My feet suck. I've broken and sprained both of them. I have to be careful on steps and curbs. I have cysts in them which means it feels like I'm walking on marbles.

For the last couple of years I've been wearing highly cushioned moccasin-like slippers. Inside and outside. Which means I go through expensive slippers very quickly especially when I mow the lawn while wearing these slippers and they're not built for that. Over the couple of years I found other parts of my body slipping into disrepair. And it seems like it's related to my feet. But I can never be sure.

So I started wearing these sneakers:

Merrell Men's Vapor Glove 4 Sneaker https://a.co/d/e2bYMAN

These things are essentially gloves for your feet. They give a bit of support in the heel and a bit of support on the arch and absolutely nothing where it follows your arch to the rest of your toes. It protects them but it does not constrain or restrict them. It gives a bit of distance from the road.

When I walk down a gravel path I feel everything. But after a few moments feeling everything is good. Nothing is sharp enough to hurt me and everything simply tells me where I am. The cyst that I felt in my foot disappears. The whole gravelly ground presses against my foot and everything evens out. The pain disappears.

I like these. I suggest any one who would like to walk around with protective gloves on their feet try them.

I want to be able to wiggle my toes without feeling anything and these things allow that while simultaneously giving me exactly form fitting support in my heel and arch. That's the glove portion.

Your link was paywalled so I went wandering and came across this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/05/08/say-it-aint-so-vibram-say-it-aint-so/

This quote interested in me:

"Yes, they forced me up onto the balls of my feet, where running coaches want you, because smacking your heels on asphalt roads without any padding to protect them will do that. That's the idea. It's self-preservation"

I have always walked on the balls of my feet. Maybe because of my bad knees or hips or the fact that I took ballet lessons for several years starting at third grade.

I then taught my kids to walk on the balls of their feet because they sounded like f****** elephants stomping around the house. Turns out that you don't stomp and make noise when you walk on the balls of your feet.

So maybe regular shoes have always been bad for me because they put the cushioning on the heel and encourage landing on it.

I ordered, they showed up, they're definitely Merrell shoes. What concern is there here?