My feet have served me well for six decades now.  You might say that I am quite attached to my feet as I’ve had them since birth.  They have always taken me where I needed to go and have never failed me.  However, I began having some foot pain issues recently.  It started when I noticed that I was having problems walking in high heels; not something that I do a lot of but when the occasion calls for them I do like a fashionable high heel.  Now when wearing heels I was wobbly on my right foot, like a newborn baby deer.  I seemed to be tilting to the inside of my shoe.  My husband who spent 20 years as a horseshoer and who has an eye for gait related problems noticed it as well.  He noticed that I was not landing flat on my right foot and he said it looked like he needed to do some corrective shoeing on me.  The problem turned out to be that I was developing an over-pronation of my right foot or what’s better known as a fallen arch.  This was causing my ankle to tilt inward and making it next to impossible to walk normal in high heels.  This had never been a problem for me before and it was quite disconcerting.

I also started to notice pain in my left heel when I would get up in the morning or when I had been sitting on the couch with my feet up.  This pain I was feeling is associated with a condition known as plantar fasciitis.  I also noticed that my toes seemed to be curled down and it was very difficult for me to straighten them out.  One of my toes had been broken when I was in my 20’s when a horse stomped on it.  It never did heal up right and always has a slight downward curve but I never used to have trouble with the other toes.  Now it looked like I was heading for a condition called claw toes in which the toes curve downward. This is caused when the tendons and ligaments become too tight and pull downward on the toes.  Tight tendons and tight muscles are also the cause of plantar fasciitis.

I knew all of these symptoms had to be interconnected and together they were the cause of my foot pain.  The foot is a complicated piece of anatomy.  It has 26 bones, 33 joints and 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments.  I needed to find a way to fix my aching feet and I didn’t want to go to a doctor; I try to avoid them at all costs.  Since I knew that all of these problems were caused by tightness in the muscles, tendons and ligaments I needed to find a way to stretch them back out.  After doing some research online I found some stretching exercises that I started to do and it helped to some degree but the problems still persisted.  (This site contains affiliate links.)

Then one day while looking on Amazon I found these Gel Toe Separators sold by Vandora.  They got pretty good reviews and they only cost $10.99 so I thought let’s give these a try.  Wow, was I pleasantly surprised!  The Gel Toe Separators gently separate and straighten your toes. I wore them for a few hours the first time and I couldn’t believe how straight my toes were after removing the gel separators.  My feet looked like they grew at least a half a size in length.

I started wearing the gel separators around the house every chance I could and after just a few days I noticed that my left heel no longer hurt when I got up in the morning.  No pain in my heel and my toes were looking straighter, this was great news.  Then I had an occasion to wear a pair of high heels.  I thought I would try a sensible 3″ heel; even this had been a problem for me before.  I put on my heels and low and behold I could walk normal!  No more tipping to the inside!  Who would have thought a cheap pair of gel toe separators could make such a difference but they had.  It was a winning trifecta.  No heel pain, straighter toes and my fallen arch was much better to the point of walking in heels again.  The toe separators had helped to stretch my tight tendons and muscles and now my symptoms of foot pain were leaving.

These toe separators are supposed to stretch fit any size.  They do fit my ladies size 9 feet perfectly.  I wear them around the house either bare foot or with a pair of socks over them if my feet are chilly.  You can wear them inside of a pair of shoes but the shoes would have to be wide on you to begin with.  When it comes time to wash your toe separators be sure to give them a dusting of baby powder after they are dry as this will make them slip on much easier.  I’m not sure how long I’ll have to continue to wear these toe separators but I’ll continue as long as needed.  They are working and as it took a lot of years for my feet to start aching and bothering me I figure it’ll take some time before they’re fully back to normal.  Until then I’ll stick with my $11.00 gel toe separators.  They work for me and you can’t beat the cheap price for the relief they’ve brought to my aching feet.  No more foot pain!

Thanks for stopping by.

Jeanne

So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them- walking, leaping and praising God.

Acts 3:8