Knee pain? Change your shoes!

[ShortYellowBus]

Some exposition: I am a former college football player who is still very active and due to the way I have treated my body, I have lingering injury symptoms.

I cycle through shoes all the time. The heavy shoes make my knees ache. The narrow running shoes with too much drop make my feet hurt and they ache for days! It has been an expensive process.

I finally found a good one. The On Cloud Cloudmonster. It’s been just over a month since I started wearing them and I have to share the results.

I’ve put roughly 150 miles so far (hard running) and somehow my knee pain is slowly going away! My feet no longer ache. It’s amazing!

I’ve read all the threads here about dealing with knee pain. I’m just putting this out there so that the people who understand how hard it is to live with knee problems can get to the point where I am now. I don’t take medications, yet I’m better!

 

[TWmccoy]

Bad shoes will cause all sorts of leg problems. Comfort is absolutely key when choosing softball shoes.

 

[ilyk2win]

But do they match your uniform colors?

 

[blakcherry329]

I just got some ON Cloud, but not sure what model. For turf, they're probably better than others. Better support for sure. But for comfort, HOKA is by far more comfortable. Not even close.
Truthfully, Salomons with aftermarket inserts is VGTG. I can't imagine any shoe being more comfortable than my Speedcross 3s and 6s. I mean the HOKAS and the New Balance foams that I have are more comfortable, but they wouldn't stand up to the rigors of softball from a pitching standpoint. Other positions probably ok.

 

[basilray]

I currently roll w/ a pair of Nike trail runners, and find them visually hideous, but quite comfortable since I never leave the infield.

Something worth considering, especially if you have plantar pain, is stretching your calves. I went through a long period where I thought due to playing in UA trail runners I had wrecked my feet. Could barely put weight on them in the morning when I got out of bed, and even after switching shoes and some other things, I still had notable foot pain. I saw some nonsense kickstarter thing for a calf stretcher, and the light bulb hit. Ever since, as long as I keep my calves relatively loose through a week, zero pain...can pretty much wear any shoe I want.

 

[blakcherry329]

I currently roll w/ a pair of Nike trail runners, and find them visually hideous, but quite comfortable since I never leave the infield.

Something worth considering, especially if you have plantar pain, is stretching your calves. I went through a long period where I thought due to playing in UA trail runners I had wrecked my feet. Could barely put weight on them in the morning when I got out of bed, and even after switching shoes and some other things, I still had notable foot pain. I saw some nonsense kickstarter thing for a calf stretcher, and the light bulb hit. Ever since, as long as I keep my calves relatively loose through a week, zero pain...can pretty much wear any shoe I want.

blowing out an Achilles is my worst fear. I've seen two friends have Achilles tears from just changing direction. I stretch my calves on the escalators in the NYC train stations every morning.

 

[jbo911]

I stretch my calves a lot for the same reason, but they're always super tight. Make sure you stretch both the gastroc and the soleus. I just started the soleus last year.

I wear Saucony or Asics, but I'm pretty sure my weight is the biggest problem my knees have besides arthritis.