Hi! My name is Kathy Carandang, and I am a Certified Pedorthist. I’m like a pharmacist for your feet. I would like to share with you how I became a C-Ped.
In 2002, I fell into a position with a local pedorthic shoe store, since I had impressed the owner with my knowledge about foot biomechanics and the appropriate use of corrective footwear based upon my personal experience. At that point, I had worn custom orthotics for over 20 years. A year later, to my amazement, the pedorthist who fit me for my first orthotics, Jack Tovey, walked into the store and soon began working beside me as my mentor. With his guidance, I received a hands-on education based on decades of experience and not just textbook material. I learned more from Jack Tovey than I ever did from any of the pedorthic manuals I ever opened. Practical application and experience has always proven to be my best teacher. Jack is still my friend and mentor today.
When I began working back in high school, I remember my first job as a waitress. I came home after my first 6-hour shift, complaining my feet hurt so badly, I could hardly walk. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of shoes I bought, my feet would hurt.
By the time I was 20, I had a job as a cashier at a local grocery store. Let me tell you, standing is harder than walking when your feet hurt. I went to a local shoe store a friend had recommended, and my future mentor, Jack Tovey, sold me the ugliest shoes I had ever owned. He fixed up the inside of those shoes with a custom orthotic, and even though they were ugly, they didn’t hurt my feet. Ugly or not, I was in love with those shoes!
In 2008, when the sad news came that the shoe store I was working for would be closing its doors, I took the opportunity to open a door for myself and created WalkEZstore.com and the ezWalker® orthotic products. I choose to help people with their foot pain through the Internet, because I can reach a larger audience. Education is the key to success with foot pain. This is why I make sure WalkEZstore.com is chock-full of helpful information you can apply to your everyday life.
I know from my own experience and customer feedback, nobody wants to live in ugly shoes. Most orhotics won’t fit into cute shoes. The ezWalker® works in ALL types of shoes, even fashionable high heels and dance shoes. Its ultra-thin design makes it extremely versatile.
What makes my ezWalker® different from all other orthotics is that it works because of the casting method I use to create the orthotic. I use a biomechanical impression process that will allow your foot to determine what it wants in the way of arch height, and will control pronation just enough to guide your feet to a better biomechanical gait every step of the way.
Conditions, like bunions and bunionettes, metatarsalgia, Morton’s Neuroma, and pressure calluses, can all be a result of improper biomechanics of the foot. The proactive use of the ezWalker® Performance Insole will help to guard against these problems if they do not already exist, or help to relieve pain if they do.
When someone asks me how I got into this line of work, I usually say, “God prepares you and puts you places you need to be even when you don’t know you need to be there.” I’m here!