Custom made footwear on NHS?

zaksmum

My auntie tells me she's had custom made shoes on the NHS as she has a walking disability. The shoes are really smart and fashionable and help her to walk more easily. She urged me to ask my own GP for details as I also have walking difficulties, but she has dementia, sadly, and I don't want to ask my GP if she's got it wrong.

Has anyone heard of getting custom made shoes on the NHS?

Seanymph

I suspect she is telling the truth;

http://www.norfolkcommunityhealthandcare.nhs.uk/our-services/adult-services/adult-a-g/biomechanics-service/

I get shoe inserts from Biomechanics - I have read several hospitals pages and it appears some of them do shoes.

But whether or not you get shoes is irrelevant - you won't look silly for going to the doctor, explaining your walking difficultuies, and getting a referral to the biomechanics, they will decide if you need shoes or not.

I've had mine about three years now, and it's the best thing I ever did - before that for long days out (theme parks and the like) i was in a wheelchair, I can't tell you the difference it can make.

Go and ask him - he can only say no, but chances are he won't.

jackyann

Yes, do go, you almost certainly won't get custom-made shoes first thing - you will get a physio / Occupational therapist / podiatrist referral depending on where the problem appears to originate. Stuff like exercises, or possibly inserts into your normal shoes may be suggested at first, or specific types of readily-available shoes. Obviously custom-made are expensive and are for those whose needs can't be met by other methods.
But if you have difficulties, go and get help!

fluffnutter

The NHS offers all sorts of services. Just ask your GP; he or she won't think it a weird question at all. And hopefully you'll get some smart new shoes out of it!

zaksmum

Thanks seanymph, fluffnutter and jackyann. It's not that I don't believe my aunt, just that she gets confused and could easily have got mixed up about the shoes.

My GP does know about my walking difficulties, the result of a road traffic accident many years ago, but has never suggested anything like this.

Now that I know it's a possibility I will ask him.

Seanymph, if it's made such a difference to you it might just help me. Fingers crossed!

Seanymph

My accident (RTA) was 16 years ago - for 12 I had a blue badge and couldn't walk. Three GP's and endless other 'professionals' didn't suggest it.

Three years ago I was referred again for physio and after two sessions they said they couldn't help, and referred me to biomechanics. I'd never heard of them (and obviously they are not known well by GP's and things).

It opened a whole new world to me! I now have no blue badge and can walk again. Do let me know how you get along.

charlie1973

My brother gets one new pair of shoes a year courtesy of the NHS. He buys the second pair, when he gets them made.

x

pinetree

Hi I also suffer with feet problems, thanks seanymph for the link, im in norfolk and it would he a great help to me :T

uk_american

Many thanks for this thread! I've had shoe inserts for 10 years (from the US) and I'm starting to think it's time for a review. I had asked my UK friends, but no one thought the NHS would do such things.

I agree completely with the earlier post, when you start with inserts, they can absolutely change the quality of your life. Suddenly you can walk/jog/run without everything hurting.

zaksmum

Well I'm definitely going to check it out now! If something as simple as a pair of custom made shoes can make such a difference, I can well understand how it can change someone's life.

My aunt said she had her gait analysed and the shoes were made according to the way she walked, and she got a catalogue to choose the style from. Whenever I thought of orthopaedic shoes I imagined big black clumpy things, but these are really nice shoes in a lovely soft leather.

And she only had to wait two weeks from assessment to having the shoes ready for her.

Seanymph

Mine are heel inserts - they 'lift' me about half an inch - I had trauma to knee and ankle, both were open fracture dislocations - and so I have bone growth in my ankle which restricts the movement and means I can't 'move forwards' over my foot as I walk forwards on one side. These 'open' the joint to the right degree that I can move forwards as I walk, rather than jar into a boney full stop too early and limp.

It was life changing.

But like I say, it took many many years to get there via a physio (of course the physio was making me worse, because ALL MOVEMENT made me worse!) - they are excellent in Norwich, they literally watched me walk up and down a corridor, flexed the joint to see the movement, and made them to fit foot moulds they took.

I can't praise them enough.

But I never knew such things existed, or exactly what was causing my problem - I just knew it hurt to walk and that got worse as I walked to the point where I couldn't any more (and that didn't take very far!).

With these....... well, the other morning I walked my dogs for two and a half hours. I don't do it without company, and I have other issues - but a two and a half hour walk. Four years ago I couldn't have dreamt of it.

I can't tell you how pleased I am that you asked the question OP and that others may get help from it - I want to shout about biomechanics from the rooftops - even my orthopeadic surgeons have never mentioned them. They apear to be hidden in an NHS cupboard somewhere and kept secret.