F***ing shoes for F***ing AFOs

[Flocci]

Why is nothing ever bloody simple? DD has now been provided with AFOs - just took 3 months of arsing about, thanks. So now we have to find appropriate shoes to fit over these monsters. Why don't they make them as a complete shoe so you don't need additional shoes? Why don't the idiots who provide this see the opportunity and branch out into specialist footwear to go with them? Why can't our physio who sees this all the time just bloody tell us where we can find some appropriate shoes?

For the first week dd was wearing a pair of lace up boots which inhibited her walking because they were soooo big and clumsy. Now she is wearing some softer and lighter shoes which I have cut to shreds with scissors so they will do up. She has recently been sobbing "no more shoes mummy" because she has tried on so many she is as pissed off as I am.

She has quite a wide foot and only lace ups will do, and most of them seem to be stiff on the side exactly where the velcro is. This is staggeringly stupid. It's not like my life isn't difficult enough without having to mess around with silly things like this. Seems like there is often a total lack of common sense from those in the know - just tell us where we can get some shoes which fit around them.

Any thoughts ladies?

Its a bit easier for us as DS2 loves trainers so we have managed to get him a white velcro pair & he looks really cool, according to his brother.
He only wears DAFO's but because he doesn't cope very well with shopping/crowds I leave him at home & just take the DAFO'S.
I do look odd slipping splints in to trainers & then asking for the next size up, but once the splint is in I can slide my hand inside & guage how much room there is.. so far its worked.
He loves the shoes, at the moment it socks & splints he's not tolerating very well.

have never tried shoes. i always get trainers. my way of thinking is the affos/daffos are giving so much support you don't need the extra support of shoes,. I don't take dd with me, just the affo!!

I got some soft trainers, more like plimsols wwhich open right out with velcro fastners, ds has them at school so can't check on the name of them just now. I got them on eBay and they weren't expensive. I'll have a look for you tomorrow.

Thanks. The physio suggested trainers, but so far I have only found quite heavy ones and because her foot is so wide they don't fit so well, even with velcro. I like the sound of softer pumps - the kind of thing we wore as gym shoes when I was a girl many years ago, but I haven't seen anything like that.

I totally agree that from now on i am going shopping armed with the AFOs and leave dd at home. Even if it take 2 trips to get the right size.

No wonder after all this buggering about she is not very happy about putting them on - wasn't the best introduction!

Try Woolworths for old fashioned plimsols

We get Skecher trainers for ds (we live near an outlet village!), and Startrite go up to an H fitting, which seems to do for ds. But you're right, it is a pain, and it took us ages to finally try the skecher trainers (could've prevented a lot of depressing shopping trips!). Also, your orthotist should have a catalogue of shoes that are specially made to go over AFO's, but they don't routinely offer the catalogue, because they're really expensive!

We got ds's trainers at JJB, they do all colours including Pink & white with silver. I think they were about £11 & are v wide fitting.
They tend to get a good amount of growing room in the daffo's, so depending if/how mobile your dd is they should last a while.

The softest, cheapest usually are the best - velcro or laceups. Yes you can get AFO overshoes, but they are heavy, solid, and of course cost NHS a lot.

You will have to buy at least one if not more sizes bigger, hate to say it but it is best if you try shoes on with AFOs on DD as you need the depth in the toe as well as length and width.

I know its a pain - some seasons there seem to be loads of suitable shoes, other times its really hard. But in the summer, light and canvasy may be OK.

This is the make - Yizixie (Japanese I think) but this Yizixie trainers the only ones I have found on eBay - these are slightly different to the ones I got which are more like plimsols but you could keep an eye out or try a general search on the Internet. As you can see they are not expesnive.

I found them - these

are the same as ds's and he also has a black pair. They are great for opening out wide and very soft. As you will see these have 'ended' but with no bids. I have contacted eBay sellers before and bought things from them privately. She seems to have sizes right up to 13 unsold.

Thank you Thank you. I didn't make it out yesterday but today we are on a mission, and if Woollies let me down then i have some names to try on the Internet instead. Thanks ladies.

Hi, I bought a pair of trainers from Next, they weren't huge, like others i had seen. They open right down, (2 velcro strips). i too had a few useless depressing shopping trips before finding these.
another idea, 'Doodles' by Clarkes, they're soft fabric. They may work? sorry don't know how old your 'little' one is.

Shoes are tricky, no doubting that, but can be done..... At the moment we are using
nike pico velcro trainers, these are very very wide and look great too. I find boots are easier to use........some baseball boots are good, i find going to one of the Clark outlet shops are brill, cos they usually have wide sizes at a good price....

Our orthotics also sell trainers at a cheaper price + you can buy piedros

Good luck

Yes, it is a pain. You need shoes that open all the way down to the toe if possible. Hope you now have it sorted.

Tip, when you go looking for shoes they need to have depth at the back of at least to the knuckle of your middle finger. (thats for a child under 6)
Also I sometimes just try the shoe on the afo and put my hand in the shoe and arch it to see if the foot will have room across the width, also I have his feet measured with the afo on.
When DS started school I spent ages find school shoes that fitted over his afo, and they cost a fortune. TWO DAYS in and the said, that little master floo could wear trainers as they couldn't get his shoes on. I could, I didn't send him to school bare footed why couldn't they! That really pissed me off.

flocci i know your frustration!

we have been advised that trainers are best, the cheaper the better as they are more floppy!

we cannot afford clarks etc. so all ours are from places like asda, shoefayre etc.

dd1 has a dafo and has had an afo in the past.

currently she can wear it with the flat ballet style pumps as long as it's the ones with a velcro strap bar across quite high up the foot:so it's totally adjustable, this style is great cos it opens out really well then does up to suit.

sandals: the ones where both sets of straps are openable and adjustable with velcro, these go over afo's too

and in answer to the question "why can't our physio who sees this all the time just bloody tell us where we can find some appropriate shoes?" the answer is: because that would spoil all her fun of course

look here for a leaflet about this type of thing

www.hemihelp.org.uk

these people have helped us no end, and told us all the info that the physio and o.t. should have done but didn't !

I haven't had to buy shoes to accommodate AFO's, as my 4 y.o. dd's orthopaedic surgeon decided to give her Piedro boots for her very lax ankles instead (her feet roll inwards so far that the inside of her ankles touches the floor when she walks barefoot/in normal shoes). Her feet are very narrow, so I had major problems getting shoes to fit her. To be honest, the boots took months to come, despite the orthotist saying "if you have them in black, they are in stock and we'll have them here next week" and although she has had them since January, she has apparrently not outgrown them yet...

As another poster here said, you can buy Piedro boots/sandals/shoes that will fit over orthotics, but they can be expensive. There are a few Ebay shops that sell new pairs for around £10 to £20 though, and most will give advice on fit so you can be sure that they will be wide enough. Just search for "Piedro" from Ebay homepage, no specific department.

Would canvas baseball boots be worth a try, if you have to have lace ups?

HTH

Actually the real answer to the question "why cant our physio tell us where to find some appropriate boots" is:

"because we dont bloody know!"

When I was a junior PT I researched all the stockists of suitable footwear in Central London. Within 6 months none of the suitable styles were available anymore.

Also, peoples tastes differ so much! For every parent who is happy to put their child in Asda trainers, there will be one who wont have anything without a designer lable, thus making life much harder for themselves.

I dont mean this in a nasty way, i realise its a huge problems, but truly there is no shoe out there that will suit everyone.