I must say Annalee, your open-minded approach to something out of the ordinary will win you brownie points when ET knocks on your door.

I was assimilated, as many other Z-coil wearers, by a nurse friend who pretty much tricked me into stepping foot in the door. I, like you Annalee, was a non-believer. I grew up with foot pain, which started in grade school. As I joined the working class my foot pain increased in both severity and longevity. In high school, ran 3 miles every other day, taught aerobics at the local YMCA on my off days from running, and waited tables during my spare time. And my feet hurt. I was the beaming example of the overweight population Metroplis found so easy to judge.

As time progressed I just assumed everyone's feet hurt as badly as mine. It became a daily annoyance that was easily forgotten until getting out of bed the next morning. The first step I made took great courage. In a matter of seconds I was on my hands and knees, silently cringing and cursing at the pain of having my tendons snapped straight once more. Every step for the rest of the day was a win/lose situation. My tendons would warm up and stretch out, the inflamation would loosen up, the pain would slowly go away, but throughout the day tiny microscopic tendon fibers were constantly being re-sliced. More inflamation was being created. And every night my tendonds would curl back in upon themselves only to be snapped straight the next morning.

And the cycle went on, year after year.

I learned to loathe even the most basic daily life functions. Cooking was painful, cleaning house impossible, grociery shopping was done as infrequently as I could get away with. Ironically the pain worsened after graduating college and landing a job sitting all day. I no longer taught aerobics or ran so naturally I put on some weight, which did heighten the pain I was already experiencing. But by this point in my life, having dealt with the pain for so long, I was able to ignore it, much like people who can't smell certain odors after a certain amount of time.

At the prompting of my nurse friend I visited a Podiatrist. I was diagnosed with chronic, severe plantar faciitis. He prescribed me a large dose of naproxen and gave me 4 cortizone shots in my heels. I was also given stabilizing boots to wear at night so that my tendons wouldn't shrink and the cycle would finally be broken.

That did lessen the pain, but my feet still ached. I no longer fell to my knees upon leaving bed in the morning. However, the high-dose naproxen created gastrointestinal issues. The next round of cortizone shots were extremely painful, and for the next 24 hours I felt nauseous with every step I took. So this was hardly a long-term viable option.

My nurse friend picked me up one Saturday morning to go shopping. "You need shoes" she said to me. "I have shoes" I replied. "Not these kind" she stated as we pulled into a parking stall in front of the Z-coil store. I saw the shoes in the display window and started laughing. "Those look rediculous!". "Just try them on." "Yes ma'am" was my condescending reply.

I tried on the tennis shoes and for a moment I felt the skies part, the sun shone down upon me and the angels sang praises. I looked at my friend in amazement. I took my first step in them and felt...nothing. I felt nothing! For the first time in 20 plus years I felt nothing after taking a step. I was 29 years old. I felt my age again.

I could walk and I have never looked back. I have two pair of Z-coil shoes and am preparing to buy another. I've had them for over 3 years and not only have they literally saved my life, they are still as good as the day I bought them. I wear them approximately 90% of the time I wear shoes. After 3 years of sleeping in stabalizing boots and wearing Zcoils I can finally wear other shoes occassionally without discomfort. I wear traditional dress shoes when I wear dresses so long as I don't walk much. And I don't have to wear the boots every night.

I noticed along the way my posture improved. My hips and knees no longer ache, and I now realize just how much pain I endured. If wearing Z-coil shoes makes me untrustworthy, so be it. I don't think I'll lose sleep over the likes of m0unds.

Thank you for your kind words Whyaduck, Oveydya, and ttibbar, and the others I have forgotten. I could care less how fashionable these shoes are. Come see me when you are 60 plus and we'll talk.

Tena

ttibbar

I would think that sci-fi fans would be a bit more open-minded to the benefits of modern technology. As a purveyor of Z-Coil shoes I have been privileged to witness people who could barely get around, or get through a day without pain, walk out of my store pain free. Some of these have been folks that have had knee or hip pain for DECADES, and have finally found relief through Z-Coils.

So, Annalee, before passing judgment, how about walking a mile in my shoes?

Ovedya

MsBehaviourNZ

Klebert L. Hall

The Great God Chet

m0unds

grenacia

@Metropolis: Yep...there are no other causes for joint or back pain.

Whyaduck

Metropolis

Jeff-Minor

adduby

JustThisGuyYouKnow?

strider_mt2k

Liz Henry

Liz Henry

That is all.

JennaW

dijou

Ed Grabianowski

Annalee Newitz

nihil0

mumblingmynah

Klitaka

blurey

blurey

Annalee Newitz

Wonder if they actually do anything or they're just a marketing gimmick.

Evdor

Not only is it more than a shoe fetishist could love, i believe it has cured me of mine.

92BuickLeSabre

EBone