Pareto Insoles Review

Recently I decided to try Pareto Insoles. I’ve heard about Pareto Insoles before, but honestly, I was slightly nervous to try them. With no major races on the horizon, it seemed a good time to try new things. You can learn more about them here.

First, what are Pareto Insoles?

Pareto Insoles are designed to help athletes move more efficiently and better. The more efficient you are, the less likely you are to be injured.

The Pareto Insoles is a training aid that gives real-time feedback to help reduce overstriding, heel striking, braking force, and joint loading. Supposedly Pareto Insoles help gait mechanics, running efficiency, and coordination, and foot and ankle strength.

How Do They Work?

There is a mechanical sensor in the heel that provides feedback to identify improper ground contact. This real-time feedback allows you to adjust in real-time.

How Do You “Install” Them?

It’s extremely easy and not complicated. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.

First, like most insoles, the Pareto Insoles is designed to take the place of your shoe’s stock insole. If you lay it on top of your stock insole, you might find your foot sitting too high in the shoe and “heel slipping.”

Using the shoe’s stock insole as a template, line up the stock’s edge insole with the Pareto Insoles.
Trace the outline around the Pareto Insoles but don’t cut the heel sensor.

You can learn more about the installation here. I hesitate to call it because it’s not fancy, which is my favorite type of installation. Easy and fast.

So How Does it Feel to Use Pareto Insoles? Does it work?

Pareto recommends starting at a walking pace and slowly building your distance over time (weeks). If you try changing your form or gait too quickly, you’ll get injured.

I’m not a heel striker, but I do tend to have weaker ankles. I know the effects of my efficiency as a runner. After a decade of running, I don’t know why I haven’t put more effort into becoming more efficient. We all want to be more efficient, right? That’s the entire premise of the carbon plated shoes, the more efficient you are, the faster you’ll run.

I’ve been using Pareto Insoles for about a month now. For the first week, I only walked in them. For a couple of days, I used them when running errands then built up to using them for 1-2 mile walks. My body felt slightly sore the first day, but I adjusted with no issues, ache,s, or pains after that. I don’t use them every day because that would be “too much too soon,” but now I use Pareto Insoles a lot for easy runs when my pace doesn’t matter, but I’m trying to focus more on the form.

When I felt good walking in 2 miles, I decided to run 2 miles. Now that I’ve slowly built into running with them more, I feel like do help my form. Sometimes during the end of the runs, I tend to get slightly sloppy, so Pareto Insoles help keep me engaged and more on my toes. For me, I find when I have, most of the feedback now is towards the end of long runs when my body is tired.

If you are looking for a relatively simple way to become more efficient, Pareto Insoles is a good option. I do feel more efficient on runs I use Pareto Insoles. My easy run pace is slightly faster, and I’m not working any harder.