If you read the title and went “Whaaa?” this post isn’t for you. If you do know what that refers to, and perhaps were even looking for some, you might find this useful.
An explanation for the “Whaaa?” crowd: AFOs are ankle-foot orthotics, which helps people with leg weakness (like Jon) keep their ankles from flopping over when they step. They are annoyingly big—we have to buy Jon two different sizes of shoes: one size for just his feet; another, two sizes larger, for wearing with his AFOs. Since they are so large in cross-section (they consist of a fiberglass shell around a silicone bootie that encloses most of his foot) it’s quite hard to find shoes to fit that don’t turn into clown shoes. Because of this we’ve been using Crocs—pug-ugly and passé, but stretchy and easy to slip on. We have found a US online company that sells nicer shoes specifically for AFO wearers, but predictably, they’re expensive—especially for a rapidly-growing young man.
A lifetime of Jon’s AFOs in our front hall
Another problem is finding socks that can be used with AFOs. They have to be fairly thin (no sport socks) and knee-length to fold over the tops of the AFOs (shorter socks can bunch up, and the elastic tops tend to chafe under the shell.) Unfortunately, most of the socks I found online look like therapeutic socks: white, synthetic (in that support-hose, bad kind of way), and shockingly expensive.
But I found a source for Jon’s socks, with the catchy name of—wait for it—AFO Socks! It’s run by an orthotist out of Ottawa who specializes in making pediatric orthotics. Some things I like about them:
a) they’re from Ontario (no duty and low shipping costs).
b) the socks are inexpensive ($5 CDN a pair) and cotton blend, with a real heel (not tube-socks) and no toe seam.
c) the socks come in lots of colours (admittedly only two—plus white—for older kids, but that’s better than just white.)
Alas, AFO Socks only sells pediatric socks; when Jon gets bigger I’ll have to find an adult sock supplier.
No comment yet
paul says:
September 19, 2009 at 6:39 pm (UTC 0)
whaaa??? But i read it anyway. anxious to see bathroom reno in progress pics
paul
Tamiko says:
September 23, 2009 at 5:36 pm (UTC 0)
I’m in the whaaa?? camp but now also in the Holy #$%* you have to deal with socks on top of everything else??!!! camp.
gene morell says:
March 1, 2010 at 10:20 pm (UTC 0)
Hello Laura, thank you very much for mentioning my website AFOSOCKS.com. I am glad to hear that you like my realistically priced product.
Drop me an email and the next 10 pairs of afosocks for Jon in 2010 are on the house!
Regards, Gene Morell C.O. (c)
Laura says:
March 1, 2010 at 11:29 pm (UTC 0)
Gene
Thank you for the kind words and offer! Alas, Jon has grown an incredible amount since September—several inches taller, several pounds heavier, and about 2 shoe sizes larger. He definitely has to wear adult-sized socks now, so I’ve been using men’s knee-high dress socks from Land’s End, which isn’t cheap, but it’s less pricey than the specialized socks for AFOs.