My favorite brand of running shoes is Asics. They are the only brand of shoe that feels right on my feet and have carried me through 3 marathons. (different pairs, of course!)
Late last year, I developed a pain in my foot and thought that it must be my shoe. Sometimes pregnancy will change your feet and I just had two pregnancies back to back, so yes,that must be it! My Asics had run their course for me (pun intended) and it was time to move on.
Like any good runner, I went to a specialty running store to get “re-fitted” for shoes. This particular store does not even sell Asics, so I took the advice of the salesman and got some Sauconys instead. They felt better, so that must have been the issue. My Saucony running shoes were my new best friends.
Me to feet: “C’mon, guys, let’s play!Let’s RUN! A lot! These new shoes are your cure!
Feet to me: “OUCH! Help us, help us NOW! Stop running NOW!”
As I mentioned here, it was not the shoe’s fault. The Sauconys were a very nice and comfortable shoe, but they could not solve the issue, which continues to get worse. I am so sorry for doubting my Asics and for thinking they might be to blame.
Now, I’m at a point where not only is running painful, but walking has become just as painful. Surgery is not an option for me right now, so I need to consider getting an orthotic for my shoe. Do I get one for the Sauconys or the Asics?
And what about other shoes, will I need orthotics in every shoe I own?
Many questions which I hope will be answered by the orthopaedic surgeon I am seeing next week. In the meantime, anyone out there have orthotic experience and suggestions?
My feet to all of you: “thank you!”
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{ 21 comments }
Have you considered massage? I’m not sure what your issues are, but the problem could be solved by getting a neuromuscular massage. It’s worth a shot before surgery. I hope you feel better.
First, I too am faithful to my Asics, I love them, they super good running shoes. I would also take the advise above and see a Rolfer. Also, go see a doctor and get some X rays to make sure it’s not a bone problem. I hope this helps.
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Hope all goes well….coincidentally, I also switched from Asics to Saucony – I find them a better stabilizing shoe. Just my $.02..
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I have orthotics for my sneakers and they are wonderful. They are, however, old. I need to get new ones.
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penGuin-welcome! unfortunately it’s a bone spur, so massage won’t help. (although I should get one anyway because I need one!)
Alice-is rolfing where they stand on you?
losingirene-do you wear that same orthotic in all your shoes, or just your sneakers?
I have tried Asics, Nike and the only shoe that works for my strange feet are the cheap New Balance!
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I think its better to have them in all the shoes you own, or as many as possible. That’ll do the least damage to your feet and help them to get better.
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Ahhhh I feel your pain!!!! I love my asics and I wore orthotics for a few years.. I had the same orthotic for all my shoes because I didn’t wear pumps at the time.. I then got another pair to wear in dress shoes
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A bone spur – ouch! That stinks. I keep switching shoes – my problem is the toe is either too tight or the back is too loose. I really should get fitted. Hope you get relief soon.
Well, Rolfing is a (very) deep tissue release modality and it can work total miracles on soft tissue tensions. But, I was suggesting getting an X-ray first to make sure it wasn’t bone related and you mentioned it was a bone spur, so massage is unlikely to help all that much (for that, you still NEED one for everything else right?)
If this is becoming this debilitating you need to go see an orthopedic doctor, that said, please go see one who works with athletes. I find they try much harder to get you back to active, as opposed to just functional… Do you have TOSH (The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital) center in your area?
Alices last blog post..
I’m an aasics girl all the way myself. But don’t work thru that kind of pain. Hopefully the doc will have some good suggestions for you and you can be back doing what you love ASAP!
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Asics are my first love!!! Hope all goes well!
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This may be one of the times that you should seek advice from a good podiatrist to help with foot pain. It may be that you’ll need to be off your feet for some time in order to heal or an entirely new method of stretching your feet to relieve pain before you attempt exercise. Good luck as a bone spur can be very painful.
Eeek! I have no advice, but I’m so sorry about the pain.
Will you update us with what the doc says about the bone spur? My aunt has one but won’t do anything about it. She says there isn’t anything that can be done, but I’m not so sure.
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I have custom orthotics because of flat feet. I haven’t had to get new ones made for different shoes since they are custom to my feet. I noticed when I tried on Asics last week (the gel frantic style is awesome), the gel support didn’t matter much since I was wearing my orthotic – so, it almost defeated the purpose to have that support in the sole of the shoe.
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My husband has orthotics because he had stress fractures earlier this year. They’re customized to his foot, so he just moves them from his work shoes to his workout shoes when he changes shoes.
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Ouch! Foot pain is so horrible! I was having some numbing that I thought might be neuroma (sp?) so I went to a podiatrist. he told me that it was caused by not enough cushion in my shoe and gave me an insert to try. I put those in the asics I had.
However, I’ve always run with Sauconys so the next time I went back to the store I bought another pair after getting fitted again. The guy told me that the pain probably wasn’t the cushion but the fact that my feet were swelling so much that I needed a larger size. So we went a size higher and the pain ended almost immediately.
I hope they can get it resolved quickly!
Hi Lisa,
I have some similar problems, where after running or being on my feet all day left me practically crippled and unable to comfortably walk up stairs the following days. I started with Foot Mechanic (http://thefootmechanic.com/), who created some custom orthodics. I have one pair orthodics that I move between shoes. (Asics are my favorite too (Nimbus)) This helped, but didn’t solve the problem. I then saw a local podiatrist who took x-rays and revealed two bone spurs on each foot! I’m not really interested in surgery or the recovery period, so we talked about other options and two have helped me tremendously. One is calf stretching. It’s embarrassing to say that all of my pain has been relieved by stretching my calfs more. Most of my pain was related to the fight between my calfs and muscle under foot that were rubbing and irritating the bone spurs. Once I started stretching, I can run on back to back days with no problems the following day (and no issues on stairs). Two is a sock that stretches my calf while I sleep. It’s called Strassburg Sock. I don’t wear it every night, but when I remember.
I hope your problems are solved as easily as mine. I still have the bone spurs, but that’s what I’m doing to live with it!
Good luck.
Paul
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Paul, thanks for the tips on stretching. I am definitely guilty of not stretching enough! I have friends who have used the sock for plantar fascitis, but never thought to use it for bone spurs. I’ll check it out, thanks!
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