PF, shin splints, "Earth shoes" and negative heel technology question

[Suzyqt1981]

I own earth shoes and like them but don't find it that different from "normal" shoes. I never eased into wearing them or anything like that.

[Susan G.]

I wore them in the early 1970s. Since I was a mere child of 21, I wasn't have been sensitive to alignment issues, but I did find them comfortable. After college I moved to a small ranching community where a friend there was curious about them and called them my "gopher shoes."

[Kyra]

I remember them from the 70's, but was too young to form any kind of opinion on them as orthopedic footwear. The claims sound a bit farfetched to me, but hey, if they're comfortable for you, and you like them...

When I had shin splints (well, actually stress fractures) my doc (an OD, I think) recommended wearing clogs because they were more rigid and provided some support. That was in the 80's.

[sheepla]

Originally Posted by Kathryn

I went to a chiropractor who checks for neutral position of one's arches. With the Birkies and Teva sandals, my arches are in neutral (that's a good thing, according to him). The Earth shoes didn't have the same results (though they are better than some other shoes I tried).

Thanks for the info. I'm a little confused by this as I used to live exclusively in Tevas but have stopped wearing them since my PF flared up as they seem to have no arch support compared to my Birks. Do I just have the wrong kind of Tevas?

[SharonNYC]

Some remembrances re: earth shoes from the 60s abd 70s. As I recall, the heel being lower was supposed to emulate walking in sand and other natural surfaces. So they were considered great for city wear -- not so great for walking in nature. Take that with some salt if you like.