What Do You Do For Achy Feet?

[carrierael77]

Oh I understand this so much. For me it is in the arch that gets sore beyond belief. I would silently cry as I walked back to the hotel. Here are my suggestions I found most helpful.

1. Stop every so often and massage that arch. If you are like me, the circulation causes a buildup in the arch (almost like a ball of blood in the arch), applying pressure breaks it up.
2. If you go to hotel mid day hot tub. But your arch right on that jet. The moist heat plus pressure will relieve the pain and get things moving.
3. Change shoes. I go with sketchers go walk with memory foam and last time a pair of croc flip flops. Changing keeps your feet from getting used to things and slows down the pain.

 

[BLKKROW]

So I am 25 years old and have 3 different foot conditions; flat feet, sesamoiditis and morton's neuroma. Two years ago on a 3 day trip my feet hurt so bad that I had to limp everywhere, so much that my podiatrist recommends I use a wheelchair at the park.

However, I feel bad being a young and relatively fit individual in a wheelchair. So I decided to find a different way to survive Disneyland. Last year I looked up different stretches and techniques to stretch muscles inside of my feet, to relive pressure on my tendons and nerves. You should be able to Google these techniques. I also use a piece of fiberglass tubing and roll my feet while standing up on some carpet to stretch the bottom of my foot. Finally, during lunch or dinner I try to keep my feet up resting on another chair.

With all of this my trip last year was a great trip and I had no pain in my feet.

 

[offwithyourhead]

Gowalks are my secret. I got NO BLISTERS. I can tolerate achy feet but blisters are my kryptonite and they only get worse. Next time I'm going to add in an insole for extra comfort.

 

[mt mommy]

For me alternating shoes really helps!! I brought my running shoes, but found my lighter weight cross trainers gave me less food pain for standing around and waiting around in lines all day. Hot foot soak works too! Lotion them every night, I like the tennis ball idea too!

 

[Spyral]

Definitely taking breaks to give your feet rest. We also took an ibuprofen before going to bed, and also before starting the day. Do recommend whatever shoes you wear, that you break them in prior to your trip. Although my shoes that I had worn often before, gave me problems on our recent trip. It was rubbing at the top of my toes, and I could tell blisters were about to form after the first night. Luckily I had brought some moleskin (highly recommend for just such issues) and that prevented any blisters or sores from occurring.

 

[5forMickey]

Do you have normal foot problems with your high arches? I resisted for a very long time, but I finally got custom orthotics 2 years ago for my plantar fasciitis. They made a WORLD of difference for me!

I haven't really been to a foot Doctor that would probably be a good idea, I just know if the shoes don't have an arch support (like tennis shoes) it causes problems and the arch on my foot is quite high. I have arthritis which is probably the biggest problem . When they hurt, the worst is when I just stand and wait in line or stop for the day.

 

[disneydreamer74]

I am another that switches from flip flops to sneaker half way through the day. I also bring a golf ball with me for my arches. I have plantars fasciatus ( I know I misspelled that) so I roll the arches of my feet on the golf ball during midday break. It massages the tendon. Oh what a difference!

 

[paintingoncelluloid]

I agree with everyone's recommendations about massage, the right shoes for your feet, putting your feet up at the end of the day, changing your socks midday, switching up your shoes, etc. Another thing that really helps me, though, is foot maintenance on a regular basis even before I have to walk long distances. What I mean by that is regular exfoliation with a pumice stone, moisturizing my feet, keeping my nails trimmed neatly but not too short, etc. If I've been lazy about my feet (especially by the end of the summer!), my feet are definitely more achey, more prone to blisters, etc. And it doesn't have to be anything like approaching cracked heel territory -- even tiny bits of rough or dry skin contribute to major achiness by the end of a long day.

If I'm taking care of my feet, I can easily do 10 miles a day in my Birkenstock sandals. (Sneakers and socks are way too hot for me all day...)

 

[disneychrista]

Good Shoes, that fit well with a good insole. I use Dr. Scholl's Active Series.

I have Plantar Fasciitis. And these are the only insoles that work for me. Finding them were a godsend. I will never wear shoes without them again.

Also if you are overweight, losing weight helps tremendously. After loosing weight my feet hurt so much less after a day at Disneyland. And now after gaining the weight back, my feet are not happy.

 

[Ratherbeatdisneyland]

I just ordered some go walks after reading this page! When we went earlier this year my feet swelled up so bad the last day I couldn't even really walk and when we got home it took about 4 days for the swelling to go down! I didn't rotate my shoes which probably was part of the issue. I was wearing running shoes that didn't have much padding in them at all.

 

[nolenbelledavis]

First of all, that sounds horrible, I'm so sorry you have to deal with that pain! Have you considered going to a podiatrist? I also second going to a small running store where they can watch you walk and fit you in shoes perfect for your feet, walk, etc.

 

[clb79]

I am overweight 5'10" 250lbs and started buying/wearing Altra Zero-drop Running Shoes a few years ago. I went to a small mom and pop store and after an analysis they steered me towards my first pair. They have several different styles from race/running shoes, trail running to casual walking shoes. They have neutral and stability shoes depending on the support you need or what your natural gait is and rate their shoes from light cushioning to max cushioning. The two things that all of their shoes have in common are they are "zero drop" flat soles (which takes a little getting used to so I would definitely be wearing and breaking them in before a trip if you haven't worn zero drop or minimalist before) and they all have wide (almost square) toe boxes that let your toes naturally spread out.

I am not a runner or expert by any means, but what I can tell you is I used to get really bad athletes foot all of the time (which would even cause cellulitis infections in my feet/legs on occasions) and chronic shin splints especially when on my feet all day before. I haven't had issues with either of these since switching to Altra Shoes.

There website is https://www.altrarunning.com/ and has great information about their shoes and the "science" behind zero drop and their wide toe boxes.

They are a little pricey, but you can find the previous model/version of their shoes on Amazon for half to even a third of the price (I have also bought several pairs from Amazon Warehouse Deals that are labeled used because someone bought and tried them on and the size was wrong, but they show no signs of ware and have been great. I actually have several different kinds on my Amazon Watchlist so I can specifically watch for a pair in my size to come up through Amazon Warehouse Deals had half the price or for clearance models when the new ones come up.

Sizing can be a bit different, I end up going 1/2 to full size bigger (that may vary since everyone's feet are different), If you buy them directly from Amazon the process to return for a different size is pretty easy and fairly painless.

My first pair were the original Torin, have gone through 3 pairs of those over several years, switch to the Instinct 2.0 and am currently on my second pair of those for my walking/exercise shoes (both from their Neutral category). I use my previous pair as my around the house/yard grunge pair. I would change out of my work shoes as soon as I got home everyday, but they recently released a couple of models of "everyday/walking" shoes that are dressy enough that I can wear then to work now too. I wear the Provision Walking shoe at work (it doesn't breath as well as the running shoes since its a synthetic leather upper instead of mesh and can get a little warm outdoors since its black, but still no athletes foot or issues with my feet sweating to the point they are soaked). I like the feel of the Provision shoe at work so much that I just ordered a pair of the Provision 2.0 running shoes from the Stability category to see if I like them better than the Neutral models I have been exercising in.

I haven't been to Disneyland since I started wearing them. I will finally get that chance in December and can report back if anyone is interested. However, I have been on hikes that were several miles, worn them to conventions and festivals and covered 15,000-20,000 steps (5-6miles) in a day and have even covered 10,000+ steps frequently at work in the Black work shoe and love them.

Sorry for my post being so long, but these shoes have literally been life savers for me. It was painful to try to walk or exercise before these, and now that I have found ways to make them price more economical and reasonable, I wanted to share that strategy too...