Comfort Shoe Specialists

11693 Manchester Rd

St. Louis, MO 63131

314-822-3300

Published in MD News April 2001

It's the Little Things that Matter 

By Edith James, Certified Pedorthist

What a person can learn when walking in someone else’s shoes just happened to me.  I badly fractured my ankle in December and had to have surgery.  It was a very cold month and my exposed toes got cold fast.  Upon my return to my pedorthic facility, the first thing that I did was have our shoemaker fashion a sheepskin cover.  Ahhh…

            But I wondered how many people were running around with a fracture and very cold toes, or fingers, or some other body part that could not fit into their regular apparel.  While out one evening, I was approached by a man who asked where I had gotten my sheepskin cover.  He wanted to get one for his nephew, who had had foot surgery and also had very cold toes.  I asked about his size and told him that he could pick up the cover the next afternoon.  I thought, how much demand is out there?

            When finally I was able to bear weight in a cam walker, I was elated.  My healing and my “empathy training” were progressing.  Then the hip on my regular shoe side began hurting, not only while I walked, but also at night while resting.  I had our shoemaker put a temporary lift on my shoe and within two hours, I no longer hurt.  I again wondered how many people were suffering from the imbalances. 

The cam walkers are remarkable devices that allow people enormous freedom to sleep and bathe while affording protection while healing, but the rocker sole will make for a functional leg length discrepancy unless the patient is wearing a platform that matches.  For many people, this may not be a problem, but many patients have mentioned knee, hip, and/or back discomforts from the imbalance, including a young patient recently.  He was getting his first pairs of footwear since having his lower leg practically severed in June 1999.  A graduating senior this year, he told me how odd it was to be finally be walking level and how he had endured back and hip pain during the past year.   

I personally felt the flat insole in the cam walker to be uncomfortable and wore my orthotic device, which added support and comfort.  Patients come in with post-op shoes frequently to pedorthic facilities.  Since many bunionectomies can be caused from pronation and forefoot abduction, I have wondered why an orthotic device is not applied to the post-op shoe in that tenuous time of healing.  Post-op shoes can also cause leg length discrepancies. 

There are new post-op shoes from Walk Well that come in pairs for better balance, stability, and are aesthetic enough to be worn after mending, at least as house shoes.  Each shoe has a rigid rocker sole that reduces met head pressures without increasing heel pressure to protect osteotomies and fixation, four totally adjustable straps, including an adjustable heel counter strap. 

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