Shoes.

[icebluenothing]

Yesterday I took treebyleaf to Shoreline Wide Shoes, so she could get the new shoes she'd been needing. She had strongly suggested that maybe I could look for new shoes, there, too, since I'd been having problems with my feet.

Yeah. I have. Nothing I've really wanted to mention here because I've been too scared to think about it -- mysterious pain and tension and numbness.

I wasn't too sure about finding shoes here, though; I didn't need wide shoes, did I? And looking for new shoes to try to deal with the pain in my feet sounded kind of, err, traumatic, really. And I thought I'd rather do it sometime when I was alone.

But while she was trying on shoes, one of the salesmen noticed I was looking at arch support inserts, and started talking to me about what I needed, and he talked me into trying some shoes -- no pressure, just good salesmanship. (He's been doing this for 22 years, I later learned.)

He hauled out one of the little slide measures for my feet, and staring down at it I realized: I hadn't had a professional actually measure my feet and find shoes for me in my entire adult life. I'd just gone in to shoe stores with a vague idea of my size -- 10½ -- and grabbed whatever felt to me like they fit.

He measured my feet. Apparently, I take a 9½ shoe -- but I need the arch support of an 11. "You're not going to find a shoe like that," he told me. "No one makes them."

My heart sank until he brought over something he called an "orthotic," an insert for the shoe that gives it the correct arch support for my non-standard feet. He slid them into a nice simple pair of black shoes he'd brought out and said, "Try that."

I did.

First off, it was a weird feeling to have a shoe that really fit. I hadn't realized just how badly my shoes had fit before I felt these slide snugly around the shape of my feet.

Secondly, as I stood and walked around the store, I could feel not just my feet, but my entire body start to -- realign itself. I was standing up straighter, but was more relaxed. The muscles in my legs were shifting, changing position, re-learning how to walk. Not to sound too mystical or anything here, but I could feel the flow of energy through my body opening back up and flowing smoothly again for the first time in -- I don't know how long. I felt better; a glance at my reflection in the mirror told me I looked better. I was sharper, more awake, more present. I hope all this makes some kind of sense -- I can't explain any better than this, can't overemphasize the difference this simple change made.

I can't afford new shoes right now, let alone the orthotics -- nearly as expensive as the shoes themselves, but I'm told that they'll probably outlast the shoes -- so treebyleaf bought them for me. I can't even begin to say how grateful I am, how lucky I feel to have a friend like her.

Comments

[wendolen.livejournal.com]

*does the math: 9? ... 11... ponders foot shapes* Yes, it all makes sense to me now.

Gorgeous.

Wholistic. :>

I resally ought to share certain heaslth things more often....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

I thought you had heard how much better my feets were once I started using the orthotics.

Now I can't walk very far in anything but my birkenstocks even if I have an orthotic in my other shoes...weight changes and balence changes might change what kind of orthotic you need at any given point. But given the location of your arch I bet your will have less changes than I do since one of my problems is walking on the outside of my feet.

Oh and do leg streches....hamstring streaches and twirling your feet around to strech your ankle.

[autumngray.livejournal.com]

::jumping for joy and clapping hands::

I'm glad you found it!!!