One of the biggest perils of being an Author is sitting daily upon a chair for hours upon hours. Those of you who work in a office or sit behind a computer, I am sure you can relate and would have to agree with me, but for those of you who are young and lucky enough to have active jobs; I would like to reveal to you our concerns. It’s the dilemma of the increasing span of our rump. A lot of junk in my trunk is not something that I personally care for and as each year passes, I have to be very careful that my lady humps do not expand into lumpy bumps. That is why I grudgingly wake up every morning and force myself to walk/run ( Honestly I walk more then I run) three to five miles and then hit the weights and finish up with laps in our pool. Besides being intent at keeping the gravity gods at bay, it clears the cobwebs from my head, so I am able to have a perfectly lovely day being scantly mischievous and filling my pages with murder, and mayhem.
Now, as I had written in my last blog, I was very curious over the benefits of the fairly new Skecher Shape up Shoes and ran out to snatch up my own pair. I wore them with great enthusiasm, expecting my forty year old cheeks to perk up like those of a twenty year old, but after only one week of walking in those evil little devils, my left hip hurt so much that I was hobbling around the house like a ninety year old woman. If I sat for any length of time I was hardly able to get out of my chair. The constant pain from my hip joint and lower back was so excruciating that I could hardly sleep and Advil became my best friend, leaving my poor husband out in the cold. No snuggling for him or scratching his back until he fell asleep, as I was unable to lay upon my left side. For over thirty years I have either walked or ran and never once had any of the physical problems like I did from wearing those nasty little buggers for only that one week.
After great discussion with my husband, I was curious to see if anyone else had this problem, so I began my own inquisition. I Asked several of my friends and family who I knew had owned their own pair, if they had any concerns. To my surprise, as well as theirs, all off us were having the exact same back and hip problems. A couple of them were so bad, that they were receiving medical treatment. Becoming even more curious, I expanded my inquiry on the computer and was astounded to find that there was a class action law suit against the skecher shape up company. There were several women who actually had hip fractures and even one young woman in her twenty’s who had to have pins put into her hips. Needless to say; from what I read on the computer Skechers had never done a test study upon the shoes before making their revolutionary claim.
I was one of the lucky ones; even though I still have pain, I was smart enough to discontinue the use of my shoes early enough for no permanent damage. I am happily back to wearing my Nike running shoes in the morning and my strappy heels at night. I am sorry to say, that my own vanity made me fall into a marketing trap. Take my advice, if you are out shopping and you see the cutest pair of shape ups and think to yourself; I wonder if these things really work? Just run….. run far away… leave them behind. Your hip and back with thank you for it.
T. Marie Benchley,
Author of “Once Wicked Always Dead”
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