Shoes, shoes, shoes!!!!

[Brychni]

I'm at the end of my tether with the whole suitable shoe drama. My daughter who is now 14 has to wear orthotics specially made by podiatry who, along with a consultant she sees regularly. Every time she needs new school shoes we go through the same drama of actually finding a pair that can accommodate the insoles and the podiatrist never has that much in terms of suggestions. Often I thought I had bought something really suitable only to be ticked off at the appointment for choosing trainers that are too floppy at the back or ot quite deep enough, etc etc.

Also, it seems that it is ONLY trainers that are considered suitable and every term I have to write and email to the school expalining for, the umpteenth time that she has to wear trainers because it appears that a shoe that can support her feet or accommodate the insoles hasn't been invented yet.

I can't believe that there isn't any more inofrmation about what shoes are available out there. I have googled myself into orbit trying to research this (for literally years) and the best I can come up with is Asics. Surely there is an actual SHOE, somewhere on earth that fits kids with hypermobility?

Is there anyone out there who has had the same experience or even better, success with finding shoes?

[Chris21]

you’re definitely not alone! I’m in my late 60s and always struggled to find shoes/trainers.

when I was a child I had to wear boys shoes as the only alternative. I now wear trainers all the time. I also struggled with my grand daughter (now 21) finding shoes suitable for school as the head was awful and refused to accept that you couldn’t get shoes to fit!

I found over the years the shoe industry has got worse rather than better. Dont know if it helps, I buy sketchers d lites, they seems to be quite sturdy and my granddaughter would wear converse boot trainers. I did get the podiatrist to write a bog standard letter stating that she had to wear trainers at all times due to ‘unstable’ movement of joints. My granddaughter would keep it in her blazer as she was often stopped in the corridor by various teachers.

Good luck in your search.

[cyberbarn]

There are two aspects to this problem, the NHS and the school. Addressing the NHS first...

A number of years ago there was a campaign group set up to sort out paediatric orthotics. How the NHS funding works is that there is funding attached to podiatry appointments to provide for orthotics including shoes. But this funding was disappearing into black holes and parents weren't able to get shoes for their children. This improved after the campaign but there are still problems.

So you need to ask for a referral to orthotics. It will be different in every areas of the NHS, some places you will need to go through your podiatrist, others you might be able to get a GP to refer. You may need to press hard to lay out your case that there are no suitable shoes available on the high street and you need support from orthotics to find some.

The good news is it might be easier once she is 16, at least that is what we found. We couldn't find any boots supportive of his ankles below the age of 16, especially when the withdrew children's boots in size 5 because the government didn't like the fact that women with small feet were wearing them and thus not paying vat on them! But once he was 16 suddenly they couldn't do enough for him and for the last ten years he has had boots supplied by the NHS, and they aren't ugly old people's boots either. more like high top trainers.

The second issue is with the school. If they try to stop her wearing appropriate shoes you could point out that that is discrimination to stop her from wearing appropriate footwear due to her medical condition.

Do you know about the EDS School Toolkit? theschooltoolkit.org

Have a look yourself and point the school to it too.

Good luck!

[FredaN]

I'm in my 40s, but having a similar battle in finding shoes that aren't trainers! I most don't really wear trainers, especially in the winter, so I'm finding it really hard to work out what would be suitable. I saw a podiatrist a couple of weeks ago, who is sending me some insoles (he said they might take about 4 weeks to arrive). I don't know what to expect or if I can switch them between shoes or anything.

I'll let you know if I come across anything. I found the Charles Clinkard website had a helpful filter for "removable insoles" and it seems like some Hush Puppies & Kickers shoes also have the option to remove the insoles. It looked like all the Hush Puppies school shoes did, because I always look at those because my feet are small enough and it keeps the cost down 😂 Apologies if you've already looked at all those, as I imagine it probably feels like you've exhausted all options by this point. You would think one of these sportswear/running brands would actually do a small range of smarter looking shoes as, from what I can see, they'd make a killing given there's not much on the market.

I have autism and sensory problems around clothes & shoes - I hate wearing socks. I tend to wear tights all winter as I can cope with them, so I don't have the kind of wardrobe that goes with trainers. I know that probably sounds shallow and like a minor problem, but I've made a lot of my clothes so not keen to just stop wearing them or throw them out. I like Chelsea boots, loafers and Mary Jane type shoes, so I think I'm going to have to think outside the box on this one!

[Brychni]

Hi all, thanks for your replies! I have had some success!! someone mentioned Converse so I had a look on their website to see if they do alternative materials and they do! So I bought my daughter a lovely pair of black suede, fur lined with black sole so the school can't complain. She can remove the insole and put her orthotics in and she still gets the support from the hi-top around the ankle.

In addition, I had to buy some black shoes for my new job. Big mistake, I bought some from Unisa which I thought were supposed to be really comfy and flexible etc but after walking from the car to work on my first day, my feet were litereally bleeding. I think I have entered 'soft shoe ' territory. I was quite depressed until I found Gabor which have some surprisingly fashinable lines. they have removable insoles to accommmodate orthotics and are designed to support and be comfortable.

[FredaN in reply to Brychni]

That's great about the Converse! And fur-lined sounds perfect for this time of year (I can't tolerate socks, but I'm ok with tights, so have found fur-lining a godsend in the past). I was wearing some Converse trainers when I went to my podiatrist appointment and I was surprised when he took the insole out how thick it was! He said there was probably a good amount of room to accommodate the insoles. I've bought some New Balance trainers for indoors for now, while I get used to the insoles.

I also have some Gabor shoes and they seem quite good quality. Another brand I've discovered seems to have removable insoles across their range is Geox. I've just ordered some boots by them and from another shop called Hotter, so hopefully something will be ok for winter. Geox have some school shoes in John Lewis, which I checked the insoles on (I'm a size 5, so always worth a look!) I saw some in the women's section there too, along with Gabor. Some Rieker shoes/boots have removable insoles too, but they seem a mixture of old lady shoes and more modern styles.