What’s more more important than paying attention when your body hurts – especially when you’re not 22 anymore? That would be realizing *why* it hurts. And the only thing more embarrassing than realizing you made an entire doctor’s appointment and resigned yourself afterwards to a future where the simple task of walking hurts – only to find out there was essentially nothing wrong – is the knowledge that you also told the entire world about it in a blog post. (You can read that post here for more context).
I may be stretching the limits of the definition of “entire world” here, but I definitely told like 7 people. Maybe 8.
Hi, my name is Shawna, and I practically rendered myself unable to walk to save $40. Have I mentioned walking is my very favorite activity? It’s like a therapy session and exercise all in one. I grab my iPod, get some movement in, and decompress – it’s glorious! But to save a few dollars, I very nearly robbed myself of that.
How did I achieve this great feat on my feet? (My kids would be rolling their eyes for that but I just couldn’t help myself). That part is easy. From about March until November I live in my Keen Newport sandals. At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, they’re amazing. The only drawback is the price, but they are definitely worth it. A couple of summers ago I was in the shoe store and noticed that the children’s version of these sandals were $40 less, and I fit in the largest child size. $40! That’s almost a tank of gas nowadays! Well, far be it for me to not live by my Nana’s adage: “The money’s better off in your pocket than the store’s,” so I bought them.
I was so proud of my shoe price hack that I didn’t notice the subtle differences between the child version and the adult version: no contoured heel cup, no arch support, no real weight to them … details, right? Fast forward a year, and I was experiencing severe foot pain, making it very hard to walk. I finally went to the doctor, and was diagnosed with fat pad loss in my feet. It’s a very painful condition and although I bought various orthopedic inserts I didn’t find much relief. I spent not a small amount of time wallowing in self-pity, and finally decided that I would just push through the pain and I kept walking.
This, surprisingly, didn’t help the situation one bit.
One day as I was perusing shoes online, I noticed that the adult version of my Keens had a fabulous new color. As I was thinking about getting them, I noticed that they were curved on the foot bed and thought how odd it was since my current ones were not really curved there. It took a few seconds, but suddenly it hit me: arch support! I immediately ordered them, and when they arrived I also learned that they have a heel cup for extra heel support, which is where I was feeling all the pain.
I called the company, and learned that yes, the child versions have none of the supports that the adult ones have. In fact, they aren’t even made from the same materials because children don’t need the kind of support that adults do in their feet. This is the reason they are so much cheaper, it turns out. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the tone of voice when the rep I spoke to said “You’re an adult but bought the child’s sandal, and didn’t know why your feet were hurting?” I wanted to say “But I saved money so it’s a win” but I didn’t because this didn’t feel like winning at all.
I’ve been wearing my new Keens for about a month and a half now. Although I do likely still have fat pad loss, the extreme pain I was feeling was bone bruising from that combined with walking miles in shoes with no support at all. I now enjoy pain-free walks and my feet feel normal again.
So, this is the story of how I cured my heel pain by wanting a cool new sandal color.
