Apostherapy: Shoes for pain

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A recent report shows more than 1.5 billion people worldwide suffer from chronic pain. Many of them will have to undergo invasive surgeries or take powerful drugs to ease the ache. Now there's a therapy new to the U.S. for people with back, hip, or knee pain, and it all starts with a pair of shoes.

They're not your average sneakers. For 57-year-old Candelaria, these shoes are the secret to pain relief. Candelaria told ABC30, "They put the shoes on and it was like magic, I could not believe it."

Candelaria's pain started after she fell during her pregnancy. First it was knee pain, then hip and lower back pain.

"It got to the point where the pain became excruciating and unbearable," Candelaria explained.

She tried everything to avoid a knee replacement, but nothing helped, until apostherapy.

Apostherapy was developed in Israel in the 1990s. It doesn't require specific exercises. Instead, personally calibrated mechanical pods are placed on the bottom of shoes to re-align the patient's knees, hips and back.

Nina Cha, PT, DPT, Physical Therapist of AposTherapy NY told ABC30, "What we do is we can calibrate according to what we know that the body is trying to resist certain forces or shift certain things away from pain."

The goal is to retrain the brain and muscles to walk in a way that takes pressure off painful areas.

David Levy, MD, Global Chief Executive Officer of AposTherapy NY explained, "It creates what the founders call perturbation, a little bit of instability so that your whole body learns and relearns how to walk and how to position itself."

The program lasts a year with patients wearing the shoes for about an hour a day. So far no studies have been done in the U.S. to prove its effectiveness but patients like Candelaria say they've seen the results.

"I have regained who I am," Candelaria told ABC30.

Apostherapy isn't cheap. It costs about $5,250 for one year and isn't covered by insurance in the U.S. Right now it's available in the New York City area, but the company does plan to expand around the country.

For more information, contact:

Jamie Bryant
Director of Provider Relations
AposTherapy New York, NY
jamieb@apostherapy.com