Footwear ideas for gardeners with knee problems

Bottom line : I am looking for footwear suggestions from gardeners with knee problems or similar , i am looking for positive suggestions that would be worth considering.

i am a keen and busy gardener especially over the past 15 years and in the past 6 months both knees have ‘pinged’ doing everyday movements and its clear from my consultant that i will need to manage this for the future and i am also sure that there are many gardeners in a similar situation.

i feel i need to adapt my gardening routine - i am totally out of action on crutches at the moment- and have trawled the internet looking for supportive footwear for gardening. Result = Clogs and wellies ! Neither seem to fit the bill. I could go on but i am looking for suggestions to consider for me and others in a similar situation.

So , are there ideas out there that you have tried and that have helped ? If so please share.

Thanks for reading this.

 

For gardening I use a pair of old walking boots with sorbothane insoles, far more comfortable than wellingtons and more waterproof than old running shoes.
Do they help the dodgy knees not really. I do use a knee brace when the knee is playing up badly, but try not to.

 

I recently bought a new pair of hi tech walking boots, not real special ones but they are so much lighter than the old ones I had.
They are really comfortable and I have foot problems and two new knees and the back is not too good either.

 

@Obelix-Vendée has had two knee replacements so I am sure she will be able to offer you some suggestions as to how she coped before her ops.

 

I didn't find supportive footwear made any difference to my arthritic knee problems.

I tend to garden in wellies of different sizes depending on how many socks I need to keep my feet warm. Other than that I garden almost barefoot in flipflops or crocs.

Before I got my new knees I wore knee supports sold in sports stores and took a lot of turmeric supplements. It's important to use the ones with black pepper in them so you absorb the active ingredient. Glucosamine sulphate with condrotin, meadowsweet and nettles are all good supplements for arthritic joints but you need to take them every day and not expect results overnight.

Before the new knees I gardened sitting down or bending down. My new titanium knees are great but not comfy on the inside for kneeling without a big cushion so I have adapted to gardening bent from the hips or sitting and even lying down depending on what I'm doing.

 

I find kneeling almost impossible, and usually end up laying down on one elbow, which means you only have one free hand, then I cant get up, but at least they don't hurt anymore.

 

There's a lot of rolling and inelegant heavinng about involved to get down and up again and no time for worrying about getting mucky. So far I've only had to lie down to try and cut some mulenbechia that is invading and threatening to smother a large hebe. So far I'm not winning.

 

Sounds very similar to my attempts to clean under the ride-on I make sure I park it near something solid to hang onto as I claw my way back up. And that's without dodgy knees
Re. footwear @Robert Bowen, surely it's a case of finding what is most comfortable for you? Especially when it comes to heel/no heel, width, warmth, non-slip etc. If it was an ankle problem, footwear might make a big difference, but not so much for knees?

 

I didn't know there was a company making shoes called Scarpa, it just reminded me of my Dad who always referred to shoes as scarpas, probably picked up in Italy during WW2.

 

I usually wear normal trainers that have become too disreputable to wear away from home! I tie the laces loosely so I can slip them on and off without needing to bend to undo them. Works for me.

I can't kneel without cutting off the circulation to my legs, which then seems to take an inordinate length of time to start up again. I find long handled tools, grabbers, etc, are suitable for most tasks, but I often yearn to just bend down and yank out a weed or trim some ground cover. I resist the temptation.

 

I have a ligament problem in my right knee, which pops or goes clunk, due to an old skiing accident. For years I was OK but as I get older it gets worse. I find it hard to get up when I've been kneeling so I have a kneeler with handles like the one that @shiney has. I'm trying to learn to use a hoe, never been very good at it. I just wear comfy shoes or wellies.

 

Scarpa is a very famous maker of walking boots @pete. My winter ones are Scarpa.
That's what I use for gardening when it's not suitable for just the little clog things - old walking boots and shoes. I go through a pair of walking shoes every year, so always have some on hand for the garden. I hate wellies, having spent too much of my youth in them for my job.

I have problems with my knees @Robert Bowen , but not arthritis. I have patella femoral pain which isn't operable, or curable. I'm not sure footwear would really make a great difference though. You could try knee supports- there are plenty of types. I use quite heavy duty ones with metal hinges for hillwalking because of my knee problems, and they've been great, and have allowed me to do long days which wouldn't otherwise be possible. There are simpler types ranging from just neoprene though.
I'll see if I can find the site I got mine from, and you could maybe see if any sound feasible.

 

Wearing good quality, well-fitting supportive footwear with soles that have some shock-absorbing properties , like walking boots or shoes, helps all the foot and leg joints when you're walking, particularly on hard surfaces, but not so much for gardening which is more about standing, bending, kneeling etc than walking.

I do sometimes wear old walking boots for gardening, but mostly because they're comfy, still fairly waterproof and can fit thick socks in them. Other times I might wear croc-type shoes (summer, for light/pottering kind of gardening) or wellies if it's wet, or a pair of kiddies' snow boots that have thick fluffy lining and are below-calf height on me, so warmer than regular wellies and easier for bending down or kneeling in than tall wellies.

 

I eventually found that site @Robert Bowen. There's plenty to look at if you think it'w worth a try.
Sports Supports & Braces | Health and Care

Donjoy is the make I got, and they don't seem to have the exact one I used, but as I said - my problems were down to patella femoral pain, so you'd need to spend time seeing what would suit your particular needs. Some are eyewateringly expensive too, so bear that in mind if you decide to try something!