OldFriendFootwear Blog

High heels and foot pain: How high is too high?

January 27, 2010

How much foot pain are we willing to endure for the sake of high heels? What about back pain, twisted ankles, blisters, and so on? What is a woman to do when the high price of high heels starts to take its toll on her feet and body?

Friday afternoon while waiting for my turn at the hairdresser’s, I grabbed a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine from the stack. I’d wouldn’t ever buy a copy, but every once in a while I like to make my way through one, for a glimpse into another world. This particular glimpse showed shoes so high there’s no way the model could have walked to wear she was posed. They must have put her shoes on her feet right there on the spot, or else carried her like a mannequin to the place they wanted her. I’ve been musing on high heels ever since.

I confess to wearing high heels on occasion. But not very high. More like mid heels than high heels. I feel like a dork in higher heeled shoes, because I lack grace. Yet ironically Saturday night as I dressed for a high school reunion, I was wishing I had a pair of really high heels to wear so I’d look more dressed up. (Not as high as those I saw in Cosmo though!) Even in my mid-height heels, my feet were sore by the end of the night.

I’m not saying do away with high heels! But certainly there must be a time and a place for them, and that’s not every day. The reality is high heels cause foot pain and damage and just can’t be for every day. Yet I see women at work in high heels, women shopping at the mall in high heels, women meeting friends for lunch in high heels, women grocery shopping in high heels, women at sporting events in high heels…

They all look fashionable, I confess! But I do wonder about their feet and the foot pain that they are either enduring or soon will endure. Most likely they’ll end up with Metatarsalgia, or ball of foot pain. They can even be doing permanent damage to their bones at the base of their toes, or straining tendons. And I’m only addressing the potential foot pain, not the back pain or other damage they might be doing to their bodies.

Feet can be fashionable without foot pain. And knowing your feet must last you your whole life, shouldn’t you be friendly to your feet?

Of course if you need shoes for heel spurs, shoes for plantar fasciitis, shoes for flat feet, or shoes for arch pain, high heels are a no no. But you still can shop smart and find shoes that are both fashionable and comfortable, and not shoes that cause foot pain!

How high is too high? Whatever hurts your feet! Maybe we can make an effort to wear high heels less, smart shoes more, and bring about a fashion revolution that will save our feet, and our daughters’ and grand daughters’ feet!

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Flat feet are a big pain but shoes for flat feet can help

January 27, 2010

Cow feet have me thinking about flat feet. Have you ever noticed how cow feet work? OK, I mean hooves. I have lately because there’s a three-month-old calf living in my backyard temporarily. He’s an orphan who needs to be bottle-fed, so I have him until his owner finds another place for him to go.

I didn’t grow up on a farm or anywhere near cows, so having him nearby and bottle feeding him and getting him socialized has all been fascinating for me not just because I’m learning about calf behavior and instincts, but also about his anatomy, especially his foot.

Watching T-Bone walk across a variety of surfaces like grass, asphalt, uneven areas and bark, I see how flexible that cloven hoof is. It splits or stays together as needed. It doesn’t cover nearly the same surface area as a human foot, yet bears a lot more weight. He doesn’t have an arch, he has a flat hoof. And T-Bone can do all kinds of things with those feet, like walk and run and kick and scratch his own head.

It really puts the human foot in perspective by comparison. And it puts flat feet in perspective because they aren’t functioning the way nature intended. T-Bone’s hooves are flat, but they do what they’re meant to do. Flat feet on a human don’t.

Although flat feet don’t sound like they’d be painful, people with flat feet can suffer from foot pain. Worse and more likely, flat feet can cause foot and leg pain too including knee pain, shin splints, Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis because these feet aren’t functioning properly. Flat feet also over pronate (turn in) which can affect your muscles and ligaments. Some people are born with or genetically predisposed to flat feet. Others develop flat feet over time as a result of high-heeled or other shoes, obesity or problems like a tight Achilles tendon.

How do you make up for a flat foot? Buy shoes for flat feet. Shoes for flat feet won’t give you back your arches and get rid of your flat feet, but they will lessen the chance of other conditions developing by arching your foot for you.

If you have a normal arch now, but want to prevent flat feet later, be sure to wear shoes and slippers with arch support to decrease your chances of developing flat feet!

As for the calf, I’m glad his flat feet function fine, as I’m not sure I’d be able to find shoes to fit him!

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What’s better than barefoot? Good shoes for plantar fasciitis, heel spurs and more

January 27, 2010

Pardon the pun, but is there a movement afoot to go barefoot?

More and more I’m hearing about people choosing to go barefoot. Just now doing a little online research, I found out about a man who ran a marathon barefoot, a barefoot hiking web site, and a society for barefoot living. That was in the span of two minutes.

Part of me is cringing thinking about what all those feet must look like climbing into bed at night, about dirty kitchen floors and the dirt, grime and germs tracked all over those feet go. If you went barefoot everywhere all day every day, your feet would be filthy! And you would track all that dirt into your house, your kitchen and your bed! Yuck!

I mean, it’s okay for kids to run around the yard barefoot. That’s part of the joy of being a kid. But grownups walking into malls and restaurants and public restrooms??

Hygiene aside, it also got me thinking about why people would shun shoes. Walk through the shoe aisle at the department store, or cruise some shoe-selling Web sites, and I can easily see how someone would give up shoes rather than cram their feet into uncomfortable shoes with narrow toes, high heels or stiff soles. Seriously, some of those strappy things women wear are certainly worse than barefoot, as they offer no support and even put women’s feet and ankles at risk! (And women pay a very high price for those skinny little dangerous straps of leather!)

But is barefoot the answer? Or better footwear?

Personally, I think better footwear. Barefoot is dirty, unhygienic and dangerous. Imagine walking down a city street without shoes, risking broken glass, jagged pavement, cigarette butts and more… Again I say, yuck!

But if our feet are tucked safely into shoes friendly to our feet, they are clean, they are protected, and they can function as they were meant to do. That means arch support, cushioned heels, room for the toes and breathability.

And if you’re someone who suffers from foot pain, arch pain, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis or flat feet, barefoot isn’t the answer! You need shoes for heel spurs, plantar fasciitis or flat feet! Not no shoes!

Old Friend Footwear makes shoes, slippers and sandals that are better than barefoot. We offer arch support slippers ergonomic shoes, massage sandals and more, with the arch support and heel cushioning you need to keep your feet healthy and happy. Especially if you need shoes for plantar fasciitis, heel spurs or flat feet.

If you think about it, the right shoes are better than barefoot. Cleaner too.

Posted in Shoes for heel spurs, Shoes for plantar fasciitis | Leave a Comment »

Suffering from foot pain? 5 common foot pain problems described

January 27, 2010

It’s not surprising how many people suffer from some kind of foot pain. That’s because there are lots of parts to feet! They contain more than 7,000 nerves, 33 joints, over 100 muscles and tendons, and 26 bones (one-fourth of all the bones in the body).

With all those parts, it only makes sense that people would suffer from an array of foot pain problems. Do you? If so, don’t ignore your foot pain, figure out what it is, whether it’s arch pain, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis or something else all together. Foot pain can be caused by a lot of different ailments, and those ailments could lead to pain elsewhere in your body if your feet aren’t working properly!

Below are 5 common foot pain problems. Do any sound familiar to you? If so, you might want to see a podiatrist, or at the very least pay more attention to your footwear and be friendly to your feet!

1. Ball of foot pain, a.k.a. Metatarsalgia: Metatarsalgia refers to pain in the metatarsal region of the foot, the part we usually call the ball of the foot. It’s a common cause of ball of foot pain, usually the result of one or more of the metatarsal heads hurting or being inflamed due to a lot pressure over a long period of time. Shoes that don’t fit right, women’s high heel shoes, shoes with a narrow toe area, or doing an activity tha involves your foot hitting a hard surface repeatedly, like aerobics, can all cause ball of foot pain.
2. Flat feet, a.k.a. fallen arches: The reason a footprint in the sand doesn’t show the whole bottom of the walker’s foot is the arch, there’s an arch to the foot that stretches and flexes when we walk. Unless you have fallen arches, then you have flat feet, literally. Flat feet don’t usually hurt. If they do, definitely seek help. And also keep in mind that flat feet can cause pain elsewhere in the body because your foot isn’t functioning as it normally would.

3. Heel spurs: Heel spurs are bone spurs on the heel. They frequently occur as a result of plantar fasciitis but don’t hurt. The pain is usually caused by the inflammation of the ligaments that we call plantar fasciitis.

4. Plantar fasciitis: As noted elsewhere in this blog, plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the ligaments along the bottom of your foot that stretch and contract as your foot moves, bearing the full weight of your body when your foot is on the ground.

5. Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome (TTS): It sounds like Carpal Tunnel and it kind of is, just in your foot, not your wrist. Like Carpal Tunnel, it’s caused by a compressed nerve. Symptoms include burning pain, numbness, radiating pain along the nerve path through to the toes, ankle pain and heel pain. Because heel pain is a common complaint for those with TTS, people sometimes think it’s heel spurs or plantar fasciitis. It’s caused by over pronation, flat arches, obesity, arthritis or sometimes when you intensify your exercise or fitness regimen. Read more about Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome at http://www.footphysicians.com/footankleinfo/tarsal-tunnel-syndrome.htm.

As a shoe company, we hope you don’t have any of these common foot pain problems! We believe in being friendly to your feet and think that you should be too. If you are, you’ll prevent these foot pain problems from happening to you. If you already suffer from one or more of these foot pain problems, take a good, hard look at your shoes and slippers and make sure you’re not causing the problem. Because if you are, no amount of treatment will help until you slip your poor feet into a decent pair of shoes!

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Want foot pain relief from plantar fasciitis? Skip the flip flops

January 27, 2010

It’s summer. Are you giving your feet a vacation, or making foot pain worse through your choice of footwear?

Plenty of people suffer from plantar fasciitis, whether they know it’s plantar fasciitis or just think of it as heel pain. The heel pain caused by plantar fasciitis can range from slight to savage, but regardless plantar fasciitis pain can be better with shoes for plantar fasciitis, not flimsy flip flops.

Plantar fasciitis is caused by the inflammation of ligaments on the underside of your foot (the plantar fascia). These ligaments create the arch in your foot and support the bottom of your foot. Can you imagine what a tough job that is? The plantar fascia takes the full weight of your body when you step down. These ligaments stretch to flatten and then arch again as you walk or run. The heel pain from plantar fasciitis can be debilitating, but even it’s just uncomfortable, it’s in your feet and makes doing anything more difficult.

Plantar fasciitis and the resulting heel spurs and heel pain can be treated although it takes time. While you’re treating your plantar fasciitis, definitely avoid flip flops, I don’t care how sunny the weather or carefree the day!

The best shoes for plantar fasciitis have good arch support and good cushioning in the heel. Does that sound like a flip flop to you? No. Flip flops are the exact opposite of shoes for plantar fasciitis if you ask me. Rather than making it easier for your plantar fascia to do their tough job, flip flops lack any arch support at all, making those ligaments work that much harder to arch your foot as you walk. And heel pain? Ouch. There’s no kind of heel cushioning whatsoever in a flip flop.

Plantar fasciitis is common, as is the resulting heel pain. But it’s not untreatable, and it doesn’t have to be unbearable…if you are smart in your choice of footwear and forget the flip flops.

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The arch pain relief dilemma: Orthotics vs. shoes with arch support

January 27, 2010

If you’re feeling the pain of arch pain, you’re probably wondering how to get some relief. And there are plenty of web site out there offering answers to your arch pain questions: Google “arch pain” and you’ll get 158,000 results.
That’s a lot of arch pain Web sites to dig through! But don’t be overwhelmed and choose to ignore your arch pain as a result. One thing you don’t want to do is ignore arch pain. Ignoring arch pain won’t make it go away, and could even cause bone spurs to develop.

Of those 158,000 results, many offer advice for treating arch pain…and many try to sell you orthotics for relief from arch pain. Orthotics might seem like a quick fix, but orthotics can be difficult to use because they might not fit into your shoes. Or they might fit in one pair of shoes but not another. Or they might fit into your shoes but not leave enough room for your foot!

What’s an arch pain sufferer to do?

Forget the orthotics. Simply buy shoes with built-in arch support to begin with. Buying shoes with built-in arch support means relief from arch pain without messing with orthotics.

For a wide select of shoes and sheepskin slippers that provide arch support for arch pain relief, check out www.oldfriendfootwear.com.

Posted in Arch pain | 1 Comment »

Heel spurs might not be the cause of your foot pain

January 27, 2010

When your foot pain in concentrated in your heel, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have heel spurs. And until you know what’s really causing the foot pain, you can’t treat it.

So let’s be clear on what a heel spur is: A heel spur is essentially a bone spur that forms on the heel bone. A bone spur develops when there’s continuous pressure or rubbing on a bone, and the body responds by building up more bone in that spot. When that happens on the heel bone, we call it a heel spur instead of a bone spur.

Heel spurs are caused by the constant pressure, but that can come from a variety of sources, like ill-fitting shoes, obesity, sports that put stress on the feet, and plantar fasciitis. In fact, plantar fasciitis is a common cause of heel spurs. With plantar fasciitis, the plantar fascia (the ligament that runs along the bottom of your foot) is tight and pulls on the heel. The body reacts by building up the bone in the heel. But the heel might not be the cause of any heel pain. It could be the inflammation around it in the plantar fascia that’s causing the heel pain.

If heel spurs don’t always cause foot pain, how do you know if you have a heel spur? Either you will have foot pain in the heel, or you might feel a bump there. You can know for sure by having your foot X-rayed. But remember, if you do suffer from foot pain, it might be due to inflammation or plantar fasciitis and not the heel spur itself. In that case, you need to treat what is causing the foot pain, not the heel spur.

Before you get treatment, you can find some relief by wearing shoes for heel spurs. When you’re shopping for shoes for heel spurs, look for thick, cushioned heels. Your shoes won’t cure your heel spurs or other foot ailments, of course, but shoes for heel spurs can lessen the pain, no matter what’s causing it!

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Feel stuck with arch pain? Take a vacation from arch pain with treatment, stretches, shoes

January 27, 2010

Arch pain doesn’t necessarily have to be forever pain. You can tackle arch pain with exercises, ice, elevation, anti-inflammatory medicine, treatments with a podiatrist and proper shoes (meaning shoes with arch support).

If your arch pain is new or you haven’t dealt with it before, below are a couple of resources to help you understand and treat arch pain…so you can take a break from it, maybe forever. Keep in mind we aren’t doctors, just folks concerned about feet and footwear, but these look like bona fide resources for arch pain relief and advice.

eMedicineHealth.com has a thorough article on arch pain that covers the causes of arch pain, arch pain symptoms, knowing when to see a doctor for your arch pain, treatment of arch pain including self care, medical treatment and more.

The University of Michigan Health System offers detailed descriptions of arch pain rehabilitation stretches and exercises you can do to rehabilitate a foot feeling arch pain. There’s a link to illustrations of the exercises too, making them easy to do.

During treatment and when your arch pain is gone, keep arch pain away by being friendly to your feet. The best thing you can do is wear shoes with arch support. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean shopping at a special shoe store, or walking around in frumpy “old lady” shoes. It just means paying attention when you do buy shoes. Stylish shoes and slippers with arch support are more commonly available than you think.

So start your vacation from arch pain today. Check out these resources, follow credible advice, and make sure you stick with arch support shoes!

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Arch pain, foot pain, heel pain: Whatever and wherever, foot pain hurts all over

January 27, 2010

Ouch! It’s a sunny day, so I decided to take break from work to get some fresh air. I went for a short walk and felt ball of foot pain. This is a new foot pain, one I’ve never felt before. But I definitely felt that ball of foot pain every time my left foot hit the pavement! And it got me thinking about how any foot pain or arch pain or heel pain hurts all over.

Literally it can hurt all over because arch pain or foot pain can be symptomatic of something else. Foot pain or arch pain can be a symptom of a foot problem, one that can move all the way up your body to cause leg pain, hip pain, back pain, even neck pain. Sometimes it goes the other way, and it’s a back problem causing foot pain.

But figuratively foot pain or arch pain can hurt all over because it can cause you to move funny, like me this morning, wanting to favor my left foot because of the ball of foot pain. That can cause other problems as I move my body and use my muscles differently. But it’s also painful to have to sit still when you want to be active, and foot pain or arch pain can be so bad that that’s all you can do: sit back and watch, no matter how beautiful the day, and how much you want to go for a walk, or golf, or…

Help for any kind of arch pain, foot pain or related pain can always come from the right shoes and slippers and footwear. Whether it’s sandals or foam shoes, slippers or sheepskin boots, you can find shoes that offer the arch support and cushioning your body needs to avoid foot pain and all the other possible aches and pains that can result. And they don’t have to be frumpy just because they’re comfortable.

Foot pain, arch pain and heel pain can be debilitating, preventing you from physically doing what you want to do. That’s why we’re so concerned with your feet at Old Friend Footwear. And that’s why our motto is “friendly to your feet.”

Posted in Arch pain, Foot pain, Heel pain | Leave a Comment »

Arch pain and sheepskin slippers: What’s the connection?

January 27, 2010

What’s the connection between arch pain and sheepskin slippers? It’s simple: Sheepskin slippers relieve arch pain. When they are sheepskin slippers with arch support, that is.

People don’t usually think of arch support slippers. When they think of shoes for flat feet or ways to relieve arch pain, they’re thinking substantial shoes, not comfy sheepskin slippers. In fact, it’s almost as if people don’t believe arch support slippers exist. We’ve even seen a post online where someone asked if a certain slipper had arch support because they have flat feet, and the retailer replied no, because “they’re slippers.”

We can proudly say “yes” to the arch support because our slippers are Old Friend Footwear slippers! And our whole mantra is to be friendly to your feet. That doesn’t just mean cushy, cute and well-made, which many of our sheepskin slippers are. That means our sheepskin slippers are built to be arch support slippers.

Arch support slippers help with arch pain, and work as shoes for flat feet. And as our population ages, we will see more and more flat feet and arch pain. That’s because the arches tend to “fall” with age (like some other body parts, unfortunately!).

Arch support slippers can make a huge difference in relieving arch pain, however, as can other shoes for flat feet.

We’ve been in the slipper business so long, our company used to be called Old Friend Slipper, and Bo our mascot is pictured in our logo holding sheepskin slippers! (Just scroll to the top of this page to see Bo.) Those aren’t just any ol’ sheepskin slippers she’s holding, however, but arch support slippers.

Because one of the causes of foot arch pain is fallen arches (flat feet), buying shoes and slippers with arch support is one of the best moves you can make. You’ll take a step toward happier feet, especially if those arch support slippers are warm and cozy and made of sheepskin that delights your skin as you slide your foot into the slipper. Aaaaahhhh…

See Old Friend Footwear arch support slippers and sheepskin slippers at http://www.oldfriendslipper.com/sheepskinslippers.php.

Posted in Arch pain, Sheepskin slippers | Leave a Comment »

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