The Guinea Pig: the Orthotics

By Matt Cooper Last updated: 25th November 2009

Matt Cooper, golfer: a hacker playing off 15. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic golfer. Matt Cooper will be that golfer. Better than he was before. Longer, straighter, holing more putts.

Those introductory words, remember, are (more or less) the words spoken over the opening credits of The Six Million Dollar Man (aka The Bionic Man).

But when we first came up with the idea of using them, we did so with our tongues firmly in our cheeks - we certainly never imagined that within weeks I would come across a team of biomechanists who would actually change my physique in a manner reminiscent of what the fictional doctors did to Steve Austin (who was rebuilt following an horrific accident).

And yet that is exactly what happened to me after a fortuitous meeting with the Sub-4 Orthotics team at the London Golf Show earlier this year.

"Do you suffer from back, hip, knee or foot pain?" asked a banner at the back of their stand.

"Yes," I said to myself, thinking how every morning that month I had woken up with my knees aching and my feet so painful that even walking down the stairs to make a cup of tea was proving difficult.

A keen jogger I had genuinely asked myself if I would be running in two years' time - and wondering, too, if my golfing future was threatened. I was less than one month into the Guinea Pig project and my legs and feet weren't up to it.

To fully explain why I was in such a mess, I need to go back in time.

Firstly to the week of my 21st birthday when I went skiing for the first and - it was to transpire - last time.

In an accident of comical, yet extremely painful, proportions I conspired to fall over at the bottom of the nursery slope and inadvertently semi-amputate my right leg with my left ski.

As a consequence of partially severing my patella tendon my knee cap is now a little odd-looking, the knee itself occasionally gives in on me (often without warning) and the joint is often stiff or sore.

But the long term problems have not been as bad as they could have been and I was perfectly able to run until two years ago when I was diagnosed with a collapsed metatarsal arch (the arch that goes across the foot behind the toes) plus a double stress fracture in the bones on the outside of my right foot .

In the 18 months that followed I suffered frustration after frustration: firstly doing no exercise, then struggling to rid my foot of niggling pain, followed by problems in the left foot as I over-compensated and the final irritation of never getting back to full fitness.

So Sub-4's question was not just relevant to me, it spoke to me. I approached Rob Smyth, one of their biomechanical experts, with the air of a desperate man.

"Yes," I said, feeling a little like I was at confession (or a therapy session), "I'm suffering knee and foot pain. I need your help."

Quietly and calmly, Rob asked about my history of injuries and then explained what Sub-4 could offer: they would assess my feet, legs and pelvis, analyse my gait (essentially the way I walk) and, if necessary, suggest a solution - usually a pair of orthotics (custom-made insoles).

He was also very clear about what the orthotics could and couldn't do - they would address problems with the feet and the general alignment of my legs, pelvis and back, but the knee injury was distinct and unique. That seemed fair enough and anyway my feet, specifically the right one, were the more over-riding cause of pain.

"It's not cheap," Rob told me honestly, "we're a private practice of biomechanists specialising in podiatry, but what's the price of being pain-free again?"

To be assessed and then order a pair of orthotics was going to cost me approximately £200; I decided to go for a walk around the show and think about it.

Like an alcoholic wanting a drink and returning to the pub, every route I took around the show brought me back to within sight of the Sub-4 stand. "Can I justify £200 for a pair of insoles?" I asked myself, before countering with, "But do you really want to continue hobbling down the stairs every morning like an old man?"

The answer to that question was a resounding "No!" If I was in this much pain now, how much did I have to look forward to in 5, 10 or 20 years? So, still a little apprehensive, I presented myself in front of Rob. "Let's do it," I said. "Let's sort this thing out."

Little did I know that I was about to experience one of the most illuminating 60 minutes of my life.

Rob started by asking for more detail about my injuries before he took a closer look at my bare feet and then got me to complete a series of short tests.

At the conclusion of one he looked up at me. "Usually it takes a little longer than this," he said, "but it's very obvious in your case. Just repeat the exercise and tell me the first thing that pops into your head."

I did as he requested and something utterly astonishing happened: I had a light-bulb moment; truly that metaphor has never been more fitting.

"My right leg," I said, shaking my head at the blinding simplicity of it, "is longer than my left."

All of a sudden, habits were explained: why, when I stand still, I most often stand on a straight left leg (to rest the right leg which works hardest because it needs to bend more); why, if I ever trip, it is almost always with the right foot (probably tired and, of course, there is more of it); why, if I do leg stretches and place one foot across the other, I almost fall over on one side (because the left leg's smaller size is exaggerated).

If you recognise any of this it is because we all have legs that are different length - it is both common and a common cause of so much pain.

Yet more revelations were to come when my gait was tested by walking across a pressure plate which generated a scan of the forces exerted through the foot.

The majority of people place the heel down first before the force travels through the foot, exiting around about the second toe.

I have always been a "front-footer" (I walk on the balls of my feet) but my right foot was even more unusual because although I put the outside of the ball of my foot down first the force did not continue forward but, bizarrely, it went backwards before doing a u-turn and going forwards.

Not knowing how I walked before my skiing accident makes it impossible to say for certain, but given that my right leg often gives in on me, some might wonder if this curious action is a sub-conscious defence of the knee - Rob, an expert who needs proof before he calls something a fact, would only accept it as a possibility.

"Whatever, we've done thousands of examinations," Rob said, "over twenty thousand and that backward-forward motion is rare. Very rare."

With the curious force I was imparting on the foot the stress fractures made sense, as did the collapsed metatarsal arch - it was a relief just to have an explanation for the pain I had been suffering, never mind have the prospect of the orthotics supporting the foot and alleviating that pain.

It had truly been a revelatory experience but it is one thing to impress with ideas, the real question was if the orthotics would do what Sub-4 claimed and yet, when I started to wear them (I transfer them between all shoes, trainers and golf shoes), my astonishment was no less.

Immediately I stood taller (an obvious point given the raised left heel) but the effect on my body was extraordinary: I held my back much straighter whilst my hips and pelvis felt correctly aligned. My entire posture changed; it actually felt correct.The effect on my painful right foot was no less remarkable: quite seriously the pain disappeared overnight - the transformation was that quick.

Even my running benefited - I wasn't just running faster and stronger, I was also attacking corners with a confidence that I had lacked for years.

That final factor proved particularly interesting to Rob when I visited him recently at Sub-4's Stoke-on-Trent headquarters to discuss my first six months using the orthotics.

Namely it related to the fact that Sub-4's founder Clifton Bradley was an international middle distance runner who (like myself) has a longer right leg than left.

Unfortunately, two weeks after the finest moment of his career - replacing Seb Coe to run for Great Britain against the USA on the indoor track at Cosford - he was diagnosed with a career-ending injury caused by the banking (which effectively forced his longer right leg into his pelvis).

Two years later, still injured, Clifton went to the States and was introduced to a podiatrist specialising in biomechanics. He was so impressed by his treatment that he studied the discipline himself and his own treatment is now so well-respected that he has worked with ASICS running shoes, numerous Premiership football clubs, Olympians and even the golfers Richard Sterne, Anton Haig and Simon Wakefield.

The key to Sub-4's work is the orthotic - no-one has perfect feet but the bespoke insole aims to re-align the body from the bottom up.

Having assessed over 20,000 athletes Sub-4 now have an extensive database of information - and also a big fat file of thank you letters and recommendations from customers all over the world.

After I chatted with Rob I read through these messages: there were runners who had given up until fitted with orthotics and people who had struggled to walk for years until freed from the burden of pain.

Sometimes such testimonials can be hard to believe but I had experienced this myself - I needed no convincing and understood the feelings of gratitude.

Clifton says, "It's embarrassing sometimes - I can often identify what injury some athletes have as soon as they walk into Sub-4, before they even tell me what the problem is."

Truly I can say that Sub-4 have lived up to the bionic aspect of the introduction - I can also say it is the best £200 I have ever spent.

Sub-4 will be at the NEC Golf Show from November 27-29. For more information visit their website

Matt Cooper