Socks and Shoes (Tips for choosing and using them)

Socks

ST support
We sell Knit-Rite SmartKnit® socks on our website, www.cascadedafo.com, in five sizes from Infant to Adult Regular. They offer a tube sock or a sock with a separate big toe (for braces with a toe abduction strap). The patient can also wear any smooth cotton blend socks with our products.

For comfort, look for socks that:

• fit smoothly against the skin (no bunching or folding)
• wick perspiration away from skin
• are seamless
• resist wrinkling.

For compliance with higher AFO styles, consider a sports sock that, when worn inside out, is high enough to fold back down over the leg portion of the brace. Soccer socks work well and come in lots of colors.

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Shoes

All of our products are meant to be worn with socks and shoes.
To support the braces, look for shoes that:

• support the heel
• tie or strap snugly over the instep (especially for Fast Fit^TM items)
• have room in the toe box (width and depth).

Sometimes, a wider width of your child’s size will do the trick.

Orthopedic Shoes
For maximum support, consider these orthopedic shoes.

• Answer2
  Ask your orthotist or shop online.

• Hatchbacks
  www.hatchbacksfootwear.com
  800/936-0511 (Ore.)
  
• Keeping Pace
  www.keepingpace.com
  888/526-0020 (Mass.)
  

• Markell Shoe Company
  www.markellshoe.com
  914/963-2258 (N.Y.)
  

Other Options for Shoes
Shoes found in stores where you can look over the inventory are often functionally appropriate, stylish and considerably less expensive. (Clinicians may want to recommend one brand over another, depending on the bracing situation.)

Possible brands—
Converse
Crocs
DCs
Dinosoles
Fila
Keen
Merrell
New Balance
Peak
Skechers
Sprockets (Mervyn’s)
Stride Rite
Vans
Winners (Sears)

Stores—
EMS
Fred Meyer
Kohl’s
Mervyn’s
Payless Shoes
J.C. Penney
REI
Sears
ShopKo
Target
Volume Shoes
or shop online if there’s a liberal return policy

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Shoe Shopping

You may want to shop without your child. Take the brace with you and try fitting it into the shoe alone. You can often buy shoes, take them home for a relaxed fitting session and return or exchange them if needed.

Look for shoes that have:

• a padded insole glued or placed in the bottom that you can remove after purchase. This increases the available volume.
• a consistent fit. Once you find a brand you like, go to that specific brand again for dependable fit.

Trying the Shoe On

• Use a fairly aggressive push to get the brace down into the toe box.
• If the brace slides into the shoe easily, the shoe may be too large.
• Find the smallest shoe that can hold the brace. You may have to wiggle and push the brace into the shoe before the heel drops in. This extra work means the shoe will be only slightly longer than normal. If the shoe is too long, your child may trip over the toes.
• A shoe horn helps you get the braced foot into the shoe.

Helping the Fit
Consider altering the shoe slightly, especially in canvas shoes with a sewn, overlapped toe box.

• Try snipping a few threads that hold the toe box closed around the attached end of the tongue.
• Look at the shoe as you insert the brace and foot to see where the material stretches as it resists the brace. A minor cut at this point can provide more room.

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Only One Brace?

If your child wears a brace on only one foot:

• The brace will slightly increase the height of the leg it’s on. You can maintain even leg height by putting a molded insole into the unbraced foot’s shoe. Our HotDog® and Pattibob® shoe inserts are ideal for this. They may also help balance the volume in two same-sized shoes.
• For a bulky brace, you may need two different-sized shoes: one for the unbraced foot and a larger size for the braced foot.
• You can alter the braced foot’s toe box. (See Helping the Fit, above.)

This information is also available at www.cascadedafo.com in the Patient and Family section.