Hands and Feet

Observing the spring thaw

Northern Ontario can be pretty bleak in the winter months. Here in Kenora, the temperature dropped to minus thirty five twice this winter and at one point there was four feet of snow on my front lawn.

 
I sometimes wonder how Native Canadians, living in tents made from deerskins, could have ever survived Canada's sub zero temperatures.  I know that some of the Ojibwa nation had evolved wooden structures, which I believe they called Long Houses. Probably the Mohawk did too – but the Cree were plains Indians and I've heard they fashioned their homes from buffalo hides even if the buffalo herd was hundreds of miles south.

 
This continent’s indigenous people strapped snow shoes on their feet to hunt for food in the woods in the winter. These were wooden creations with a sinew web woven in the centre. Fortunately their meals didn’t depend on them giving chase – for it’s very difficult to run fast with these objects on your feet.

 

Yesterday was perhaps the first nice day in four months. The temperature rose to plus twelve and everywhere the snow was melting in the bright sunshine. I took Digger the dog for a long walk up Veteran’s Drive and I waved at all my neighbours – almost every house was sporting some form of spring ritual clean-up and residential grooming activity.

It seems the people of Kenora just couldn’t wait to start tilling the soil and mending the stone fences damaged by frost action.  Up here, when the snow melts, the human desire to get outside and enjoy the mild weather reaches a breaking point. People store up their enthusiasm – they will do anything to get out of the house on the first nice day in spring.

 
It was with some surprise however that I noticed my next door neighbour wearing Holey Soles on her feet. While I was decked out in my sturdy and waterproof hiking boots, she was clad in porous foam shoes with pristine white socks visible underneath.  I just couldn’t believe my eyes, so I had to get some pictures!

 
‘These shoes are three years old’ she confessed. And I could see that the tread on the bottoms of these slippers was well worn. Perhaps that's from working outside in her garden from early spring to late fall – but no, she wears them inside the house in the winter too! 

Like the tires on an old pick-up truck, these shoes are her ground to feet adapters.

Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome

Remember the opening montage of ABC’s Wild World of Sports; that famous show began with Jim McKay’s stirring narration, ‘Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition… this is ABC's Wide World of Sports.’ The famous opening sequence always prompted me to consider how ‘the agony of defeat’ was an equally respectable result of competition, and how losing could be made just as entertaining as winning. After watching that ski jumper’s (Vinko Bogataj) breathtaking disaster and that Indy car’s fiery somersault, I think I became a little more conscious of what it is to be a good loser.

Unfortunately the dream of being a professional athlete is, in many cases, all about the road to failure. I have met many would be heroes who, for one reason or another, washed out somewhere along the way. Hockey players with bad knees, tennis players with faulty elbows, and boxers with glass jaws are common at cocktail parties and high school reunions. The refrain ‘I could have been a contender’ is usually followed by the subject pointing at some impaired region of his or her body.

Yesterday I heard a new excuse - tarsal tunnel syndrome. This malady is similar to carpal tunnel syndrome but tarsal tunnel occurs in the foot while carpal tunnel occurs in the hands and wrist. Tarsal tunnel syndrome is a condition where the posterior tibial nerve in the foot is trapped. The author of this particular apology was a professional lacrosse player from Kenora, Ontario. Apparently the violent exercise involves lots of running and jumping, and the pressure exerted on feet is extreme.

Indeed this young man described the condition as ‘intensely painful’, and he related in some detail the discomfort he experienced as he massaged his heal and wriggled his toes. The physician diagnosed him with Tarsel Tunnel Syndrom after she applied ‘Tinel's Test’ - she tapped the nerve just behind the medial malleolus and man screamed like a school girl. Needless to say his lacrosse career was over.

After the attentive physician applied ice, anti-inflammatories and cortisone injections, she recommended her patient seek therapeutic footwear. I couldn’t help but notice that my new friend was shod in a well worn pair of yellow Holey Soles.  Although these are not orthopedic shoes in the strictest sense, they are extremely comfortable and contain many remedial features for problem feet. The most obvious of which is the ‘tarsal bar’ foam molding that massages the bottom of the foot. This design element serves to spread the toes slightly and increase blood circulation to the region. He won’t be playing lacrosse anytime soon, but those yellow shoes looked just smashing with his faded blue denim jeans.

Making the Mascot’s Feet

Many new companies create mascots to represent their brands at trade shows and special events; giant fur covered characters can become very memorable marketing tools.

Studies prove these lovable icons interact with customers more effectively than sales reps, and unlike print advertisements, mascots bring highly focused attention to featured goods and services. Good mascots walk and talk to consumers and communicate with them on a personal level.

Creating the fur covered hands and feet of any mascot is often the hardest part of the costume. One simple solution to crafting decent feet is to make spats that fit over ordinary shoes. A spat is simply a covering that fits around normal footwear much like a tea cozy surrounds a teapot. This is seen on a lot of rentals since it allows the wearer to use their own shoes.

Sports mascot costumes are however usually hand tailored to fit their occupants – these performers are well trained to walk and talk in a distinctive manner and the suit must fit like a glove. In these cases designers will invariably use foam shoes beneath non removable fur spats for three reasons – they are light weight, comfortable and rubber cement bonds with foam far better than most other surfaces.

Holey Soles in particular are often used to make the furry feet of some of the most visible mascots in the corporate world. That’s because they are inexpensive and extremely comfortable. They’re fabricated from new age closed cell polyurethane foam with a special  antibacterial coating to reduce mold and prevent odor. One thing is certain - performers wearing Holey Soles seldom complain about sore feet.