All About Adaptive shoes

Description

Adaptive shoes are simply shoes that are made with features that allow them to be put on and taken off in a slightly different fashion that lace-up shoes. There are also regular commercial shoes the FOP community has found that come in wider widths and have larger toe boxes that are more comfortable to wear when living with FOP.  Here are a few of the recommendations from the community:

• Billy Footwear:  Billy shoes started with children’s shoes but have now also branched out into adult men’s and women’s shoes.  Billy shoes use strategically placed zippers to allow the shoe to completely open up which makes putting on and taking off the shoes much easier.  Billy Footwear has their own online store, but they can also be found on Zappos.com and Amazon.
• Nike FlyEase: Nike has started designing shoes that also have alternative ways of fastening, such as zippers, velcro straps, and flexible heels that completely bend out of the way when sliding in your foot.
• New Balance:  New Balance shoes come in wide widths and also have a wider toe box to give your toes more space.  The wide widths used to only come in men’s and boys but they can now also be found in women’s styles.
• Crocs and Birkenstocks: Crocs and Birkenstock sandals have a larger toe box for extra toe space and may be easier to put on since they have only 1-2 straps or slip-on models.
• Kizik shoes: Kizik is a new line of shoes with a “spring-back” heel. As you slide your foot into the shoe, the heel compresses and then pops back up when your foot is all of the way into the shoe.  This heel feature may make it easier for those living with FOP to put on shoes by themselves.