Sandals and fold-a-beds

[Bazza1234]

Many years ago, I used to visit a friend who had an old "fold-a-bed". At first when you got into this bed , it felt quite comfortable -- then after a while you started to feel that it had something like a metal bar across the centre of the bed which you could feel (which it did) - by morning your back was broken!!!!! I am having a similar problem with my running shoes now. My "broken foot" is I think getting better , so I am trying to do some walking. But, in that foot, after I put on shoes ( which feel fine when I first put them on) , I get this feeling that somebody has slipped a pencil into the shoe crosswise under the arch of my foot - by 30 minutes, I am in agony. Today I went and bought a cheap pair of mens sandals with 3 adjustable loops - one at the back which controls heel position one at the ankle which locks it to that heel position and one over the toes. The most significant thing about these sandals are that they have an absolutely flat footbed. So far so good - I think it might be time for me to look at ALTRA shoes. Does anybody want 16 pairs of mostly unused shoes???

[misswobble Graduate10]

You can't win Baz. I went flat post shin splint and now have a twanging Achilles. I have bought some 10mm offset Nikes to see if I can make things less sore. Wore my flat trail shoes yesterday and they felt ok

Don't chuck em yet Baz! 🙂

[Bazza1234 Graduate10 in reply to misswobble]

Thing is for me is that most running shoes have somewhat "shaped" footbeds - combine that with the shaped inner soles that they then put in the shoe and you finish up with lumps and bumps slamming into the bottom of the foot every step I make. It is akin to running on somebody elses individually made orthotic. We are meant to walk on a completely flat surface . Re the foot to toe drop, zero drop is hard for people who have mostly worn shoes all their life. My feet are very used to walking around shoeless It is mid-winter here right now - midday temperature is predicted to be 27C - not a lot of need for shoes here

[Anniemurph Graduate10 in reply to Bazza1234]

When I was made redundant 11 years ago, I went from spending 10 hours a day in work shoes i.e. mostly heels, with quite a constricted toe, to bare feet for about three months. It felt wonderful initially - but it wrecked my feet, oddly enough. My arches dropped and my feet spread massively I had terrible back, hip and leg problems. I went to my chiropractor who tutted and told me to go and see a podiatrist sharpish, but the damage was mostly done. I think I just did it all too quickly - if I had made the change gradually my feet would have strengthened and thanked me for it, but because I went from a 3" heel to flat overnight, it was all too much. I've had dreadful feet ever since and have to buy wide-fitting shoes now. Luckily my Brooks are wide-fitting and very comfortable to run in. I just wish they made beautiful shoes in a wide fit - it seems that as soon as you have large, wide feet (think hobbit) shoe manufacturers think that you want boring shoes as well

[Bazza1234 Graduate10 in reply to Anniemurph]

However - at the end of the day, you were "designed" to walk around in bare feet - not wearing 3inch high heels with pointy toes Culturally speaking, you really weren't much different to those Chinese that bound their girls feet because it was considered to be "beautiful" goo.gl/aaywSU

[Anniemurph Graduate10 in reply to Bazza1234]

I know The other thing is that I didn't go straight into heels and pointy toes, I worked up to them so my feet adjusted gradually. It's like going into different running shoes - if you go for a sudden decrease in heel drop you will notice it so you should do it gradually.

Things you wish you'd done differently...