Archive for March 18th, 2010

Posted on March 18, 2010 - by Nurse Virginia

GOOD OLD “KEDS” – BEST SHOES FOR CONFUSED ELDERLY – REALLY

Feet tell you where you are
Many elderly people like to go barefoot. Why wouldn’t they? We are constantly getting information about where we are through the bottom of our feet. When babies first start to walk, you can actually see their feet curl a little on the floor, as they try to grip the floor with their feet when they walk. They are learning to feel where they are, through the messages they are getting from the bottom of their feet.

When I see a confused elder with heavy athletic shoes, I think of how years ago we forced baby feet into these hard, heavy, clunky, high top tie shoes that they couldn’t possibly have been able to feel the floor through. Now the best baby shoes have thin, soft cushiony soles where the baby can still get information about the floor surface through their feet.

What information are the elderly trying to get through their feet?
Elderly many times lose sensation in the bottom of their feet due to a disease process, such as diabetes. Added to that loss, are the complications of perception for a person with Alzheimer’s disease. The lack of depth perception and ability to see the changes in the surface of the floor. A scatter rug of a dark color can look to the confused elder like a big gaping hole in the floor. Walking from one surface, a smooth surface like a tiled floor, to a carpet area can cause problems.

What’s so great about “Keds”
The “Keds” brand first came out in 1916, over 90 years ago. They still carry the first design they started with, the basic Champion. They have the same thin rubber sole they started with. Improvements came over the years in increased ability to absorb shock to protect the foot from jars and jolts, with the same thin sole. That sole is what is so great about Keds for the elderly.
(You now can even design your own “Champion” go to: www.keds.com)

The confused elder many times just doesn’t pick up their feet as well when they walk. The heavy athletic shoe, with the industrial strength grip sole can grip too much for the elder and cause a fall. Especially when catching on a thick carpet with soles that have a super grip bottom. The elder certainly can’t feel the floor and understand better where they are through, those thick soles designed for the athlete.

Increase the feeling in the bottom of your feet
A simple exercise while you watch TV can be to roll an old tennis ball back and forth under your bare feet. Just put a tennis ball on the floor and roll it forward and backward under the bottom of one foot at a time with your foot. This can increase the flexibility of the foot as well as increase the sensation, on the bottom of the foot.

Virginia Garberding, R.N.
Director of Education, The Wealshire, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Author: Please Get To Know Me – Aging with Dignity and Relevance
www.pleasegettoknowme.com