To clarify, Merrell, the shoe company, doesn't impress me at all as every shoe I've tried from them either doesn't fit or is junk. Randy Merrell, the custom bootmaker and pedorthist, is pretty good and worth the trouble to go see if your problems are not something that can be dealt with by what's available commercially. My foot, for instance, has a 4-6E width on the front and a A heel. Randy has another patient with such bad pronation that the orthodic had to tilt the foot to a significant angle to get the loading correct. That is the advantage that he has over commercially available stuff but it isn't needed for everyone.

I bought Keens to wear after my fusion, which was 3 years ago. I have Keen shoes, sandals boots and a multitude of various styles and colors of them. If I don't wear Keens I wear Dansko clogs and I have a ton of them also. Cannot wear anything else. the keens were extraordinary to wear while recovering from a 3 level fusion. I felt totally safe in them.
avis

Very helpful, thanks.

I wear ONLY Z COILS. Z Coils remove ALL shock from your spine, and you don't realize how much shock is there till you take your zcoils off.

www.zcoil.com

Yes, they aren't very pretty, but the sneakers and clogs can be worn with long pants. Plus, they last forever since you just change out the springs for $35, less on Ebay. They screw on and off.

You have to be fitted at a special ZCOIL store but then can buy them on EBAY once you know your size and weight of the spring needed.

You should stop by a store if there is one in your area and try them on. You won't believe it. If I had these 10 years ago, my back wouldn't be in this condition today.

They sure look like they work Grumpy. It'd be weird to wear 'em at the gym in shorts. http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif

I just received a Teva Men's Terra FI 2 (black) and they feel incredible re: cushioning. They are on sale lotsa places on the net. Not the best looking Teva but works great.

http://www.teva.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=6670

Many of you will probably laugh; but, Crocs worked well for me! I looked at the MBTs. However, Crocs are very comfortable, have good shock absorption, and only cost around $30-40.

To make matter worse, they work best when I wear socks to prevent rubbing! http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...on_biggrin.gif

Outside of the house, ASIC Air running shoes have been very comfortable and shock aborbing. They are around $150. However, I needed my wife to tie my shoes for the first few weeks after surgery.

-Dave

Great Topic
 

I just spoke to a patient who has some questions about shoes...so bumping this up again.

Good Feet
 

I've been using the Good feet orthotics for several years. I'm not sure if they are available everywhere but they do have a web site and you could search the site to find out. They match up your feet with the correct orthotic which can be worn in any shoe including slippers etc.. I had pain in my feet which felt like bone spurs at least everyone told me it sounded like thats what I had. All I know is it was painful, I got these orthotics and within two weeks the pain was gone. I stoped wearing them once just to see what would happen and the pain returned so I don't leave home with out them. They are exspensive I paid 200-225 for mine. Hope you find relief they save the when your feet are properly supported so is the rest of your body including your spine? anyway I love mine

Fell off ladder in 05 C5,6,7 DDD lots of pain
awaiting two level adr in March 09

Active-L S1 - L5
 

Dear Friends:

I am five weeks post-op. I want to weigh in on this issue of wearing the most comfortable shoes post-op. Prior to surgery, all I wore were Z-Coil shoes. When I put anyting else on my feet, my back pain increased. With Z-Coils I didn't need to insert my orthodics because of the built-in orthodic design. In addition, the coils can be rotated to adjust for pronation and supination. I am most comfortable with the strength of the coil set on the inside to counter pronation. After ADR surgery, I have been wearing an old pair of New Balance tennis shoes. This is the first time I have been able to wear anything else comfortably other than the Z-coils. The downside is that they are old and not very attractive at that, especially for work. So, I purchased a new pair of NB shoes with the hope that they would feel just as comfortable. How wrong I was! My pain level has jumped a couple of points for the past three days I have been wearing the new NB shoes! On one level, I am surprised that the nerves in my lumbar are still that sensitive to adjustments to my foundation. On the other hand, I guess it makes some sense, given I am still in the midst of the healing process. Does anyone have an opinion regarding whether I should just tough it out with the new shoes until the nerves adjust? Or should I simply wear what's most comfortable until I am further along in the healing process?

Thanks in advance to anyone who has experienced similiar issues regarding the relationship between footware and its impact on back pain.

Sincerely,
AFreeman ><>

I'd say go with what makes you the most comfortable. I personally have always been about comfort in clothing which is what has led me to wear some less feminine clothes at times. I'm a big sneaker person and pre-op always stuck with shoes that had the lowest heel possible, preferably non-existent which can be tough when you need to find cheap shoes that don't hurt you! I consider myself lucky in that I never had to go to a pair of orthotics, but I did wear completely flat bottomed shoes (i.e. Airwalks) because I did find that even though I'm not flat footed, some of the arch support in other sneakers bothered my feet. It may also be that you got so used to that one type of shoe that your body just isn't used to alternate types. I know women in my office complain about that kind of thing if they normally wear heels and then try to wear flats.

Since you're still in the healing process, it might be worth it to alternate which shoe type you wear. Maybe do two days of the new balance shoes and two days of the other shoes so that you're still testing yourself but have a comfort zone to go back to when you're sore.

~Sara