Comfort Shoe Specialists

11693 Manchester Rd

St. Louis, MO 63131

314-822-3300

    People with arthritis tend to be hypersensitive.  This is especially true with their feet and shoes.  Arthritis causes a multitude of problems from severe deformities to arthritic nodules to dull pain and achiness. 

     Supporting the body through a good foundation is always appropriate, non-invasive treatment with rewards of less pain, greater energy and efficiency.  Such conservative measures are so simplistic that patients should not have to be reminded to wear shoes that fit well.  But the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society has performed several studies about shoe fit and their results indicate that more than 80 percent of people are wearing shoes too small!

Small shoes can cause ailments of the feet, knees, hips, lower back and spine.  This is especially true of arthritic patients that have the ravages of worn joints and cartilage.  Feet are largest when they are in motion and that concept is seldom applied when people are fitting themselves. 

Hallux valgus is a common deformity that is often combined with hammer toes, metatarsalgia, and pronation.  In-depth footwear that is fit scientifically frees the toes, gives room for the bunions, places the ball of the foot where the shoes bends, and supports the rear foot.  When combined with a custom support, the results are often dramatic.  With time, therapeutic footwear can relieve not only foot pain, but often joints further up the kinetic chain, i.e., the knees, hips, and/or back. 

The support most often used for arthritics is accommodative, that is, soft support.  The materials have the ability to mold and gently shore up those complicated body parts called feet.  It feels like a supportive pillow that relieves areas of high pressure.  

A physician with rheumatoid arthritis recently had these soft supports made not only for his everyday shoes, but also for his golf shoes.  He says his golfing buddies are asking why his game has improved so much.  “It’s amazing how being out of pain has enhanced my golf game and my life.”  We also provided him with our “secret weapon” for golfers and he confirmed that he’s getting more distance on his drives.

Today there are such stylish in-depth selections that no one knows the shoes are also therapeutic and/or customized.  Shoe manufacturers are responding to the aging of America with removable insoles in all types of footwear.  These removable insoles act like insurance for pedorthists because we can modify and customize footwear easily.  Pedorthists (pharmacists for footwear) can also change lace or strap shoes to Velcro closures when patients can no longer operate complicated closures or can not bend to tie or buckle. 

To accommodate prominent plantar deformities, silicone gels can be used to soften floor reaction forces.  Patients respond to these improvements vigorously, saying how important it is to keep moving.  There are improvements in stretchers and there are devices to soften top edges to ease the burden of breaking in new footwear.  These services mean much to hypersensitive patients. 

There are those patients that think therapeutic footwear is ugly.  Shoes shaped like feet is a foreign concept to some people but a revelation to many.  Presenting patients with options is a key concept in today’s healthcare climate.  Every day we hear people say that they had no idea that they could receive this assistance with their lower extremity health.  We tell them that a good foundation is important for them as well as their homes, and that’s a concept that is easily understood.         

                                                                By Edith A. James                                                                            Certified Pedorthist