Yes, I have a pair of hoka arahis and I do still love them-- but I do not wear them exclusively or even daily. They work very well with my bunion and have been great on major walking days but that said, my every day sneaker for comfort is Ara Mikky. A very differnt shoe style but they have a lot of support and cushion.

No, I lie -- my everyday shoe is keds. Silly I know and not setting any trends but the keds give me the greatest "ground feel" which is important to my vision issues and I am much more quick and agile in them. I just wouldnt wear them to walk the city streets all day... or set trends.

Sorry they brought on issues for you, Martinica! Just glad you figured it out!

I have never worn Hokas but I know many people who love them. I'm a Nike Air Zoom lover, currently on a Pegasus # roll. However, I rotate my shoes daily, trying to never wear the same pair two days in a row.

I wear Nikes every day of my life, outfit be damned. After having slipped and broken my leg, my only concern is sure-footedness, balance, good posture. Fashion can go take a hike, har har.

I’ve been wearing Clarks Cloudsteppers for years and while I get leg cramps, that was going on long before.

When I feel a leg cramp coming on, or it is full-blown, I stand on a cold, hard, preferable ceramic tile floor. DH has literally carried me to the bathroom floor. The carpet will do in a pinch if it hasn’t really kicked into high gear yet.

Interesting that it took so long.

It’s Pumas or New Balance for me.

Bpath, yes to cold floor, but belirve tonic water is faster. I do both.

Bunny, I have a pair of older Nike air that Ive liked a lot. ive gone back to them, but miss the Hoka cushioning. I’ll look into the Clarks

bunny ’take a hike’…groan. :)

I don’t wear any shoe on a daily basis or often enough to cause any problems. So maybe having so many shoes is not such a problem! 😁 Thank you Marti, I feel better about my closet. (Another here who is not a fan of Hokas for many other reasons. )

I tried on couple styles of Hokas and found them too squishy, as if my heel was sinking down a bit. I went to a store that specializes in running shoes ( but they let me in anyway). The salesperson did a thorough job of watching my gait, inspecting my current shoes for wear and then recommended several brands. I ended up with Brooks Ghost 2 Max and I love them.

I see Hokas around. I dont like the huge lettering on the side. I truly recommend going to a shoe store that specializes in fitting shoes.

Thanks for the tonic water tip. I get occasional killer calf cramps. It seems to happen when Ive gotten dehydrated.

It could be from the lower drop heel to toe in a Hoka, that causes your muscles to move differently. I wear low drop barefoot type shoes now and was warned to do a lot of foot, ankle, and calf stretches because you just walk differently when your foot is flatter.

I didn't like Hokas though because of the cushioning. I didn't feel stable in them.

Thanks for the info on the Hoka's. I've been needing new sneakers, but think I will stick to my comfortable Brooks.

Regarding the tonic water I just did a search to see what ingredient in tonic water might be alleviating the leg cramps and think I might prefer the leg cramps. It sounds like the quinine in tonic water can have severe repurcussions in some people.

I have a disease that causes myriad kinds of pain in my body - sciatica, and many more. I have been wearing Hokas daily for 8 years. They are the only shoe that has ever helped my back pain. I can wear 5” heels or Hokas. That is it. They are like medicine for my body.

Only Hoka cliftons work for me. The other styles are terrible on my back and feet. And they come out with a new style of clifton every two years. Version 4 sucked and one other version. When the version works for me I buy six pairs at a time to last in case the next version sucks.

If you buy Hokas directly from them online you can return 30 days for full refund.They can be totally beat up and youll get your money back.

No shoe is going to work for everyone. Hokas have allowed me to seriously cut back on pain meds and Im grateful for them.

I am not a foot, shoe, or muscle expert. But I've always been really skeptical of the new "concepts" that I see come out in athletic shoes. The ones that spring to mind are "barefoot" and "zero drop". I run regularly (modest mileage, not marathon-level) and I know my feet are very picky about what feels comfortable and what doesn't. I will get intense foot pain in some shoes and not in others. Sadly if I don't find a running-friendly company that will let me try them out on a treadmill, I won't know until I take them out for a run or two. And then I might have wasted over a hundred dollars. I also learned that for me, even weight lifting requires good shoe support or I'll end up with plantar fasciitis. I do also find myself at times getting leg or more often foot cramps from what seems to be an electrolyte imbalance.

I have Hokas, but I do not like the squishy ones. I don't run, so I have the Solimar which is more of a cross trainer/gym shoe. I like them for Zumba, walking, and weight training.

Hmm....just purchased a pair of Hoka's (not sure which mocel) a couple of months ago but have not worn them yet. Will now take note of any leg/back discomfort sooner rather than later. They were pretty comfy in the store which is why I chose them even though I don't like how they look. Fingers crossed.

I've been wearing Nike Air Max Plus or Torch 4 ( Link ) for years. I also have Asics Gel Nimbus, Asics Gel Venture, then several walking shoes in bright white....Nike & Asics. I LOVE my Hokas. Hokas are lighter weight.

Martinca I'm sorry your Hoka's didn't work out.

I found my Hokas to be so incredibly comfortable until they weren’t. Donated them.

I now wear shoes from an online shoe company, Kuru, which popped up in my feed after searching for solutions to newly developed Achilles tendinitis. Given their positive reviews, free shipping and returns, and 45 day trial period, I felt they were worth trying. My feet were instantly so much happier! Of the six styles I tried, I kept four. We’ve been traveling for several weeks with two left to go. Although the tendinitis is still present it is very slight and hasn’t impaired our active schedule. I don’t even need my Good Feet arch supports when I wear the Kurus, a first in 15 years. When I spoke with a customer service rep, it was explained to me that their shoes are designed with heel, arch and metatarsal support in mind (much less pain in my heels), as well as lateral stability. I can definitely notice the latter. HTH someone as they’ve been a game changer for me.

All running shoes come with a "heel-to-toe drop" number but you do have to know to ask what the heel drop is on a particular shoe and you have to hope that the sales clerk knows what that means and what the number is.

It also helps to know what the current heel drop number is for the running shoes that you normally wear. If you know the make and model of the shoe you can google it.

For eg - I have been running for decades and it turns out that heel drop was never a thing to consider until the last couple of decades. (for recreational runners)

I bought new running shoes (I run trail so requirements are a little different) and my new shoes wound up leading to pulled hamstrings. Turns out I was always running on shoes with a 10mm heel drop and my new shoes were a 7mm which puts the heel a little lower which will pull on the hamstrings and often calf muscles. That big of a change will cause issues for anyone. Lots of people wear shoes with much lower drops but they usually are younger than me and started running when the style of shoe changed.

The lowest drop I can wear is an 8mm without leading to issues.

Anyway - all that to say that you might want to compare your heel drops of your current running shoes and your new Hokas. A lot of Hokas are in the 4-5 mm range which I could never wear without creating issues. A few come in the 8-10 mm range.

Hokas are what helped cause my terrible ankle sprain last year. I’m still in a boot and recovering from major surgery to repair my peroneal tendon and ligaments on 2/28. My orthopedic surgeon says Hokas should be banned. For me, they certainly are.

I used to get horrible lower leg (calf) cramps that seemed to last an excruciatingly long time and were near-parallelizing. I would bite down on my finger for distraction from the pain.

I gave this situation some thought and began doing simple stretches for my Achilles tendon(s). I do these regularly and have even come up with a few shortcuts or modifications. Thankfully, I rarely get those legs cramps now. Maybe some of you might benefit from these simple stretches. Begin gently and do not ”bounce.” Even just extending my toes while lying in bed is helpful.

Here is an illustration.

PS I don’t believe there is enough quinine in tonic water to benefit or harm.

Some people think they need to take magnesium supplements. I’ll bet most of us get sufficient dietary magnesium, and that while it may sound like a quick fix, I suspect it is a bit woo. Eat some pumpkin seeds if you really want more magnesium. (There are many other foods rich in magnesium.)

PPS When you do the stretch, go slowly. When you feel the stretch, pause and hold until you feel it relax. Go a bit more and hold, Then slowly release and relax. Alternate legs. (The leg outstretched is the one being worked, obviously.)

This is not to be construed as medical advice.

I mostly used my Hokas for long walks with dogs on asphalt, but then started doing dirt trails with steep hills and the Hokas were too unstable and slippery for that, so I switched to a hiking sneaker. By then the Hokas had plenty of miles on them and got thrown out. I rarely wear sneakers when I'm not doing some type of exercise.

I love my Hokas for running, and I reserve them for that activity (I also run almost exclusively on the HS track or the mulch path in the park).

I've been happy with other brands - Asics and Adidas particularly, and currently have an Asics pair that I wear for walks and other outings. I'd say that the Adidas Response that I trained and ran my 1st half marathon in (20 years ago) has been my favorite ever - but that model isn't the same for me now.

I also love Keds, and have several different colors and designs. I have a pair of black, suede looking (model might have been "Swifty") that I wore all through my trip to Israel - lots of walking, uneven pavement at times, and they were comfortable and supportive - even with my past history of plantar fasciitis x2, I had no issues.

Their classic Champions are fine & I have several for fun, but I prefer the slightly chunkier looking - I guess currently called or similar to the "Center". I had a pair that were styled rather like a hiking sneaker of the day (in looks, not construction) that I loved and literally wore to bits. Long ago!

Unfortunately my feet seem to be getting wider, and I need to cull my Keds collection because many are starting to be too tight across the forefoot.

I have started having ankle stiffness and pain, calf tightness, legs aching really bad and Charlie horses waking me up. I have had my Hokas about 6 months. I bought them because my feet bother me and I have plantar fasciitis. I have not noticed any positive difference in my foot discomfort I have wearing shoes and now I'm having worse foot pain and now ankle and calf pain. I will be switching shoes. I did better in New Balance.

I see this is an old thread but I had a question I thought was worth asking, do you think that a shoe that is substantially different from other shoes (like the deep squishy Hoka sole) might have your body use muscles it doesn't usually use?

I have never worn Hokas (Nike fan). A friend has had all kinds of problems with her feet. She had been wearing Hokas. Her doc said, they are the worst, too squishy, not enough support. Once she stopped wearing hers her feet got better.

I never bought into the Hoka craze. We have a good friend who owns a nice shoe store to help people keep their healthy feet and to help with those who have problem feet-he wouldn't sell Hokas. He also said told me years ago that people (mostly girls/women at the time) wearing flip flops kept him in business-they were so bad for your feet causing plantar fasciitis. Of course, a lot of flip flops are better-made now.

I’m glad this thread resurfaced. DH and I will be doing a little trail-walking soon and will need new appropriate shoes. A friend whose son is on the AT right now says he suggests Hokas. But now I think I will go more traditional.

The ”squishy” part concerns me. I recently bought some Skechers Slip Ins and while they are quite comfy for walking around, and okay for walking my <2mi concrete walk, they are not at all good for standing around in. Not enough support wrapping the foot, and the sole is squishy, so I use more muscles, more work. I have a rehearsal where I’m standing for nearly three hours plus time walking, and I’m going back to my Clarks for that.