We’ve talked about footwear a bit in the past, but I thought I would bring it up again. These days, there seem to be lots of options, but I confess that I don’t really give my feet too much attention. Have folks found any particular footwear for:

- Indoors: slippers, socks, slipper socks
- Outdoors: unique sneakers, cross-trainers
- Corrective: orthotics

It's expensive, but Laura and I use a custom boot/shoe maker who also makes orthodics. He's the Randy Merrell that Merrell shoes is named after. The shoes are very costly but the orthodics are fairly reasonable given the time he spends on gait analysis as well as molding the orthodic. He also seems to be unusual, at least for this area, in that he spends time to figure out how your foot needs to be loaded to correct your gait rather than just correcting for simple pronatio/supination.

I have been partial to MBT's which have allowed me to not have to use orthotics as I had done for many years. MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology and is a concept that is engineered to have your foot roll in to a step like a Masai Tribal Person walking in the sand. What this does is take away the impact that is placed on the lower spine with walking. The "roll part" of the shoe is cushioned causing your foot to roll in to the step like walking in sand and it eliminates the impact on the spine. I researched the shoe for a good year before I broke down and bought a pair. They are expensive. I now have two pairs and I walk with the almost exclusively. You do not put your orthotic in to the shoes as it defeats the purpose of the shoe. You can buy these at several different places though I can recommend a place to find them. They look a little odd from the sides but look normal when looking at them from the front. I absolutely love mine and swear by the benefits. Play the video from the link I am providing and it will explain all:

http://www.walkerswarehouse.com/mbt-...bt-shoes-dvd=1

Happy walking. http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...on_biggrin.gif

Terry Newton

Thx Terry, I am almost done watching the video. Very interesting and very expensive ($230-250). Any idea what the various medical professions say about this unusual design? And do you now think that this particular design is better for any spine patient? This is great -- especially if it's accurate for all different kinds of people and body types:

“…MBTs act as training equipment every step of the way. Whether you are shopping, working or just puttering around the house, MBT physiological footwear trains and tones muscles, burns calories and protects joints…”

Here’s the main web site: http://www.swissmasaius.com/Default.aspx?lang=en-US

Jim, Laura, are you back from Deutschland? Thx for the tip – I’ll check out http://www.merrell.com/

Try http://www.randymerrell.com/index.htm not merrell.com. Randy Merrell left the company after realizing that he'd gotten too far away from actually making shoes for people.

Terry's solution seems to be cheaper for pronation/supination problems but it would seem like you'd need to do more for a leg length discrepancy.

And yes, we're back in the States. I added a comment to the recent Alpha Klinik discussion based on what we just learned (bad news) and Laura got out of needing more surgery. This time I was the lucky recipient having unrepaired damage to one knee following a fracture.

Thanks U2. Hey, Randy seems like a neat guy. You may be out in the middle of nowhere, but you seem to have found some neat specialists in feet!

http://www.randymerrell.com/contact.htm

I have spoke to several doctors about the design and they believe it is a great idea and sound in concept. It completely removes the impact from the lower spine while walking. I love mine and any amount of money is OK if it does what it says it is supposed to do. I went with one pair as an experiment and now have two pairs; one for dress and one for casual walking.

Terry Newton

I wear Birkenstocks or Birkenstock orthotics and have for many years, per a podiatrist who checked me out. I find these shoes/orthotics to be more comfortable to going barefoot - I love them. If you buy them on ebay, shoe stores sell them new, in boxes, for less than 1/2 the price in stores. I've bought so many pairs this way! Their 'Tatami' sub-brand have black soles, so they don't have the 'earth mother' look to them.

I went to the Walking Store here in So. Cal. I tried on both the MBT and Earth Shoes. I ended up with the Earth Shoes. The tennis shoe style I bought are very heavy so I don't wear them as much. I also bought a pair of black boots from Earth shoes for work. I agree to paying any price for the perfect shoe for my back. You can get earth shoes all over or even on HSN shopping channel.

I use birkenstocks. I have been through 3 orthodics from different doctors. I have really flat feet, and no orthodic has ever helped me, not even my pocketbook. Of the birkenstocks to buy there are really only three models that have kept the original arch. The milano, Arizona and Zurich. The original arch is of great importance for flat foot sufferers.

But hey think of this. You could go to an orthopedic specialist and get orthodics at around $1000 that includes doctor fees only to find out they are not correct for your feet and you need to find another podiatrist. Or, you can spend $100/ year on a pair of birkenstocks to wear indoors and outdoors and save yourself boatlodes of money. I try and buy two pairs each year.

I even chastise the podiatrists as to why I can spend $100 on Birkis and get better results than their multi-thousand dollar orthodics. Orthodics should be less than $300, but you have to factor in all the costs of x-rays and doctor fees. That's usually $1000 or more if they can't get it right the first time.


BTW if you like merrell check out http://www.danner.com


Those masai shoes are developed in Switzerland. Swizterland has one of the highest standards of living in the world. They also pay their employees (contractors are uncommon in corporations) a livable minimum wage of about $20. That should explain the high cost of these shoes.

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

My spine problems are neck, so not sure the shoe matters so much for that, but I do have foot and knee problems as well. I wear Propet, Merrell, New Balance all with my custom orthotic inserts created by my podiatrist. Propet and Merrell both make shoes nice enough that I can wear them with suits to work, and I wear my Crocs or New Balance on the weekends. I find that most shoes are not orthotic compatible, the back of the heel is not high enough and my foot slides out once I have my insert in, but my insert is very thick at teh back and on the sides (falling arches, over pronation, loose ligaments in ankle).

It can, so it's worth checking if you find that your shoes are affecting your pain levels. There was another poster who just recently mentioned that her c-spine pain levels dropped when she was wearing heels.

Neck and Back
 

I feel shoes most certainly affect neck - the whole spine functions as a unit, a system.

I own MBT, Keen, Dansko, Finn Comfort (love these too), Crocs, Ecco, Joseph Siebel. I love them all, but am partial to MBT. You don't need orthotics with these. My spine tells me when I'm not wearing them. I get them for under 200 from ebay. They build up your core muscles. My feet never get tired when I wear them. People will look at you funny though - I wonder why...

The MBT's are awesome. :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

They are fugly though. :laugh:

Terry Newton

The MBT boots I have just bought are great I walked so much I have a blister on my heel but they are doing something, my heel pain went after an hours walking and was replaced by left buttock pain only .... this may be the source as it matches the MRI findings Maz

Do MBT's feel weird? Thanks.. - ans

Imagine walking in sand and that is what the MBT's feel like. They take away all of the pounding that takes place on the lower spine from normal walking. They force you in to an upright position with walking and, really help with overall posture. I wear mine continuously now. They recommend an hour per day until you get used to them. I love how they remove the impact from my spine as I am a high impact walker. That is from the military when they made us stomp our heels for marching. I never got past that.

Terry Newton

Toe Huggers & Five Fingers
 

orthodics have helped me
 

I noticed this topic hasn't been tapped in awhile, but I did want to add something that has helped me.

Two years ago, I started a retail job. I have a degenerated L5 and wasn't sure if I could even work. Besides my back hurting, my feet were killing me. They were so sore, that it hurt when my sweet hubby tried to rub them for me. I did some research online and noticed a nurse mentioned these supports called SOLE.

I went to their website and read. I figured what can it hurt to try it and ordered me a pair to try in my shoes. (I initially bought ECCO's that were $100 and thought it was funny that I was taking the inside's out to put a better support in).

I took this little test to see which support was best for my foot:
http://www.yoursole.com/products/foo...tbed-selector/

The Dean Karnazes Signature Edition is what I went with.
https://www.yoursole.com/us/footbeds...ture/karnazes/

Well, since that time I have ordered a pair to put in all of my shoes.
I cannot tell you how much these helped my feet and my back.
I can't have a shoe without it now! I just can't recommend these enough.

My husband now won't go without them.
We live in Florida...land of flip flops which I've never been able to wear.

After seeing how great the supports were, I tried their sandals.
My hubby and I now have SEVERAL pairs.

The thing that is most impressive is how long these supports last for.
I liked how firm mine were and never heated them as they discuss on the site.
They last for a very long time. I'm going on 3 years now at the retail store.
6 hours of walking and standing. I honestly don't think I could make it without
this product.

Since it worked so well for me, I wanted to share this product with the forum.