Which Pair Are More Comfortable?

This is a no brainer, right? Or is it? Would you believe that I often turn to the silver high heels or another equally tall pair of shoes for relief in the afternoons. Yes,I, too, do believe it is a sad, sad day when high heels are more comfortable than a pair of sensible shoes. I am not saying that high heels are like walking across a field of lush, springy, green grass. No, walking in three inch plus shoes is more like having a cramped dark dungeon encasing your feet. And before the question pops in your head, I am not a sado-masochist. Actually quite the opposite, I am simply a woman with a heel spur.

A heel spur is a bone growth on the bottom of the heel bone, that looks like a little curved scythe. With a heel spur, each heel strike feels like an ice pick is being dug into the inside of the heel pad. Shoes that have no rise means that with each step the heel falls flat on the ground giving the spur a full poke into the tissue. During the day my plantar fascia, the tendon that runs down the bottom of your foot, tightens. Not only does walking produce a sharp pain, I also also have the sensation of thick, wide rubber band that doesn't want to stretch.

Here is the thing about high heels--probably not recommended by any living doctor--but none the less it gets me through the day. When wearing high heels I am walking on the balls of me feet and not on my heels. Result--no serious heel strike pain. The height of the shoe also keeps the plantar fascia stretch out so I don't have that tight feeling, either.

I would give anything to be able to say that a sensible pair of shoes is more comfortable than a pair of F-me shoes. But this is the state that I am in. I can't run, I am even giving up the treadmill in hopes that the spur will disappear.

A little history. This is the 4th heel spur that haunted me. The first started when I was in San Francisco and carried on for about a year and a half. It was one of the reasons that I was not able to handle living as an illegal alien sleeping on the sofa of an illegal apartment and getting paid a dead woman's salary in Slovakia. So I fled back to Japan where the doctor diagnosed it for what it was. The second came about 2 years later at the end of my stay in Japan and moved with me to Hawaii. The third came in Hawaii and lasted about 6 months. And then this one popped up last year. I have had them in both feet and it is a relief when my body re-absorbs them so I can get back into running. After some thought, it seems that it is not so much the running that has caused them as it is my weight. Each time they have coincided with a weight gain. Crap. Here's the conundrum, losing weight is easier without the heel spur.

There are some treatments out there--cortisone shots (yikes) and surgery (double yikes). But I am not a good candidate for either because my I have a history of my body casting them off. Both treatments are seen as a last ditch effort due to the low success rate and high rate of complications. I don't want to screw up any chances I may have of being able to lace up the old kicks again.