Comfortable Safety Boots

In "A perfect fit, except for the boots" (Jewel Topsfield, The Age, 10 April 2010) cabinetmaker Jayme-Lee Cooney complains about finding well fitting work boots. Yesterday I tried on the Ascent Alpha. This is very comfortable and relatively light despite having a standards compliant safety toe cap. This has simialr technology to the Ascent Geelong I am wearing and have found very comfortable. I actually went into the store to try the Ascent Delta Safety Shoe. The store had no stock of the shoes in my size so I tried the boot, which is like the same sole and toe cap as the shoe. One appealing feature is that fibreglass is sued for the toecap and plastic for the reinforcing and other parts which are normally steel. Apart from being lighter this means the footwear does not set off airport metal detectors.

Insoles for Crocks

The Ascent "Geelong Urban" shoes I purchased recently came with insoles made of a flexible rubbery plastic covered with fabric on the upper surface. These looked similar to those sole for $70 in shore stores. Unfortunately I had to remove these to put the hard plastic custom made orthotic insoles in the shoes. I was reluctant to throw away the insoles which came with the shoes, but wondered what I could do with them. Then I noticed the material was similar to that of the Crocks moulded plastic sandals. These do not provide good support for flat feet and it is not possible to fit the hard othortics into them. I found that by trimming a little from the toes of the insoles from the shoes, they fitted into the Crocks. This provides better, but still not perfect, arch support.

Shoes for flat feet

Having Flat feet (pes planus or fallen arches), shoes are always a problem for me. On a trip to Greece my shoes fell apart and I ended up with a pair of Scholl Professionals from the local apothecary (chemist). These are black leather walking shoes have worked very well.

Recently my feet were hurting and the doctor prescribed a bottle of champagne: not to drink, but to fill with cold water and roll my foot around on. This sounded a bit complicated so I dropped into The Athletes Foot at Belconnen. For years I had been going past and seeing a display of shoes for people with foot problems. They measured my foot on the usual mechanical device and then used a computerised pressure sensor (which looked like a gimmick to me).

What I was after was a black leather shoe and they had three styles to choose from. The one I ended up with was the Ascent "Geelong Urban" (the same store also sells Scholl Orthahell). This appears to be an adult size of the running style school shoes they make for children. There is a hard plastic reinforcement in the sole under the arch of the foot. Apart from that, these shoes don't look anything special, but so far seem to work well, removing foot pain.

There is also an Ascent Delta Boot which looks interesting, this is a safety shoe, but in place of the usual steel cap it uses fibreglass, to make it lighter and so it will go through airport metal detectors. It looks like an ordinary shoe on top, has the same arch support and a more rugged sole.

Unfortunately both The Athletes Foot and Ascent have very poor web sites, making it difficult to find about their products.

In praise of plastic shoes

I finally bought a pair of "Crocs" style, lightweight plastic shoes. These were originally made for boating and water-sports, they are slip-resistant with a non-marking sole.

Common designs, such as the Crocs Cayman, have holes for ventilation, but the "Crocs Endeavor" have no vents (holes) and the "Professional" only at the sides. The " Islander Crocs " are a lace up shoe with leather around the ankle, sealing the top, but still with ventilation at the front of the shoe. The "All Terrain Crocs" have a lace up leather top and no vents. The Crocs Mammoth has synthetic fur lining and ventilation holes on top (none at sides to prevent water entering).

Also there are Bistro Crocs, designed for the foodservice industry with an added tread, claimed to conforms to the slip-resistance standards. There have been safety concerns about nurses getting infections from wearing crocs, and discussion of the ones with no holes being too hot. Obviously they should not be worn were there is a risk of injury from dropping something on your foot.

But if you just want the ordinary style (with holes), there are much cheaper ones available than the "Crocks" brand. These shoes are not for heavy duty use, but better than walking around the house in your socks.

Some Types of Crocs Shoes

Vents:	None	Side	Top and Side
One strap	Crocs Endeavor Shoe	Crocs Professional	Crocs Cayman
Lace-up	All Terrain Crocs		Islander Crocs