Ham-Micks

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Photo Hunters #11 Shoes






These are the shoes that Maw wears. They are Z-Coil shoes. Maw has severe Plantar Fasciitis in both feet. This is where the fibrous muscle that stretches from the heel to the toes gets tiny tears in it and becomes inflamed. Maw had it for several years before she saw a podiatrist for it. He kept giving her steroid shots in the heel that would last for about 6 months and made her feet feel so much better. She also did feet stretches and put ice on them every day. But the pain would come back. It's an excruciating pain in the heel that will bring you to your knees when you get out of bed in the morning.

Finally, she saw a chiropractor who told her about Z-Coil shoes. Luckily, there is a store very close to our home that sells these shoes and so Maw got a pair and began wearing them. Her feet are doing great a year later. She hasn't started her daily 4 mile walks again, and she hasn't gone hiking in the mountains for many years, but she is hoping that one day she'll be able to resume some of these activities.

Maw can never go barefoot again. Not even from the bedroom to the kitchen because her feet are so flat that the plantar fasciia stretches and tears too easily now. So if we yak in the middle of the night, Maw puts her shoes on to clean it up. But as far as she is concerned, these shoes have been a miracle cure.

Tomorrow, we'll show you pictures of all the splints she wears to bed each night. She calls them her contortion devices.

Luf, Us









20 comments:

Parker said...

I am glad that those cool-looking shoes help your Maw, that sounds like an awful condition to have.

Around Your Wrist said...

i'm so your maw found something to help. pf is a nasty condition!

love
--suz

doing a bit better, but still not eating much. mama worries and worries.

Shaggy and Scout said...

Oh my gosh! Our mom has this on her left heel! She's had the pain for about 4-5 months but hasn't gone to the dr yet. She has an appt on Tuesday. She is going in for medication refills and thought she might mention it to the doc. Now she definitely will!! Mom looked up the symptoms a couple months ago and that's what she came up with. Lots of pain after being off her feet, like in bed or sitting in the chair watching tv or reading for awhile.

Zippy, Sadie, Speedy and M'Gee said...

Ouchie! Dat sounds furry painful. Zippy has sumfing like dat where da tendon from her toes to her "heel" retract if not stretch periodically, dats why mom hasta do paw stretches fur her in da morning. Zippy is so used to it dat she wates fur mom to do her morning stretch and massage before she gets out of bed.

Lux said...

I'm so glad that your Maw was able to find something that helped her feet so much! It's like a miracle!

Daisy said...

Yay! A non-surgical cure that works! That's very wonderful.

Gattina said...

Very interesting, I have never seen such shoes !

Artsy Catsy said...

Oh, we're so glad your maw has special "shoes-on-stilts" to help her! Our mom has foot problems, too, called Morton's Neuroma, and she wears special orthotics with her regular shoes and Earth Shoes without orthotics. She says it's no fun, but she doesn't want to have foot surgery.

Rocky

Kimo and Sabi said...

They looks like fun to play in!

Just Ducky said...

Strange shoes, but if they help, that is good.

The Cat Realm said...

Those shoes look futuristic! Like you can do REALLY high jumps in them!
Those humans have weird things....

Unknown said...

Those look like really cool shoes! They would be even cooler if your Maw's feet would be right.

-Rosie

Tiki, Kirby, and StanLee said...

Those look like shoes from the future! very cool! Sorry your Mom has hurty feet, but at least her shoes are cool.

Max said...

Wow...thanks for posting this! The Woman has those kinda foot problems too and she didn't know those kinda shoes would help. Awesome!

Zoey and the furballs said...

That doesn't sound like it's a lot of fun. Our mommy hates to wear shoes and goes barefoot any time she can so I don't think she would like pf one bit!

Donny and Marie and Casey said...

Those are totally the coolest shoes I have ever seen!

I'm sorry your mommy has this terrible condition, but I'm glad she can wear cool shoes that also help her!

Pearl C. Pritchard said...

Maw! Those two beans of ours went off on holiday to Crete and they say that there are lots of street cats and dogs there. Just thought you should know so that if you ever go to Crete you can take your special cat trap for neuter and spaying.

Memories of Eric and Flynn said...

We haf nefurr seen shoes like that befurr, but we're glad yoo found them so it helps yoo not to be in pain. Our mum has to wear wellies a lot in the winter, and they made her git small heel spurs so she has to put inserts in them. She sez that can be painful enuff, so yer Maw must git awful pain wiv her feet.
pee-ess
Yoo wuz rite about dat duck that wuz in our feeld. It wuz a Muscovie.

Dragonheart, Merlin, Devi, and Chloe said...

My mom would love a pair of Z-coil shoes, but she has super wide feet, and they unfortunately don't come wide enough for her. Fortunately, custom orthotics help with her Morton's neuromas.

As a runner and physiotherapist-in-training, my mom knows all about Plantar Fasciitis and is very glad your maw found something that works for her! Night splints or Strassbourg Socks can definitely help out with PF too!

Oscar the Puppy Cat said...

These look like shoes that a lot of nurses wear! They look cool! I'm so happy that they work so well!