@goHeelBase

Court-specific insoles for pickleball players dealing with plantar fasciitis, heel pain, and post-match soreness. Play more. Hurt less.

 Chicago, United States
heelbase.com
Joined May 2026
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14Media
Apex is our insole for competitive pickleball and tournament brackets: a 14mm heel cup (deepest of our on-court pair), a TPU shell that braces the arch at three points, and PORON pads at the heel and forefoot. Tournament players: what usually fades first deep in a bracket?
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Paul G., verified field tester: "I feel much more planted when I push off and change direction." Apex and Drive suit different sessions, and neither is the upgrade. Drive for regular play. Apex when the card is stacked.
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Mel P., tester, on back to back pickleball sessions: "My feet used to be soaked by the end of a session. Literally soaked through. The open structure in Drive actually does something which quite honestly I didn't believe from the description." How bad does it get by game three?
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Open lattice is not decoration. Channels move heat and moisture away while you play, and because Drive is printed as one structure the lattice does not peel off.
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Daniel T. told us he had spent a lot on different insoles for pickleball before the field test. After four weeks of league play in Drive: "These are pretty great, and I'm using them from now onwards." What have you already tried that did not hold up?
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His full clip is with the other field tester notes. Printed structure is the point: one piece from heel to toe, so the shape does not peel or glue-fail the way stacked foam can.
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Weekend pickleball hits different from a Tuesday night session. More games, longer hours on court, and less recovery between them. Soft foam that felt fine midweek often feels done by Sunday afternoon. What changes for your feet on a long weekend?
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That is the load Drive is printed for: an 11.3mm heel cup and a 16mm arch cradle that do not flatten the way stacked foam often does after a few weeks. If Sunday is your heavy day, what time do your feet usually start complaining?
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Tom L. is well into his 40s and plays a lot of pickleball. After six weeks of league play in Drive: "I always had foot pain, but since wearing these it's been far less." For the regulars who play midweek leagues: when does the foot pain usually show up for you?
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Drive's 11.3mm heel cup cups and centers the heel on hard stops, and the 16mm arch cradle holds under lateral load. Tom L.'s full clip and the other field notes sit with the rest of the tester set.
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Hannah T. and Ollie T. spent six weeks of league pickleball in Drive during our field test. Same feet, different days: social play, stacked sessions, then the rest of the week still standing. If you could only fix one day type first, which would it be?
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Quick map from the lineup: Drive: regular on-court play. Apex: tournament days and back to back brackets (14mm heel cup, deepest of our on-court pair). Stance: off-court daily wear (15mm heel cup, deepest in the whole range).
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A pickleball week is rarely one kind of day. League night, a tournament weekend, and standing around off court are three different loads on the same feet. What wears yours out most?
0%Long social sessions
0%Tournament brackets
0%Hours off court
0%All of the above
0 votes • Final results
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That split is why we built three shapes instead of one "do everything" insole. Drive for regular on-court play. Apex for tournament brackets. Stance for the hours you are still on your feet off court. Which day does your current pair struggle with?
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2. The materials changed. Two testers playing four or more sessions a week flagged damp underfoot late in long sessions, so one of the original materials was replaced with a faster wicking weave.
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3. Stance got slimmer. The first Stance build was too thick for dress shoes, which was the whole point of it. The profile came down before it went anywhere near a store.
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Testers wrote their own reviews, and we kept the critical ones in. 24 prototypes and more than 3,000 hours of combined testing sit behind what ships today. If you could test gear before it hit the shelves, what would you judge first?
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144 pickleball players tested our insoles before we sold a single pair. No influencer seeding, and no first impressions after a single session. Three things changed because testers complained:
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1. The heel cup got deeper. Early testers on outdoor courts reported their foot creeping forward on hard stops. We took Drive's heel cup from 9.4mm to 11.3mm, and those reports stopped.
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Pickleball gets a few hours of your week. Your feet work the rest of it too. Off court, where do they spend most of their time?
0%Standing at work
0%On the move all day
0%Mostly at a desk
0%A bit of everything
0 votes • Final results
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That's what Stance is for: a 15mm heel cup (the deepest we make), a TPU torsion bar through the midfoot, and a perforated top sheet for closed work shoes. Camille R., one of our field testers: "Teaching all day standing up is a different experience now."
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