I gave up hiking and backpacking well before the pandemic. Then I briefly enjoyed (so much fun!) trail running, and was working my way up to (and had registered for a 5K) when my knee arthritis reared up and took that away from me. Sad sad day. And on my birthday, no less.
After months of physical therapy (I can do walking lunges! FREAKING WALKING LUNGES now, but I've decided at 60 years of age, running on trails is just too risky. That was a terribly hard decision to make.
So I've turned my attention instead to foot health and proper toe alignment and all that cool stuff. Because I'm pretty sure much of the wear and tear on my knees is from lousy alignment.
No, I have not consulted a podiatrist or other specialist because my insurance is quite difficult about that kind of thing and it is basically not covered. SO DON'T TAKE ANYTHING I SAY TO HEART. And don't nag me either.
I had gone to zero drop footwear several years before, finding that it was just plain more comfortable.
But I had not really paid much attention to my tootsies. My poor smashed toes. I have had bunions for years, decades really. I remember being enchanted by my ability to stack my big toes next each other one Christmas morning, an Xmas that involved Barbie dolls, so I was probably 8 or 9.
Basically, my big toe is tilted alarmingly toward my other toes, so much that I pronate horribly and my pinky toes are trying to become hammer toes from lack of regular ground contact.
So I did a bunch of reading, and studying up on foot structure, and how to correct it (no surgery) and finally settled on Correct Toes. I get NO sponsorship from any of this, just so ya know.
One of the things that the Correct Toes folks point out is that most people, when their big toes are lined up with the rest of the bones there, instead of dodging to the middle like mine do, it is nearly impossible to pronate very much. I was all, "Yeah, right. Watch me! I'm the Queen of Pronation!"
Imagine my utter shock and delight when, having stuffed my toes into my brand new Correct Toe thing-a-ma-bobs, admiring my almost straight big toe, I COULD NOT FLOP MY FEET IN much at all.
Well, I'm sold on the concept. I wore them around while doing household chores for about half an hour (what they recommend) and my leg muscles were in shock. "What is this now? We are quite tired and out of sorts so would you PLEASE take those things off and give us a break."
I have been wearing them about half an hour a day, while cooking dinner or doing chores. I will start adding time (probably 10 minutes a day) next week. I like to take changes like this very slowly.
I have also added some toe independence exercises (the only toe that really wants to move is my big toe. The next one over will feebly wave, and my pinky just lies there and laughs hysterically, "You want me to do what!?"
I have determined that my Altra Torin road shoes (wide toe box, zero drop) will fit well enough when I'm wearing my Correct Toes. So I'll be able to wear them at work (retail) when I can work up to a couple hours at a time.
My Altra shoes are not holding up as well as I'd like, but they are quite pricy to replace, so I've added some Shoe Goo to the failing uppers (not failing enough to make the shoe non-functional, this is preventative, preemptive repair) and stuck some new cushy insoles from Northsole (Legacy extra cushion) in there.
I have ordered some Splay Freedom sneakers in wide, so we'll see when they come if they, plus cushy insoles, will be a suitable work alternative. Plus, they are cute sneakers. Much better then my old Keds.
I also decided to commit (almost) fully to wide shoes with zero drop and tossed out about 6 old pairs of low heeled and flat toe-smashing shoes and sandals. I kept one pair of Dansko because they are not as bad as the others (and so cute), and I kept my beloved Vionic sandals because, although they are not zero drop, my toes can wiggle around as much as they like in those shoes. The rest of my shoes are various zero drop wide toe box running shoes. Okay, okay, except for my reproduction 1920 - 1940 shoes. Not giving those up, although I expect in a year or two I'll have to because my feet will have completely adapted to a proper shape and those shoes will be impossible.
I've started looking for one pair of dress shoes (mostly for concerts) that fit my new requirements, and I've pretty much settled on the Shapen Poppy in wide. We'll see if I actually buy them.
I also spent several happy hours playing with kids foam sheets, tape, and string, trying to devise a hurache type barefoot sandal lacing pattern that stays put under my feet. I think I have a pattern that will work, so I'll post about that when I get it made. My plan is to incorporate Correct Toes into the sandal so I can have cool homemade hippy shoes, cool comfortable feet, and be fixing my toes as I flit about. Correct Toes have slits placed in such a way to accommodate thong style sandals.
To use them with my Vionic sandals, I'd have to cut into the Correct Toes and I'm not ready to do that.
Well, that's enough about my feet and thoughts for now.
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