Post-op shoes do help

[cjsmith]

OK, I'm definitely having LESS pain while walking... as long as I wear my post-op shoes.

The $64,000 question: Why?

• The post-op shoes have absolutely no arch support of any kind -- the inner surface is flat as a board.
• The post-op shoes put a lot more of my weight on my heel because they are tilted.
• The post-op shoes are kind of cushiony inside.
• The post-op shoes are missing a big chunk under the toes.
• The post-op shoes are very rigid, not allowing my toes to bend during my stride.
• Something else I haven't thought of yet.

Obviously the next step is to isolate these things and figure out which one(s) are helping. I hope it's not item two, 'cause that's probably the one I can't sustain (these shoes will cause heel damage if I use them too long).

1 - Walk barefoot on a wood or tile floor. This HURTS! OK, 1 alone is not good.
3 & 5 - My very rigid sandals have two pair of squishy insoles, which *improved* things but sure didn't fix them. OK, 3 and 5 alone are not enough.

1 & 3 - A pair of cushiony flip-flops? Walk barefoot on pile carpet?
1 & 4 - Japanese geta?
1 & 4 & 5 - Japanese geta with an added strap across the instep?
1 & 3 & 4 & 5- Doctor a bunch of cushiony flip-flops? Geta with gel insoles?

edit: After 15 minutes of walking on pile carpet, I ache but not much. Hrm. Pacing around one's living room for 15 minutes gets boring. :-)

Comments

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Those geta look horribly uncomfortable. I'm sure I'd fall off and break my ankle if I tried to walk in them!

The flip-flops you linked to don't look very cushiony, actually. All the flip-flops I've ever seen look soft but actually have no give to speak of. (But then again I only look at cheap ones, so maybe good ones are softer?) I don't think the platform flip-flops would be any softer than the normal ones.

crazyladynocats's idea of cutting a hole in a soft insole sound like a good one. They make heel pads with holes in them for heel spurs ... why not full-length pads with holes in them for forefoot pain?! You can't cut up gel insoles, but buy a pair of good-quality thick foam ones, and cut a hole in the appropriate place. You can make the hole as big as it needs to be as long as there's a little bit along each edge to connect the front and back to keep them in place. Why not try a $20 fix before you go for the $200 fix!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yes, the geta do take practice. But they're not too different in concept from my post-op shoes. Those took practice too, and I had to do that practice while wrapped in big balls of gauze and recovering from local anaesthesia, and I did eventually get the hang of it. So I suppose I can figure out geta too.

The flip-flops are about as cushiony as the inside of my post-op shoes. I have one pair already; pre-op, I cut big holes out of them under the 3d and 4th met heads. I now wear them in the shower because they're a whole lot better than standing on porcelain. (I agree that the platform wouldn't be any softer. It could, however, have chunks carved out of the bottom, to experiment on shoe shape. In case I can't find inexpensive geta.)

I have some gel insoles that can be cut, actually - they're all full of teeny bits, not one big gel compartment. I'm already trying those. One pair is inside my new sandals, under a pair of foam insoles. I'll probably rubber-cement all that down soon. If I find flat shoes, I'll put a soft insole down first, then another one with a hole in it, and then I can rubber-cement the whole shebang together. That'd be a good approach with the flip-flops or the geta.