I’ve had a love/hate relationship with shoes my entire life. Finding the best shoes to wear with AFOs has never been easy.
Long before I started wearing leg braces (AFO’s), it was a struggle finding shoes that fit my high-arch, fused-ankle, drop-foot, callous-prone feet.
I remember the day I picked up my first pair of leg braces. You can read more about my history in the blog Skinny Jeans. When the orthotist brought them to me in a clear plastic bag, I instantly burst into tears like someone first viewing a loved one’s corpse in an open casket. I was scared to touch them.
When I caught my breath, my greatest concern came off as superficial. What the f### kind of shoes do I have to wear with those things?
That Orthotist probably needed therapy for PTSD (trauma) after his experience with me that day. When he brought in a catalog with a pair of bulky, fake leather, clodhopper shoes on the cover, I literally started screaming at him,
“Do you expect me to look like Fred Flintstone?” “No f####ing way am I wearing those!”
I left his office (AFO’s still in the bag) and didn’t take them out again for another six months, when cleaning bloody knees from sidewalk falls became a daily thing. I moved out of denial and into typical solution-focused “Lainie mode.”
As my leg braces evolved through the years, so has my ability to find stylish shoes that I can wear confidently. Today, it is so much easier as the trendy shoe styles have features people with hand and feet issues actually need. Here are 5 of my favorites:
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