Notes & Links:
Hoka One One:
Of all the footwear I've tried in the last 7 years (with an ankle fusion and as an amputee), nothing beats Hoka. They're soft. They roll over well. If you forced me to bet on one shoe brand for comfort for the rest of my life as an amputee, it would be Hoka.
www.hokaoneone.com
Nike Fly Ease:
Of all the shoe companies in the world, I'm not aware of any as supportive of adaptive athletes as Nike is. Between the Ossur Flex Run, their support of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, and Flyease, Nike continues to impress. The only thing I can say based on my experience is to be gentle with the zipper. It's a great technology, but zippers aren't perfect, and they still malfunction from time-to-time.
www.nike.com/flyease
Adjust-a-Lift:
There are a few options in this category, but Adjust-a-lift seems to set the standard. It won't be the solution with high-heels, but it may make a huge difference with shoes that have a rise of 8-12 mm.
www.amazon.com/Warwick-Enterp...
College Park Shoehorn - ~$50:
If you don't plan on messing with sport-specific boots or otherwise taller boots, you can probably get by with one of the shoehorns, but when you're cramming a prosthetic foot into an inflexible boot, I haven't found anything that competes with this one. As far as I can tell, there's no easy way to order this online, but you can email them. They were great when I reached out.
www.college-park.com/contacts/
Ossur Flex Foot Shoehorn - ~$40
I haven't personally used this one, but I've heard good things, and I expect the angle might help in some situations. Officially, it seems these are specifically designed around remove your foot shell.
amputeestore.com/products/oss...
Generic Long Metal Shoehorn - ~$10
As with anything on Amazon, results may vary, but for the vast majority of cases, these shoehorns are good enough. This is similar to the version that I keep spread around the house. My College Park shoehorn goes in my "serious" tools bag, and most of the time, I manage just fine with these. They are a little bulky for travel though.
smile.amazon.com/Metal-Shoeho...
Light-weight Shoehorn:
I don't have a specific recommendation in this category beyond noting that it's useful to have one. They're generally cheaper (less than $10), and their portability is the main benefit. For instance, when I'm traveling and don't anticipate frequent shoe changes or needing my heavier-duty shoehorns, it's still useful to have one even if it's a little less convenient than my favorites. I'd recommend finding a smaller metal one that you like and keeping it handy in your travel supplies. (We'll talk about traveling with prosthetics extensively in future episodes.) I did read some reviews and run a few through Fakespot, and these look like the best overall compact/lightweight shoehorns at the moment:
smile.amazon.com/OrthoStep-Me...
Editing by Kap:
madebykap.com