Orthopedic Shoes
Orthopedic shoes are designed specifically to encourage and support foot health. This means that they can be worn as an aid to relieve pain, to assist in the treatment of an orthopedic foot problem, or simply because they are comfortable and pleasant to wear - i.e. a healthy footwear option.
Over recent years, and in order to make the description of an orthopedic shoe more appealing and less medical, they are often described as comfort shoes or healthy shoes.
Orthopedic footwear makes standing and walking for long periods of time less stressful on the feet and can prevent, relieve, or cure a range of foot disorders and ailments. If you have foot pain or discomfort while walking, then you should seriously consider buying a pair of orthopedic shoes or using orthotic insoles or inserts. Their superior fit and extra padding will increase the comfort and support that your feet get and they will enable your feet to do their job in a less stressful and better supported way.
Who should wear orthopedic shoes (comfort shoes)
Good quality shoes can be a life enhancing addition to anyone who suffers from foot pain (bone or muscular), abrasions, blisters, sores to the feet, has difficultly or pain when placing weight on the feet, or any other problems that makes standing or walking difficult as a result of foot discomfort.
However standard orthopedic shoes, which in most cases are simply well designed and well manufactured shoes, will benefit everyone - particularly those who do a lot of standing or walking. Furthermore, looking after your feet at a younger age will pay benefits as you get older. If you look after your feet now you will most probably avoid the foot problems that many experience in later life.
For specific details of some of the foot problems that orthopedic shoes can benefit, see the menu to the left.
Preventing or alleviating foot problems in the future
Many people who develop and experience foot discomfort in later life, do so because they spent many years wearing poor quality or badly fitting shoes.
Poor (and often cheap) shoes not only fail to support the feet, but they can distort the bones, ligaments and muscles creating and compounding problems that may not be noticeable until permanent damage is done. At this stage orthopedic shoes become a necessity, but in many cases the problems could have been avoided by selecting better quality footwear earlier in life.
Making the decision to wear healthy shoes before the onset of problems is one way to ensure future mobility, activity and comfort when walking or standing.
A poignant thought on orthopedic shoes
Remember that during the course of a typical lifespan most people will spend as much as one third of their waking life standing or walking.
Their feet, which represent only a few square inches in area, will carry and propel a body weight that will typically average over 170 pounds and, at times, that weight will be supported on bone structures that are a tiny fraction of an inch in diameter. Each foot contains 26 separate bones.
Any help that an orthopedic shoe can give to a foot is welcomed by the body and this in turn promotes long term foot health and good mobility. (For an explanation of what "orthopedics" mean in the context of footwear, take a look at this page Orthopedics, the feet and shoes.)
Style
The old image of orthopedically designed footwear was one associated with a "style-less" and old fashioned shoe, but today there is a massive range of orthopedic shoe styles for all ages, sizes and activities.
You can buy casual slip-on shoes, formal shoes, sandals, trainers or boots, and all designed with orthopedics and foot care in mind. These shoes come in an extensive range of colours and styles, but all offer comfort and support and help place the foot in the most advantageous positions for taking the body’s weight and the stresses of walking.
Healthy shoes make economic sense
Many people now choose to buy orthopedic or comfort shoes, boots and sandals not just for medical reasons, but because they are comfortable to wear and generally indiscernible from regular shoes.
Orthopedically designed shoes have a high build quality and are made from natural (or breathable synthetic) materials and this results in them offering a lifespan that is normally longer than a regular fashion shoe. This makes the purchase of orthopedic footwear not just a good health decision, but also an economically sensible choice too.
Very few people who try out an orthopedic shoe return to wearing regular or designer shoes again.
Specific purpose orthopedic shoes
In addition to shoes designed to support the normal foot, there are of course special orthopedic shoes which are designed to assist with particular walking difficulties or deformations of the feet.
Some of these shoes have very special requirements, e.g. built up soles and heals, or padding to compensate for the loss or deformation of a part of the foot etc, and cannot easily be designed to look like regular shoes. These forms of orthopedic footwear are usually made to order and (in the UK and USA) are prescribed by a doctor or physician.
Diabetic shoes are a variation on orthopedic foot ware and are designed along typical orthopedic shoe principles, but with the emphasis being placed on the avoidance of any pressure points or localized abrasive areas that could cause sores or ulcers. Most good orthopedic shoes will have these qualities and many are alternatively called orthopedic or diabetic shoes.
If this page has sparked your interest in the value of orthopedic foot ware, please use the menus at the top and left-hand-side of all pages to find out more. Orthopedic shoes could ultimately change the quality of your life, if not now, in the future.
If you have a medical condition than warrants the wearing of orthopedic shoes or orthotic shoe inserts, speak with your doctor and seek his or her advice.
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