each person’s unique biomechanics. They also help choose the arch supports that best fit the individual’s lifestyle.

Unlike other arch supports that only fit athletic shoes, Good Feet® makes products for all types of activities and shoes, even high heels and sandals – more than 25 different styles and over 350 sizes.

Free consultations are offered and no appointments are necessary but customers should allow about 45 minutes for discussion and measurements and are advised to bring along their commonly worn shoes.

“We do same-day custom fitting; no molding or casting is needed for our technology,” McDevitt said. “Lifetime warranties are given on our products, so if clients crack, flatten, or break their orthotics over their life, we will replace them for free. And if they need different ones over their life because of surgery, injury, weight loss, weight gain, pregnancy or some other change in their body or needs, refits are also covered under the lifetime warranty.”

The North Haven store is one of two Good Feet® franchises owned by Joseph Gallagher Sr. of Wallingford. North Haven was the first Good Feet store, opened in 2010, and there is another store in Avon.

“We’ve had family-owned businesses for more than 40 years but they’re not as personal or humanitarian as this,” Gallagher said. “It became a perfect fit.”

As New Haven County residents, opening their first store in this area made sense, he said.

Starting out as a small family-owned business in 1992, the first Good Feet® store opened in San Diego in 1995 to help people who, like the company’s founder, suffered tremendous foot and back pain that was so crippling their quality of life had deteriorated. Now a global company, Good Feet Worldwide, LLC is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.

In addition to orthotics, Good Feet® sells a variety of foot-related merchandise such as shoes, compression socks, diabetic products, foot creams and small fixes for minimal foot issues, as well as back support equipment for sitting and sleeping.

Good Feet® is located in the Home Depot Plaza, 209 Universal Drive North in North Haven. For information, call 203-239-1100.

Pictured: The staff at Good Feet® in North Haven includes, from left: store manager Arlene McDevitt, Marie Estrada and Daisy Sehl.