The "Shoe Thing" Again

I think in some ways the hardest thing for us clubbies to come to terms with is that we really can't do some things the same way non-handicapped people are able to do those same things. This doesn't mean we shouldn't still strive to do what we desire to do, but on one front in particular, we have a specially difficult time - buying shoes. We want to be able to do the same thing anyone else does - walk into the shoe store and buy that really sexy/cool/stylish pair of shoes and walk out wearing them. But - you know what's coming - we will pay a real price for doing so.

They may not have anything that actually fits both our feet, and our orthotics. They may have something that fits, but we can't wear them for more than an hour or so before our puppies are whimpering like crazy, and we never wear them enough to get our money's worth out of them. Or, we may wear them despite their lack of support, and then pay the price of days of more severe pain. And for many of us, the option of custom footwear is too expensive, too hard to find, just not stylish enough.

But there are types of footwear that can at least be modified, with rocker soles, lifts, better support, etc., that are within our price range, and maybe not too ugly. Even with that, the real problem is our self-image versus our self-comfort. That is the real battle. And all I can counsel after 60 years, and more than 30 making shoes and orthotics for people with a very wide variety of difabilities involving their feet and gait is, that beauty involves much more than your shoe style. It involves your sense of happiness, of comfort, of involvement in all the other aspects of life, outside the difability facing you daily. It is always your choice - both the shoes you choose, and the self-image you choose.

 

And yet I continue to make the case for finding and spending whatever it takes to get the right shoes for your specific feet. The way I see it now, we clubbies have only two choices for finding reasonable comfort - amputation and prosthetics, or custom shoes and orthotics. No amount of experimental surgery will make a real, long-term difference, especially fusions - they just move the problem and pain to another joint or set of joints. There are enough stories from clubbies who have gone down this road, with mostly failed experiments, many more years of pain and frustration, and perhaps eventually amputation anyway. But it isn't for every clubby, especially when we get older, where our bodies are less able to adapt to prosthetics as they would have been had we had it done earlier in life. 

 

So this leaves getting smarter about footwear and orthotics. Yes, they cost, and yes, you may have to work outside any insurance system to get what you need. But aren't you worth it? Isn't having less pain, remaining ambulatory longer, recovering faster after a long day on your feet - isn't that worth the price? Only you can answer these questions, but be sure to ask one more question - what price happiness?