The first fashionable and durable shoe that fits easily and quickly over a brace/afo without being extremely oversized for children who require braces to support their legs and feet. “I was amazed that the shoes available would always be out of date and never took into account the latest fashions for these children,” said Watson, the founder of Keeping Pace. “We know how difficult it is to find special shoes that are contemporary, need little if any adjustment and are easily available and affordable.”

In developing the shoe, Watson brought together a team of other parents of special needs children, top orthotists, designers and a specialty footwear manufacturer Soletech, Inc., who worked for 18 months to create an athletic shoe, the first of many styles, that met the team’s vision.

Keeping Pace shoe incorporates many features essential to this unique specialized market:

• Wider, deeper heel box hides additional depth; ensures a precision fit with custom orthoses and AFOs
• Adjustable depth inner soles of 3 varying thicknesses allows for easier internal adjustments for discrepancies in leg lengths and accommodations for AFOs.
• High abrasion resistant rubber toe cap and reinforced triple stitching ensures greater durability for the demands of children wearing AFOs and the stresses of various gait patterns wider, deeper toe box
• Distinctive sole wider tread design increases direct surface contact and promotes greater medial/lateral stability extra high abrasion resistant rubber

Additional Features:

• Ankle to toe lacing provides wider opening for easier foot insertion.
• Speed lacing with locking eyelets promotes one handed pull lacing; locks laces in place for easier tying.
• Geometrically graded last ensures a precise fit with accurately sized shoe.
• Unique midsole is a compression molded EVA shell with visible cut line designed to facilitate the modification and build-up process.
• Fray resistant lining is longer lasting and withstands the wear of AFO use.

The company with offices in Gloucester and Salem, Mass. distributes its Advance Children’s Footwear through orthotists, specialty footwear shoe stores and directly from its web site.

In conjunction with its strategic partner Soletech, Keeping Pace plans to expand its line of Advance Children’s Footwear in the near future. Its web site will also provide a vehicle where parents of children with disabilities can share and obtain information on parenting a disabled child. Keeping Pace plans to create a foundation aimed at providing grants for research into many aspects of cerebral palsy and other children disabilities and to which it will donate a portion of its profits.

Sizing Ranges from Toddler, Youth and Young Adults.

Click here for Toddler, Youth Orthopedic Shoes.

The Orthotic Shop is now carrying CrocsRx’s Custom Cloud. The CrocsRx Custom Cloud was specifically designed by Crocs as protective footwear. It features extra-depth that is ideal for using custom orthotics and moldable inserts.

The Custom Cloud was recently accepted into the diabetic shoe program by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Acceptance by the CMS validates the superior benefits of Croslite material (Croslite ag+), Crocs proprietary closed-cell resin, as the Custom Cloud is the first molded shoe to receive an approved code verification from the organization.

As discussed above, the CMS validates the benefits of Croslite ag+ material. It is formulated with 1800 parts per million of silver crystals in the Croslite material. Numerous microbial tests were performed to determine this concentration, which produces a reliable 90+% kill rate for bacteria and fungi, and which is effective for a one-year period of time. Each new batch of croslite ag+tm material is independently tested to assure this kill rate.

Croslite ag+(tm) material works by a slow, steady release of silver ions, which maintains an effective concentration in and around the Silver Cloud and Custom Cloud shoe for a minimum of one year. The silver ionic release rate is accelerated by three factors: heat, moisture and saline concentration. In other words, the hotter and sweatier the feet become, the more silver ions are released to fight the increased threat of infection.

The Croslite ag+ material is effective when the patient wears the shoes with or without socks. Silver ions are extremely small, small enough to penetrate the cell walls of microbes, and thus easily penetrate the sock material to reach the skin surface of the foot. Effective immediately, medical professionals can fit the more than 23 million Americans suffering from diabetes in the CrocsRx Custom Cloud. The approved shoe comes with three pairs of heat moldable orthotic insoles and is usually fitted by a professional practitioner, to offer long-term relief for foot ailments related to the disease.

Additionally, the American Podiatric Medical Association with its distinguished Seal of Acceptance, recognizes that the Custom Cloud offers diabetic patients several advantages over traditional specialty footwear.

Among the most notable benefit is the customized fit that stems from the Croslite Ag+ material. Croslite Ag+ material expands upon the comfort attributes inherent to Croslite material while adding anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and odor resistant nano-Silver ceramic crystals.

Moreover, patients find the Custom Cloud to be easier to slip on, easier to keep clean and that the shoe weighs less than other specialty medical footwear styles accepted by CMS. The Custom Cloud is available in three color combinations including Navy, Black and Chocolate in men’s size 4-13.5 and women’s size 6-13.5, with four width offerings.

“We are thrilled with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s decision to include CrocsRx footwear in the Medicare program,” stated Eddie Scott, Director of CrocsRx. “CMS acceptance is an enormous accomplishment as this governing body completed an extensive review of clinical and historical performance data and found Croslite material to be a suitable alternative to existing specialty leather footwear.”

Please visit the following link for information on how to purchase the CrocsRx Custom Cloud