Our Shoes from a Medical Perspective

Dr. A Holly Johnson is RĒDEN's advisor and an Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in foot and ankle surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Dr. Johnson is also an Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medical School in New York City and team physician for both USA Women's Ice Hockey and the WNBA New York Liberty basketball team. Dr. Johnson not only takes care of athletes, but also everyday people with everyday foot problems.

Click to watch our interview with Dr. Johnson or scroll down for her explanation of the foot pain epidemic and what makes RĒDEN shoes so special.

Ill-Fitting Shoes Without Support Cause Foot Pain

According to a 2014 American Podiatric Medical Association Survey, 77% of Americans experience foot pain, and 51% say their foot pain has restricted their daily activities. Certainly very obvious factors like people wearing ill-fitted shoes, spending lots of time on their feet with shoes that perhaps don't give them enough support, even shoes that are too small all contribute to foot pain. Additionally, if your work requires you to be on your feet a good portion of the day where you are walking or carrying heavy objects, all of this can cause increased stresses on the foot that can affect everyday activities.

A lot of my patients come in and they have very specific foot problems. They have pain in the ball of their foot. They have a slightly collapsing arch. Not enough of a problem where they need surgical intervention, or they are forced to wear special orthopedic shoes, but where they have everyday foot pain that is easily solvable with some sort of minor adjustment to their shoe.

RĒDEN's Orthotic Insert Solution is Better

Unfortunately what's out on the market either for a custom insert or even an off-the-shelf insert is really impossible to fit in a flat or a pump or a loafer even. They're just too thick. They make the shoe too small and generally speaking, it's, it's almost not possible. What RĒDEN has done so nicely is it offers that extra support, cushioning, and metatarsal support built into the shoe already. So you're not looking for some sort of external insert to try to jam in and then jam your foot in afterwards.

I have yet to try on a non-orthopedic shoe or a non-sneaker type shoe that actually offers metatarsal and arch support. There are a lot of shoe wear companies out there that claim it, but none of them actually do it. And you can simply pick up the shoe and look inside of it. And you'll see the difference. If you pick up a pair of RĒDEN's and you pick up a pair of another competitor's who claims that they have arch support, it's very clear what RĒDEN has over that other shoe. The real difference is a shoe like RĒDEN's just doesn't exist and hasn't existed on the market prior to now.

Arch Support Helps Foot Pain

Arch support is really important for certain foot types. All people don't need arch support. But if you think about throughout the day, the muscles in your feet and the joints, the ligaments, they just get tired and having that extra bit of support really lengthens the amount of time before the foot fatigues. And if you have even just a little bit of arch support, it can help maintain comfort without that sort of foot fatigue that we often feel at the end of the day.

Now there are people who absolutely need very specific arch support patients with flat feet or fallen arches or tendon problems in their foot. And in those cases, they, they really may need a more custom arch support, but even with just a little bit of a flat foot, an arch support can often allow you to wear a regular shoe, as opposed to wearing a sneaker or a more orthopedic type shoe. 

Comfortable Shoes and Metatarsal Support Can Help Bunions

Roughly a quarter of women have bunions. With the bunion comes lots of other foot pain and ailments. One not only experiences pain from the bunion itself, but often the ball of the foot and the little toes become painful. What RĒDEN has done with their insert is they have given some metatarsal support that really can help alleviate some of that pain that's caused by bunions. Namely the offloading of the transfer metatarsalgia…transfer of weight to the lesser metatarsals, which causes that ball to foot pain.

In addition, the soft, comfortable leather really accommodates for any type of forefoot deformity. So if you have that bunion sort of protruding and where in shoes with less comfortable leather, it can be really painful, with RĒDEN's soft leather, it really accommodates for that bump. And just generally speaking is a much more comfortable high fashion shoe for anybody who has any sort of even mild to moderate foot deformity.

—as told to RĒDEN