FORMER international steeplechaser Andy Taylor is aiming to save people from the sort of injury that cut short his own flourishing athletics career.

Mr Taylor was on the verge of a place in the British team for the 1988 Olympics when a crippling knee injury forced him into retire early from the sport.

A former technical manager for Europa Sports, he has run a winter sports and ski shop in Kendal for the past five years.

Now he is offering a service which he says has a proven record in preventing foot injuries as well as assisting aches and pains elsewhere.

The custom-made moulding inserted into shoes and boots ensures that people stand in the correct position, realigning their gait and easing pressure on other parts of the body.

“It helps to realign your own skeleton and helps the joints in the rest of the body,” explained Mr Taylor.

The shoe insole is already popular with skiers who wear heavy boots for long periods of time, but insoles or footbeds can also help everyone from walkers and trekkers, to runners and golfers. “Because we all have different shaped feet, most shoes and boots don’t support the foot enough to reduce fatigue or prevent such problems as pronation.

“These footbeds help to spread people’s body weight more evenly through their feet, realign their posture, and reduce fatigue and blisters. They are not just for sports people. They can benefit everyone.” He added: “The foot is the foundation for the body and everything else is connected and related to it. Bad backs can often be related to your feet.” David Beckham’s injury before the World Cup last year may have raised the nation’s awareness of the metatarsal bone, but in actual fact the foot consists of 26 different bones, making it a very complicated part of the body, according to Mr Taylor.

He has had people referred to him by doctors and physio-therapists who, he said, were very impressed with the French-made product.

“I know that if I’d had this at the time, I could have continued with my athletics. It really works,” said Mr Taylor, whose Any-thing Technical shop on Anchorite Road also imports and distributes ski workshop machinery as well as storage and racking systems for indoor and dry ski slopes.

Clients first have their feet and posture analysed before they stand on a rubberised bag filled with silicon beads so that moulds can be made, from which the footbeds are then fabricated to fit their feet precisely. The whole process is painless, takes less than half an hour and costs around £35.

Mr Taylor made a pair for me during our interview, noting that my right ankle joint collapsed towards the inside – the legacy of a sports injury - which meant my foot gave me less natural support than normal. Although it’s still early days, I have already noticed a slight difference in the way I stand.

Business Link for Cumbria advisor Howard Volland believes the footbed service could be hugely successful, especially among the county’s fell-walkers. “Where better than Cumbria to offer a service like this?” he said. “Fell-walkers know all about tired, sore feet. Imagine being able to spend a day on the fells without having to suffer like that.”