Painful toes... Anyone have any magical shoes?

I have been working a shedding a few lbs and have started going on long walks in the evenings (average about 3.5 - 4 miles a night). The city I live in is all hills… and the local park has gravel trails. I get the usual hip grinding about 1/2 way through the walk…not too painful but persistent. At about the 3/4 way mark my toes become extremely painful and by the time I get home i am limping. When I take off my shoes and socks they are bright red and swollen and feels like someone is sticking them with hot pins. I’m hoping this is something that can be helped with some proper footwear.
I am barefoot 90% of the day (I work from home). Absolutely hate socks (always have). I can’t have anything tight or stiff on top of my foot because it irritates the tendons and get extremely painful fairly quickly. My saving grace of footwear have been my trusty berkinstock sandals and when it gets too cold for those I flip over to ugg style boots.
I’ve tried to do my walks in my uggs but the I flamed toes are the results. I have bought several pairs of sneakers but find the toe area too narrow or the lace up part too stiff. I don’t have wide feet (my berks are a 40 narrow) but need to have from for my toes to move.
Does anyone else have this problem? Has anyone found a miracle shoe?
Perfection for me would be Berkenstock to make a sneaker!

Oh…and preferably something that doesn’t look like my grandmother would wear them! LOL

I’m sorry Anne! I certainly didn’t mean to offend any of the grandmother’s out there! Most of what is available here locally is not very stylish… I’m not by any means a fashion diva but don’t know if I’m quite ready for a velco walking shoe (although I may not have many options and comfort is way more important than style!). Thanks for the website…I’ll take a look and see what they have. I can handle a plain Jane lace up sneaker… Doesn’t need a lot of bells and whistles.

PS: grandmother’s are truthfully my favorite people and I’ll probably be one sometime in the next five years! =)

Ann A. said:

OK, that kills all of my suggestions cause I be the grandmother who goes for comfort over style in her walking shoes. But visit the footsmart website and you can check out a number of designs to see if any meet your needs. http://www.footsmart.com/

I’m so glad your were joking! I felt horrible that I might have offended you since you always offer great advice!

My daughter is a nursing student and spends all day on her feet and swears by the Nike shox. She has a wider foot and is a size bigger than me so I’m going to borrow a pair on my next walk and see how they feel. I never thought to look at men’s shoes. They would deffinately be wider in the toe area!

I also had someone suggest putting voltaren gel on my toes before going. I’m going to try that too!

Thank you so much! =)

Ann A. said:

Dahlin, please. I was not offended. I am not that sensitive. I was joking. Sorry that I did not put in an emoticon. I became a grandmother the same year that I had my first knee replacement surgery. So that was the year that I also got my first velcro walking shoes and was forced to give up my Birkenstocks and my high heel pumps. When I can wear lace ups, I like men Nike’s.A good pair of Nike’s can help out with joints but I can’t imagine them without socks

There is a brand that tends to have a nice wide toe bed with a nice narrower heel- - rocket dog stokers - My grandson just reminded me that the rocket dogs are velcro.

http://www.zappos.com/product/7139085/color/8585

I wish you the best of luck in finding the right shoe. I love zappos because they have a great return policy with free shipping both ways. So I can order to sizes and send back the one that doesn’t fit.