Walking and the sock solution!

[scusrey]

Why is it I can walk better (meaning having balance and confidence) in just a pair of socks or footies than a pair of decent shoes? I have given up heels and have to wear flats (nice, well-made ones) with my dress clothes to work. It can be a fast paced office at times and I will have to do a good amount of walking. One day I just had to take off my shoes because I was getting sluggish and clumsy and thought it might help. Well guess what, it did. I found out that I get around easier without my shoes on, just the dress socks. What gives??!!!

I also found that one Saturday on an out of town shopping trip with the family, I did better in socks. With longer trips it's no longer just a balance issue, it becomes a pain issue, as though my right leg died. My balance did good in the socks and the pain stayed away longer than usual, but it did come and when it does it makes any kind of walking very, very difficult where no type of footwear or sock will help. I look totally drunk or stoned and have to walk slowly and find things to hold on to in order to get out of the store to a place to sit.

So I got half the walking issue figured - wear just socks, but the pain is something I will have to investigate more. In the meantime, can anybody explain why this sock deal is true and maybe suggest something besides socks to be seen wearing in public?!

Thanks!

[rdmc]

Why is it I can walk better (meaning having balance and confidence) in just a pair of socks or footies than a pair of decent shoes? I have given up heels and have to wear flats (nice, well-made ones) with my dress clothes to work. It can be a fast paced office at times and I will have to do a good amount of walking. One day I just had to take off my shoes because I was getting sluggish and clumsy and thought it might help. Well guess what, it did. I found out that I get around easier without my shoes on, just the dress socks. What gives??!!!

I also found that one Saturday on an out of town shopping trip with the family, I did better in socks. With longer trips it's no longer just a balance issue, it becomes a pain issue, as though my right leg died. My balance did good in the socks and the pain stayed away longer than usual, but it did come and when it does it makes any kind of walking very, very difficult where no type of footwear or sock will help. I look totally drunk or stoned and have to walk slowly and find things to hold on to in order to get out of the store to a place to sit.

So I got half the walking issue figured - wear just socks, but the pain is something I will have to investigate more. In the meantime, can anybody explain why this sock deal is true and maybe suggest something besides socks to be seen wearing in public?!

Thanks!

I'm not a neuro or physiatrist, but I could venture a guess. I imagine it has something to do with "proprioception."

You can Google "proprioception" to get a better understanding, but basically it's the sensors that feed into our body's sense of position. These sensors are located in muscles, tendons, joints...also your eyes are a big part of the proprioception system.

So when your shoes are off, and you just have your socks on, maybe you're receiving a better proprioceptive sense, making your balance better. Shoes separate the soles of your feet from the ground, more than socks.

As far as the pain, if you're gait is off, due to balance, or for whatever reason, you're not using the muscles in the same way you normally would, and I imagine that could cause the pain.

Well, that's my best guess. Ask your neuro about it next time you see him. In the meantime, I imagine shoes with the thinnest soles might work best.

[MSLazarus]

I know exactly what you mean about the socks...

I too have learned that I can walk better in socks than in shoes. Any shoes. Maybe it has something to do with proprioception (sp). We can feel more in our feet without shoes and have a better chance to stay balanced???

I am a farmer and wear very comfortable shoes but, during a work session, it's OFF WITH HER SHOES!

[jreagan70]

Hi scusrey:

Do look up "proprioception" because you'll see that proprioception isn't the issue that's involved in what you're asking about. Proprioception means an awareness of where body parts are located in space.

It sounds like you're perfectly aware of where your feet and legs are when you're walking, but you just aren't getting enough sensory information through the soles of your shoes for your exteroceptive senses to be able to "read" and interpret what you're feeling.

So it's correct that, through thin socks, rather than thick shoes, you get more and better sensory input for your balance system to read and react to. It's the same as for why you hear better without earplugs and feel more acutely without gloves on. But it's exteroception, not proprioception.

Out in public, it's a trade-off about wearing socks or shoes. You might walk better in socks, but you need the thickness of shoes to protect your feet from injury. There are adaptive aids like a cane or trekking poles to help your balance and protect against falls when you're wearing shoes. But an injury while wearing only socks can lead to permanent physical damage to a foot, and an infection could cause a major overall health setback. You'll have to decide which risk you'd like to take.

[dastardly]

"You might walk better in socks, but you need the thickness of shoes to protect your feet from injury."
I try to go without footwear in the house but kick my toes a lot at the moment I have 3 blood blisters on 3 different toes and nice new skin on the side of my big toe, and If I go outside I tend to grind down the side of my big toe and tips of others when I can't lift my foot it sort of just hangs as I walk so for me its shoes, light sports shoes seem best but I feel like a hypocrite wearing running shoes and couldn't walk 10 metres in under a minute Craig

[TaoWarrior]

To Jreagan's point about the danger of walking in public without shoes I agree. I do seem to have better balance and can walk farther with less pain without shoes but I would not dream of doing that in public. Too much risk of injury.

I wear converse all-stars the original chuck taylor ones not the new II's. They have a very thin sole and none of that fancy gel/padding etc. that most shoes have these days. I find that the sole flexes with my feet more and is much easier to keep balance in than dress shoes or standard athletic shoes. There is some break in period where they are stiff and just about as bad as most shoes but after a few wears they are ok.

My wife has a pair of flats slip on's that have what seems like almost no padding that might be good too but I haven't tried because I am a men's 11 and she is a woman's 6.

[MSLazarus]

I have a Segway and..

I can stand and ride my Segway for an hour...but I can not walk for an hour with or without shoes. The best guess was that the gyros and battery under my feet gave my feet a better sense of where they were in space.

[AriD]

I'm the opposite. I have to wear shoes/sneakers that have some weight or tight laces in order to know where my feet are in space and where they are going. In anything else ( socks, light shoes, heels), I can't keep my balance. I lose my footing, walk sideways, tip over, etc. I have a lot of proprioception problems.
And any time I can't figure out what my feet are doing, I start having dry heaves and weird dizziness. Just saw an otoneurologist to see if anything could help. He says I have lesions in my cerebellum pathways causing all these symptoms and there is little that can be done.
Not sure if the need to walk with only socks comes from same issue or not. Just weird how this disease causes so many opposing symptoms in all of us.

[ru4cats]

scusrey,

Your story sounds exactly like mine, and I after reading about the difference, I have to agree with jreagan70, it is the exteroceptive sense that is damaged, not proprioceptive like I had always believed.

As my progression continued, and my balance being increasingly challenged, I, too, felt the need to abandon shoes and go barefoot. Unfortunately, the skin on my big toes started to get stiff and cracked. I tried everything: regular slippers, regular socks, toe socks, yoga socks with sole grippers (too grippy!), moccasins, etc.

I finally found the Mary Jane's at FootSmart. They are perfect! They are nylon, so they are flexible and stretchable. The have a light grip on the sole, not the intense grip of yoga socks. You can wear a sock with them, but I don't except on really cold days. I tried the Betsy Loo, but they're not as secure on the foot as I like. The only problem is they wear out quickly for me, probably only a month or so with daily usage, but if you watch their sales you can get them for $12.00.

I also found, as my imbalance continued, I found my big toes turning inward toward my other toes. This caused some intense pain in my metatarsals. I found a 10 piece bunion relief pack on Amazon made of a wonderful flexible gel that I wear daily with my Mary Jane's and my shoes. Their are five different styles you can try.

For wonderful shoes, check out Orthofeet. I have two pair of their shoes, and they are great. They are designed for people with various medical issues, and the shoes are well designed.

** Moderator's note - Post broken into paragraphs for easier reading. Many people with MS have visual difficulties that prevent them from reading large blocks of print. **

[scusrey]

Thank you all !!

Thank you for all the replies. I appreciate all the good information that was shared. I will definitely see what I can do beside just wearing only socks, I didn't think about the injury factor there (brain fog!) I'm going to look up the other information shared too.

It's nice to know that I am not the only one handling this walking issue the way I do! We all pretty much have balance and gait issues but I didn't know others dealt with it like me! Thanks you!