Shoes for guys

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JustSomePreMed

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I'm about to start M3 rotations. I really hate shopping, especially for shoes, but I have a feeling I'd also really hate being miserable in uncomfortable shoes.

I haven't spent much time in an OR, do guys wear Dansko's? Those things are ugly as sin, but I'm a lot more concerned about comfort here.

And can anyone recommend a decent and not too expensive men's dress shoe for clinic? I've spent the first two years wearing a pair of crappy Payless brand shoes for our once a week trot through the hospital Pretending to be Doctors class.

I know there have been other shoe threads in the past but they're invariably dominated by females discussing which ballerina flats to wear or whatever, so I was hoping to get some input on guys' shoes. Thanks.
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+1 for Ecco's. I got a pair for a decent price from DSW. Look for coupons online and you should get a good deal.

Nike also collaborated with Cole Haan, so you might want to look at those as well. Rockports are good too.

Shoes are just one of those things that you should spend a little time on trying, walking around the store etc just to make sure they fit and are comfortable. Its definitely an investment.
 
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I'm also wondering what we're allowed to wear in the OR, specifically? Are sneakers ok? Or do they have to be dress shoes, in which case I should get a crappy pair and a nice pair for clinic days?
 
TheLesPaul said:
I'm also wondering what we're allowed to wear in the OR, specifically? Are sneakers ok? Or do they have to be dress shoes, in which case I should get a crappy pair and a nice pair for clinic days?
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Great question to ask other students in your class or on the first day of your surgery rotation.

Sneakers are okay. Just remember to wear shoe covers.
 
I heard ecco is great. I just bought some Dr. Scholl's for my regular dress shoes, and I'm going to give that a try. If it doesn't hold up I'll make the switch.
 
+1 for ecco and rockport for dress shoes. danskos are nice if they fit your foot. mine just dont agree with their shape. guys wear them....or you can go with new balance for wearing with scrubs
 
Eccos and Merrell GREAT for both comfort and style
 
haven't tried ecco, but everyone seems to like it, maybe i'll pick up a pair :p

but i purchased rockports (go to dsw and try on a few rockports). found one that was very comfortable, had enough height for my toes. they don't look the most professional (like shiny), but they work, and it feels like i can run in them.
 
wAyRadikull said:
Nike also collaborated with Cole Haan, so you might want to look at those as well. Rockports are good too.
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I bought a pair of these during third year that worked very well - used them on rotations like medicine where you had to dress up for rounds. They were very comfortable but I have to say that they haven't held up as well as I would expect for the price and the company reputation.

My current shoe rotation (surgery intern) involves a pair of Danskos, a pair of Merrells, and a couple pairs of tennis shoes.
 
My stock response for this question:

http://www.eccousa.com/shoes/mens/casual/neoflexor-slip-on/1211/detail.aspx
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SofSole Stability inserts (make sure you buy from a place that understands their 1yr warranty. I turn my heavily used pairs in ~q6 months for a fresh pair making them pay for themselves quickly).

I wear these and they've been the best thing from busy service days to 9hour days standing in the peds cath lab.

BTW Eccos don't come in wide sizes (I'm an EEE), but I make do sizing up a little. Get your feet measured (I spent most of my life not knowing I was a EEE) and if your a wide, definitiely avoid Danskos unless you appreciate torture.
 
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Cole Haan's collaboration with Nike produces an awesome "Air" collection. They look incredible and are very comfortable. Some of them can be $170+ but there are ones for around $100. Trust me, do NOT skimp on spending for dress shoes. Two years of foot and back agony is not worth saving $30 on a pair of shoes.
 
Allen Edmonds for dress shoes, the are very expensive at retail 300+ but can be had in the low 100's on sale or at an outlet. Out of the box first time wearing them perfect, no blisters on the heal, no foot pain etc. If you like Cole haan (which i have also) Allen edmonds shoes put them shame.
 
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Most of the shoes mentioned on here for "clinic use" are ugly. If you're worried only about comfort, then go ahead and buy them. You can get away with horrendous fashion in medicine. Most people don't know enough to call you out on it.

For the OR, do yourself a favour and stay away from those disgusting Dansko shoes that the hoi polloi love to wear. Get these Italian clogs instead, cheaper and 10x better looking:

http://www.calzuro.com/surgical_sho...&cPath=31_32&zenid=4q7q3cm016u0eqeaquebrufvv5
 
Danskos and Sanitas are the best shoes I've ever worn. Yeah they look pretty ugly, but they are "nice" enough to wear in the clinic and they are great for long days on your feet. I've put in plenty of 24+ hr shifts, no sleep and on my feet most of the time, and I my feet still feel great at the end of the day. They take a little while to break in however, so they may not feel extremely comfortable in the store when trying them on. If you plan to go into some sort of surgery I'd strongly recommend getting shoes you can wear all day long w/o problems.
 
I have sciatica in my left leg and S1 problems that cause great pain in both of my feet even when Im not standing and I swear by Danskos.
 
kdburton said:
Or the million little holes that blood can [and will] seep through on top of those shoes? :scared:
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Yeah, since most med students are going to be vascular surgeons operating knee deep in blood. haha. :rolleyes:

And speaking of vascular surgeon, the one I rotated with as a 3rd year student (who operated practically all day long) wore ventilated Calzuro's. As did the CT surgeon.

If they can get away with ventilated Calzuro's, I'm sure a med student can as well. If you're blood averse, put some shoe covers on. Simple.

JustSomePreMed said:
Ever have any issue with the no back on them?
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No issues whatsoever. They are comfortable as hell (ie. no need to "break into" them), they look great (you will get many compliments, mark my words) and they're cheaper than those fugly Dansko's.
 
DOCTORSAIB said:
And speaking of vascular surgeon, the one I rotated with as a 3rd year student (who operated practically all day long) wore ventilated Calzuro's. As did the CT surgeon.

If they can get away with ventilated Calzuro's, I'm sure a med student can as well.
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While I appreciate your help, I can't get with this line of reasoning.
 
JustSomePreMed said:
While I appreciate your help, I can't get with this line of reasoning.
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Why? Vascular and CT surgeons can wear ventilated Calzuro's. They perform some of the bloodiest surgeries in the hospital. They either don't get blood on their clogs or put on shoe covers then toss them after the procedure.

Similarly, a med student who spends at most 3 months doing surgery rotation (which is not all vasc or CT) should be able to do the same.
 
I got some Merrells and I feel like I'm walking on feathers. And I'm a big dude too... a little less than 6'5", and in the 230-240 lb range.

Yes I know that's not what you think of when you see "Triathlete". I'm a pretty ****ty triathlete, but when I got to my late-20's, I realized that the NBA wasn't going to come calling, so I decided to try something else.
 
DOCTORSAIB said:
Why? Vascular and CT surgeons can wear ventilated Calzuro's. They perform some of the bloodiest surgeries in the hospital. They either don't get blood on their clogs or put on shoe covers then toss them after the procedure.

Similarly, a med student who spends at most 3 months doing surgery rotation (which is not all vasc or CT) should be able to do the same.
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This has nothing to do with practicality and everything to do with being at the bottom wrung of the ladder.

Specifically, strutting around the OR with shoes with holes as an M3 is just asking to get reamed out. When I was scrubbing in on surgeries last summer, one of the attendings gave me a useful piece of advice: never look to attendings for ways to model your behavior as a medical student.

In a more general sense, your reasoning that "well an accomplished vascular surgeon can get away with it so why can't a third year medical student get away with it?" is pretty flawed. People who have paid their dues can get away with a lot more, as stupid as that might be. It's just the way the ridiculous totem pole is structured.
 
Also the argument against Dansko simply because "everyone else is doing it" is just not a good argument at all. Thats what made the decision easy for me. I'm not looking to make a fashion statement here, I'm looking for function - and so far I haven't had any complaints about my shoes. I haven't scrubbed in on a single CT or vascular case and I've still managed to get blood on my shoes during three surgical rotations. Maybe I'm just unlucky but if Danskos are comfortable AND will keep someone's blood one extra layer of clothing away from my skin then that sounds like a great shoe to me :D
 
JustSomePreMed said:
This has nothing to do with practicality and everything to do with being at the bottom wrung of the ladder.

Specifically, strutting around the OR with shoes with holes as an M3 is just asking to get reamed out. When I was scrubbing in on surgeries last summer, one of the attendings gave me a useful piece of advice: never look to attendings for ways to model your behavior as a medical student.

In a more general sense, your reasoning that "well an accomplished vascular surgeon can get away with it so why can't a third year medical student get away with it?" is pretty flawed. People who have paid their dues can get away with a lot more, as stupid as that might be. It's just the way the ridiculous totem pole is structured.
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You missed my point homie. From a FUNCTION standpoint Calzuro's are just as good as any other surgical clog, holes or no holes. Someone mentioned getting blood on them so I used the example of high output Vasc/CT surgeons wearing them and doing just fine.

No one will "ream you out" for wearing them, even as a med student. Spend some time in the OR and you will see ophtho, ortho, gen surg, vasc, CT, etc etc wearing them and that includes residents. These are REAL surgical clogs my friend!

What isn't allowed in most ORs is those duck-feet nursing clogs called Crocs b/c it has quarter-sized holes all over it.
 
kdburton said:
I've still managed to get blood on my shoes during three surgical rotations. Maybe I'm just unlucky but if Danskos are comfortable AND will keep someone's blood one extra layer of clothing away from my skin then that sounds like a great shoe to me :D
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Did you wash and sanitize your Danskos afterwards?

Or are you still walking around with someone's dried blood on your wonderful clogs?
 
I forgot to add, I have fairly wide feet. I've seen that Dansko's are bad for wide feet. What about these Calzuros?
 
JustSomePreMed said:
I forgot to add, I have fairly wide feet. I've seen that Dansko's are bad for wide feet. What about these Calzuros?
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I have wide feet as well. No problems whatsoever.

Like I said, they're comfortable day #1.

If you want bling, get the orange. Gets lots of attention from cute nutritionists/social workers/nurses.

If not, stick to the metallic grey. Very versatile color.
 
I have wide feet with tailor's bunions, and the Merrells are fantastic.
 
JustSomePreMed said:
This has nothing to do with practicality and everything to do with being at the bottom wrung of the ladder.

Specifically, strutting around the OR with shoes with holes as an M3 is just asking to get reamed out.
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I know tons of trauma/vasc/ct surgeons who wear calzuros. I know a ct surgeon who slips his danskos off and stands barefoot while operating. If you don't care about getting blood on your socks, why would anyone else?

I've scrubbed more cases than med students and I wear calzuros. The orange or metallic blue are a good look.

They make non vented models, do yourself a favor and get those.
 
I picked up a pair of Cole Haan Air Dempseys in wide this past weekend - granted it was at an outlet - but they're amazing.. they look a little goofy with the rubber around the bottom, but they're extremely comfortable.
 
break in some leather cowboy boots. :thumbup:
 
I was going to go the Dansko route because my knees and other assorted joints and muscles couldn't take pediatric rounds.

What I ended up doing, instead, was going to the walking company to buy the shoes, then realizing I didn't really like them. Instead, I bought a pair of the Walking Company orthodics after doing their little scale analysis. They're not cheap ($60-70 or so), but they're less than a pair of new shoes.

Basically these can go into any shoe that has an existing insert, so many pairs of dress shoes (mine were Bostonian) can become extremely comfortable ward/surgery shoes.

I highly recommend this as an alternative for those who don't want to go the Dansko route, and maybe even want to save some $.
 
The Cole Haan's with the Nike soles are amazing. They are more expensive but they look great and are great if you are on your feet all day. I wore a pair of Kenneth Coles the first week on medicine and was in constant pain and the day I switched to Cole Haan's was heavan. I also have a pair of Allen Edmonds but I like the Haan's better.
 

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I personally used a pair of sneakers and made it almost through 4th year and I was in agony just about every night. Herniated disk and knee pain plus being size-extra,extra gordo......

Early in my ICU month when doing multi-departmental rounds, I decided to buy a pair of MBTs......and for the first time in years, no back/leg/foot pain. Granted, a little pricey at $274 but I found mine on sale for $215 and don't regret a dime of it.......Haven't tried the sketchers knock-off, but I can swear by the MBTs.

They make a dress shoe-ish version also. I have the wanna-be hiking shoe variant and it looks ok with khakis and dockers......plus I get two inches of height to make me less undertall for my weight:D
 
DaveinDallas said:
I personally used a pair of sneakers and made it almost through 4th year and I was in agony just about every night. Herniated disk and knee pain plus being size-extra,extra gordo......

Early in my ICU month when doing multi-departmental rounds, I decided to buy a pair of MBTs......and for the first time in years, no back/leg/foot pain. Granted, a little pricey at $274 but I found mine on sale for $215 and don't regret a dime of it.......Haven't tried the sketchers knock-off, but I can swear by the MBTs.

They make a dress shoe-ish version also. I have the wanna-be hiking shoe variant and it looks ok with khakis and dockers......plus I get two inches of height to make me less undertall for my weight:D
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MBT all the way. I tried Danskos and other brands mentioned here, but the MBTs are on a different level. You'll learn to walk all over again....hit ebay for cheaper prices on rare sizes and such.
 
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