Walking on steel decks

We don’t disagree on too many things, Even my back guy says you work on steel decks and advised me to take it easy at the fairly young age of 32. Good shoes make a difference, the uneveitable can be delayed for a bit. Unfortunately, my extended family has a bad history of back problems. I don’t wish that on anyone. Knees and ankles were fine

Minor misunderstanding because you said the surface didn’t matter. It does because walking on soft surfaces doesn’t cause problems. I see that we agree so it’s all good.

My bride was an ultrasound, mammo. and Xray tech. On her feet constantly on concrete. It took it’s toll on her knees. 1 replacement so far and one still needed before she figured out to take the pressure off of her body by a good shoe. She took good care of our Outer Banks friends.

That sole is awesome, it’s the Supersole 2.0, they make quite a few models of boots with it: Search Results | Red Wing

I’ve been getting about four years out of a pair of 3507’s (engine room mileage). My only gripe is that the laces that they come with don’t last very long. I bought some laces when I was still at CMA that wound up being amazing. I used the same pair of laces for my first two pairs of Wolverine boots (those boots didn’t hold up at all) and then through two pairs of Red Wings. I seriously got nearly a decade of life out of a single pair of laces. They were some no brand name boot lace, they came in a plastic ziploc bag with nothing more than a price tag on it. Got 'em at an hunting/fishing outfitter. The cordage was woven so tight on them that they were like wire at first.

Back to the boots though, the Supersole can be replaced if you wear them out, though I’ve found that I tend to wear out the leather first. I don’t mind spending the money up front on a quality boot that lasts. It’s way cheaper in the long run than buying a new $50 pair at the start of each hitch. Made in America is good too (: I’ve sailed with a guy who’s son is a cobbler for Red Wing.

Bride was not obese by any means, but wore name brand sneakers that offered little or no support. Once we figured it out, a bit late. Does not want to go thru the rehab for the second knee. Thankfully, she does not have my semi-inherited back problems to go along with her shitty knees. She was a gymnast early on. We are both retired now, her with her 1 repaired good knee,me with my bad back. We pay much closer attention to our footwear and exercise in our younger age now. Our sidewalks are wide open, and the mutt loves it. Coming up on 40 years together guys. Pay a few more bucks for the shoe that helps your health.

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spend the money, get custom built insoles and a pair of orthodonic approved shoes. it’ll take a while but addressing the root cause of back issues is worth it.

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I had back issues for years, some were attributed to a previous injury but some were attributed to poor posture. I worked on concrete floors and steel decks which did not help but proper footwear made things marginally better. Then I had an unrelated surgery which aggravated my back more so they sent me to physical therapy. I learned some pretty simple core strengthening exercises and they helped a great deal. I didn’t appreciate my ‘core’ until I learned I had one. I have kept up with those exercises to this day and my back problems have been nonexistent except when I get lazy and leave them off for a few weeks.

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Good for you sir.

After about two months of 12 hour days in the shipyard, parts of the body seem to hurt for days even with rest. I mean yea shoe inserts help a bit. I dont do that type of work anymore but for someone one that still does maybe just yoga, going to a masseuse and eating healthy. Yoga helped me a lot with health issues that developed from working on ships.

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Do you remember the names of the exercises?

They started me with a stability ball doing core strengthening which helped. But now I just maintain with planking and crab walk. Crab walk is less boring.

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Good enough reason for me to go back to doing planks with the yoga/stretching routine. I always thought planks were the perfect exercise to do on board because they can be done from the privacy of my stateroom & don’t require any luggage space. Thanks for the info.

You aren’t wrong. I have a number of medical issues the VA has attributed to my time in the navy…a large portion of which was spent walking on a steel deck loaded down with 30 pounds of body armor, 2 guns, and a couple hundred rounds of ammo.

I’ve known Tankerman to stand manifold watch on a 2x4 and that helps significantly. (The extra smart ones get a 2x6 with blocks under the ends.)

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