For Me, INSTANT Plantar Fascitiis Relief
Plantar Fascitiis story: used to walk 3-5 miles every day. Daily salads. I weighed 180lbs, felt great. I started pushing myself up towards 10 miles a day. I got lazy with my diet. Wasn't getting proper hydration. So my aging joints dried out, and I started feeling heel pain. Didn't know what it was and decided to "tough it out," and "push through" - and ended up tearing both Plantar Fascitiis tendons in the heels of both feet. It wasn't all at once - started in one foot, moved to the next when I over-compensated, I read that such pain was common for my age at the time and just thought I'd lay off the walking for a while, but the pain soon got the point that I had to take time off from work to try and heal what I learned were torn tendons. Turns out most people heal from Plantar Fascitiis injuries in 3 to 6 months.Five Years later. Minus work I'm largely sedentary. I weigh 240 lbs. I hesitate before standing up to go to the bathroom because I have to hobble everywhere and it simply HURTS to stand. For each 8 hour shift at work I put on THICK heel cups/pads, strap on heel cushions to keep them in place (often digging into the tops of my feet and/or STILL sliding all around) and then I put on shoes with extra arch supports - with a large dose of Ibuprofen as well - just to make it through a shift, after which, I come home and my feet thump comically like some old WB cartoon, as I kick myself for not getting a snack while I was still in the kitchen and had all my gear on. Twice a year for the past two years I've gotten steroid shots injected into my feet and/or taken steroid pills which GREATLY reduces the pain... for about a month tops, often greatly for a week, then slowly building back up to the point where I just don't want to stand.Then, a few days ago, I decided that my 6-month-old padded house-slippers were proving inadequate, and ordered these. Oh My God!!! When I unwrapped them and felt them I thought, wow these are HARD - they're going to HURT! But when I put them on and stood up... my heels sank about an inch into them... with no pain! I walked around the house laughing because I wasn't limping or hobbling like I often do in my thinly padded house slippers... I was WALKING as if I had all that gear on AND a prescription pain killer... just... no pain!Now in all fairness, that honeymoon phase quickly wore off and I realized that the injuries were still there and that it was better to walk with the heel pads AND these new slippers, but I can afford to be lazy again if I just need to "run" to the bathroom now because these are SO cushy my heels just sink right in, but the centers are solid support for my arches as well, and though I can't say I love the look or the flip-flop style, they're PERFECT for just getting around the house, and the comfort for my heels is so startling that I'm considering taking them to work with black socks or something. I'm thinking these are so supportive and cushy that could actually give my tendons time to heal. SO nice to be able to just... walk again! May not be like that for everybody, for a heavy-set, middle-aged man with foot problems... worth writing a review for. I'll try to remember to update in a few days/weeks.1st Update: Wore them to work. They're slip-resistant too, which is nice, but after 8 hours on my feet, my buscuits were burning again for sure. I forgot to take additional arch support, but I WAS wearing heel cups with the padded strapped cups on top of those. So the bad news is that even with these inch-deep shoes, latex heel cups AND padded strapped heel cups, my heels STILL burn half the night while I'm working, and I get home and just don't want to get up again. But... I made it HALF THE NIGHT without serious pain!!!! Don't know how long they'll last, but for now... worth every penny.2nd Update: Almost a month later, these are pretty much my new shoes. At the moment, because I work nights, I'm getting away with it at work, but I wear these pretty much everywhere, I just wear more padding when I'm on the job. After a month, I can say my injuries still suck, but that I've drastically reduced the amount of ibuprofen I was taking. I mean I was doing 8 pills a night to get through work. Now I'm forgetting to bring them with me, and IF I need them when I get home I might take some, but the sheer thickness of these things - mixed with the strength of the arch - have been perfect for me. Can't guarantee it'll be the same for everyone (everyone's plantar fascitiis is different I've heard), but I don't care how they look - ANY relief is welcome, and these have been amazing so far.