Has it been a long day? Are your poor feet aching and in need of a rest? Have you done your 10,000 steps?
Most active people will undoubtedly say yes to these questions, but the majority will also have never heard of recovery footwear. The truth
is your feet undergo an awful lot of strain during a busy day – your muscles, ligaments and tendons supporting your feet are constantly
being stressed and this can affect your general comfort. Whether you’re a runner pounding the pavement or a shop worker helping customers,
your feet will need to destress and recover for the next training session or workday. A gentle massage feels great and will help, but we
know that unless you have an on call masseuse on speed dial or a partner that is willing to give you a bit of TLC, a regular massage
probably isn’t possible. This is where recovery footwear comes in. Comfy lightweight shoes or sandals with bucket loads of shock absorption
and arch support that can relieve stress allowing your feet to recover for the next punishing day. They even have a slight rocker shape to
the underside which relieves forefoot pressure.
Recovery footwear is now being adopted by physiotherapists and podiatrists to assist in a multitude of different injuries. In particular, heel pain can be extremely debilitating for our patients, and repeated trauma during the day will inevitably lead to aches and pains in the evening. Recovery footwear, worn as sandals around the house, will destress and help reduce pain by loading the foot in a more even way. So that the arch, forefoot and heel areas are all equally taking pressure. The resultant effect can be shorter rehabilitation times and lower pain levels. The first layer of rehabilitation after all is protection… both the protection from re-injury and the protection from the pain being felt.
We find them extremely beneficial for our patients with diabetes. We recommend that diabetes sufferers always wear something on their feet due to the possibility of reduced sensation in their feet and the increased chance of a wound being formed from changes of foot shape. Claw toes and high arches can increase the pressure in the forefoot which can in turn lead to breakdowns on the skin. Diabetes patients also have much longer healing times due to links with increased risk of infection and circulation problems. Recovery footwear can therefore reduce the forefoot pressure and protect against the risk of diabetic foot ulcers.
The rockered sole is great for arthritic toe joints that just don’t want to bend. The curved undersole means that those pesky painful toes don’t need to bend as much with the sandal doing most of the propulsion work for you.
The truth is - no they aren’t. Ranging from £35 to £55 they cost about the same as a normal sandal and they don’t look dissimilar either, because we understand that comfort sometimes comes a close second to appearance.