I haven’t heard of the On Cloud brand (will check it out), BUT - one of my sons and one of my sisters sing high praises for Hoka shoes. I got a pair of their Arahi 6 model (my sis and son both got their Bondi model in black/white):
Apparently the great draw for my son is the cushioning. They really do feel good. I am trying to wear them without my custom full-sole orthotics, trying the insole the shoe comes with, which has a pretty good arch support.
Now, previous to getting these, I was suffering with plantar fasciitis this past year. I was really hobbling, limping even just around the house, and walking for any distance was out of the question. After seeing a podiatrist, I ended up opting to get physical therapy, and it really helped (I had been skeptical that it would, but figured I’d give it a try). I can walk now in large box stores, etc. without pain. My physical therapist said these shoes had good cushioning, one of the things she strongly advised in a shoe.
While I was still having a lot of heel pain, my eldest son was on a Oofo shoe kick, and as a gift he bought me a pair of their clogs as “recovery” shoes:
(the blue ball is a lacrosse ball, used as part of physical therapy)
I had never had Crocs or any kind of clogs before, but these are also very comfortable, expecially if your foot hurts! Very cushioned, and seems to make you walk with less weight on your heel, which was good in my case. I really didn’t want the leopard skin pattern, but preferred a dark brown/black they had; of course my son waited long enough to order that the dark ones sold out (I had my choice of what was on sale on their website at the time). So I went for these instead, out of what they had at the time, and the pattern has grown on me.
I will end by saying that the Doctor of Physical Therapy who worked on me for two months told me that (as I already knew, but hadn’t been practicing due to “reasons”) we need to rotate and wear different shoes from day to day. A reason that is important for plantar fasciitis is because in changing from one pair of shoes to another, your foot will rest chiefly on three points that are slightly different from shoe to shoe, so will not always hit in the exact same place. But if you wear custom full-sole orthotics, it will nullify the effect, as your foot will be hitting the same place on the orthotic, even if you use the orthotic in different shoes.
And yes, @JustTim, your experience of a day walking and standing can be what age feels like! Do not ask me about my knees or back! LOL A word to the wise: keep active and fit, not sedentary.
