How Custom Orthotics Are Made: The Lab Process for Clinics

For clinic owners, practitioners and clinic staff. Orthix works only with clinics and practitioners, not directly with patients.

How the process works with Orthix

Most of the work that decides whether an orthotic fits well happens before it reaches the lab: a thorough assessment, a clear prescription and a good capture of the foot. Orthix keeps all of that in one place. Your clinic handles the clinical side in the Orthix app, and the lab handles fabrication. Here is what happens at each step.

Step 1: Assess the patient online

Your practitioner assesses the patient as usual, covering history, footwear, activity and a biomechanical or gait assessment, and records it in the structured digital assessment in the Orthix app. There are no paper forms. Drafts save, so you can finish and submit when the assessment is ready. The assessment and prescription details, including the orthotic type, travel with the order to the lab.

Clinics register and verify their practice once. After that, the whole team works from the same secure workspace for patients and orders.

Step 2: Capture both feet on a phone or iPad

Instead of foam boxes or plaster, your clinician captures both soles with a compatible phone or iPad through the Orthix app, so no dedicated scanner is needed. The app guides positioning and lighting.

Foam impressions are still accepted if your clinic prefers them.

Step 3: Review the 3D model and submit the order

Orthix builds a 3D model of the foot from the captures. Your clinician reviews it, with the patient if useful, before submitting. When you submit, the model is attached to the order and goes to the lab right away. There's no physical cast to pack or ship.

Step 4: Lab review and acceptance

The Orthix lab team reviews every order before fabrication. If something is missing or unclear, such as incomplete captures or prescription details, we'll let you know through the platform. Complete assessments and clear captures help an order get accepted sooner.

The fabrication clock starts at lab acceptance, which is when we confirm the order in the platform or by email, or start production.

Step 5: Fabrication and quality check

The lab fabricates the orthotics from the 3D model and your prescription, then checks each pair against the order before it leaves the lab. Typical fabrication is 5–10 days after lab acceptance. Volume and product type can vary, and timelines are estimates unless Orthix confirms a date in writing.

You choose the orthotic type inside the order form. See Products for the types you can order.

Step 6: Delivery, fitting and reorders

Finished orthotics ship to your clinic, wherever you are in Canada. Lower Mainland clinics can also use local pickup or courier.

Your practitioner then fits the orthotics in person and follows up with the patient as your clinic normally does. Fitting, patient instructions and follow-up remain the clinician's responsibility. You can follow every order's status online, message the lab, and reorder for the same patient later from their digital record.

Why the process matters for your clinic

• Fewer steps outside the app. Assessment, capture, the 3D model and the order all live in one workflow.
• Nothing physical to send. Digital orders don't require shipping foam impressions.
• Fewer "where is my order?" calls. Status, notes and files sit in one clinic workspace.
• Reorders use the order already on file. Second pairs and replacements start from the existing digital record.

Getting started

Most teams are comfortable placing their first digital order within one guided session, and we can review your first few orders with you. To compare labs, see our custom orthotics lab for clinics across Canada page, or, if you're in the Lower Mainland, the Vancouver custom orthotics lab.

Ready to order online? Register your clinic or book a demo. Questions? Call +1 (604) 447-2880 or email info@orthix.ca.