A cautionary tale...if your feet are in pain, go find a certified pedorthist and get fitted with good shoes. It's amazing what an effect our feet can have on our entire body!
Three years ago, or thereabouts, an O2 tank fell on my left foot. I think it was the same foot which I ran a nail all the way through when I was thirteen and the nail was attached to a heavy, rusted hinge. I also turned that ankle very badly about two years ago.
I'd been to a podiatrist, my regular osteopathic doc, and an idiot of a physical therapist, none did me much good, all cost me money, AND none had any recommendations on what kind of shoes might be best and help. The podiatrist wanted to break my bone and reset it, plus put me in a half-arsed orthotic insert, the doc shrugged his shoulders, and the PT guy was a jackass I only went to once I was so under-impressed. I kept asking them all isn't it important to start with a good foundation, i.e. a "proper" shoe? No one knew much a'nothin'.
Some girlfriends at the gym I went to suggested a "shoe guy" downtown, but they warned it was expensive, so I held off, muddling along with $95-130 (still expensive!) a pair shoes every 6 months or so, still in lots of pain and not getting the exercise I needed.
Today, now that we are a little "flush" I said screw this and went to see the Shoe Guy. Wow! Walked out of there with two new pair of expensive shoes and virtually NO pain. They aren't the fanciest, but I was used to Birks etc. anyway and are they comfy! They look a bit like old lady shoes, no offence to those of you who are older **bg**, but I don't care. I can feel a better alignment in my hips, lower back, ankles and feet, of course. Besides that my friend says they will be all the fashion in a few years as baby boomers grow older and smarter!
So, take care of your feet and don't depend on medical experts to know all they oughta. I'll tell you later what the Shoe Guy told me about the lack of docs recommending orthopaedic shoes and what caused it in the 1980's through now.