u/AlternativeHorse3047

One of the patients I interviewed during my research noticed her arch had visibly flattened after weeks in a CAM walker boot. She hadn't connected it to the boot until we were talking. It genuinely surprised her.

I brought this to an orthopaedic doctor - and he was clear: 3 - 6 weeks in a boot will not flatten your arch. But what about 8 weeks? 12 weeks? What happens to a foot that isn't loading naturally for months?

Has anyone here noticed changes in their foot arch, sole stiffness, or the way their foot loads after a long stint in a walking boot? Or is this temporary?

I'm Nithin, an Industrial Design student at NID, redesigning the CAM walker boot for my graduation project. If you've worn one, 8 minutes of your experience would mean a lot.

👉 [ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSewGq-2JVD4RfYx0usTg4hAE1msQKbK1lVglEtUYJyBamPJEQ/viewform ]

Drop your answer in the comments too - every response helps.

I'm a design student trying to redesign the CAM walker boot for my graduation project — and I need people who've actually worn one to tell me what I got wrong.

I've been researching this for months. I know the boot is basically your entire life for 6–12 weeks post-rupture. I know about the heat, the limp, the leg-height difference, the shower logistics, the way the rocker sole turns every kerb into a near-death experience. I know that by week 8 you're unscrewing the ROM hinge yourself because your physio's timeline and your sanity's timeline stopped matching at week 4.

But I don't know YOUR specific version of it.

Mine is a small survey (takes about 12–15 min) and it asks things your surgeon never did:

- Which part of your leg did the air bladder actually compress? (Spoiler: probably not where your injury was)

- What did you use to level your other shoe?

- What did you modify, improvise, or outright ignore?

- What did recovery feel like the first week the boot came off?

Every answered question is a design requirement I'd otherwise miss. If you wore a CAM boot as part of your Achilles recovery — conservative or post-surgical — I'd genuinely love your responses.

👉 [https://forms.gle/VZwRS2qifAxN2REb6\]

If you don't want to fill the form: drop your single worst memory of wearing it in the comments. That's useful too.

And if you think a question is missing — tell me that too. I want to know what I haven't thought to ask yet.

(Happy to share findings back here when the project is done.)