Shoes for Seniors

13 years ago

My mom had a stroke a couple of years ago and she is diabetic. She is becoming extremely unsteady on her feet and fears falling. She watched her mother fall a couple of times and break her hips. She's having problems with her feet, she's tried the medical shoes but they just seem to be big boats on her feet. They are heavy and large. She is petite, very tiny legs - chicken legs. Can anyone make any recommendations on shoes. I had her try on some of my shoes recently, Born, Joseph Siebel, Dansko and Tsubo. She needs the shoe to be light but supportive and soft under her feet. We are in the Midwest so winter is approaching and I'll need to find something for that season as well. Any thoughts?

Comments (7)

oilpainter
13 years ago
I would try an good athletic shoe. One that is light yet has good support. Make sure they are wide enough for her--they do come in wide widths, or do what I do and buy men's. A white shoe is a white shoe and no one knows the difference. A gel insert will make them soft on the feet without adding weight.

She should also have a walker or a cane, because she probably has a problem with balance. I know how she feels. I've broken my hip and it's something I don't want to experience again. Most times I don't need my cane, but it comes in handy if I feel off balance.
socks
13 years ago
I was going to say the same thing--a good athletic shoe like New Balance, or many others. She might think they are heavy or "big" looking, but everyone wears them because they are comfortable, supportive and safe. The tread on the bottom will help keep her from slipping. If she walks outside, it might be wise to get her some of those things which grip on the bottom of the shoes in case of icing.

footsmart.com carries lots of foot-related items if you want to shop online, but probably the best would be a trip to an athletic shoe store. I also like Penneys for shoes. I saw Clarks had a nice athletic shoe at Penneys, but they were $100 so I passed them by. You might take a look at Clarks if you go to Penneys. Maybe they would have an appropriate slip-on in case she has trouble tying. But watch the bottoms--you want tread not smooth.
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What a lovely and accomplished young lady! (And a beautiful picture Mom) You must be very proud -- I'd also like to pass along a few college-related tips and web sites that my son and I found very helpful when searching for the best college for him. (We seem to have found it!) The one piece of advice we found most helpful (by far) was to actually go and visit the schools in question, because there's simply no better way to get a feel for the school and whether or not it's a good fit. Statistically, a campus visit is, by a wide margin, the most succesful predictor of student happiness at college. Now with that particular list of schools, visiting all of them is clearly not a possibility. The geography alone... But you can visit some schools close to home plus perhaps a few that are relatively close together (Baylor, TCU & A&M) to narrow down what works and does not work for your daughter, then eliminate some and follow up on the ones that look best. (And by the way, why isn't UC Davis on your list?) Anyway -- some of the things we found that turned out to be very important to my son were size of student body, size of the campus, diversity of the student body, architecture and geography of the area, urban or rural location, religious/political/party atmosphere, Greek system. Essentially, you can find the 'type' of school that best fits your daughter (and narrow down your list) by visiting other schools of that type to see what her personal 'hot buttons' are. Sure - academic programs and activities are important, but I could hardly imagine two schools that are more different than Texas A&M (huge, very conservative, fairly homogenous) and Brown (small, diverse and very liberal). Odds are, your duaghter would feel much more comfortable and do much better at one of those schools than at the other. I didn't have much luck with College Confidential, but found the qualitative comments on Princeton Review to be very illustrative. I also really liked StudentsReview.com, and for narrowing down a list, MyPetersons.com. Hope this helps --
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two25acres
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you for the information. I was watching her walk the other day and it really reminded me of a toddler wearing the old leather shoes (ankle high) with a solid leather sole. Instead of walking it was as if she was lifting her feet and setting them down. Does that make sense? I'll have her try the athletic shoes, I don't have any of them myself so I didn't think to have her try them. Thank you again.
catherinet
13 years ago
I'm thinking something like Easy Spirit. They have a bunch of models that are supportive, but don't have alot of extra sole to them. Some athletic shoes have so much sole that they are easy to trip over, just walking in them.
Take a look at some Easy Spirit models.
Shoes these days seem to come with way too much lace. So you might have to buy a shorter lace to go with an athletic-type shoe, so she doesn't trip over it.
michelle_phxaz
13 years ago
I Googled "lightweight shoes" and here is a piece from About.com with the best ratings and where you can get them. Hope this helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: lightweight shoes
User
13 years ago
Footsmart has shoes for problem feet. I buy many of my shoes there. New Balance is a good sport shoe. They will send you a free catalog

Here is a link that might be useful: footsmart
two25acres
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you again for the information, I will research the links. She went to a foot specialist yesterday, they did an ultrasound of her feet and found bone spurs. Apparently this has happened as a result of walking barefoot which she only does in her home. She can't possibly do it anywhere else. She did pick up a naturalizer slip on slipper for while at home and she says they are comfortable, now I'll start working on the other options for her.
Thank you again.

Shoes for Seniors

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oilpainter

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Shoes for Seniors

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oilpainter

socks

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