Can shoes be transformational? OESHers say yes! Since 2011 we’ve designed and made shoes not according to fad but according to honest, peer-reviewed medical research. Every decision at OESH, beginning with our flat springy sole, is made with long-term health and wellness in mind. That means we eliminate ill-gotten traditions like heel elevation. We also leave out harmful features used throughout the industry to try to make your foot look narrower than it actually is. The result is footwear that, for the first time, works with rather than against you. OESH design celebrates your inner beauty and strength, and promotes your long-term health and wellness.

Casey’s grandmother struggled to walk just because of the shoes she wore her whole life. When Casey ran track in high school and college, she felt all women’s shoes, not just dress shoes, weren’t healthy.

After studying all that was known about human movement and the effects of shoes on health in medical school, residency (in physical medicine and rehabilitation) and graduate school (in kinesiology), she began researching on her own, with 3D motion and force plate analysis, human movement and the effects of women’s shoes on the body. 

Casey’s peer-reviewed published research began at Harvard Medical School, where she received her M.D. It then continued at the University of Virginia (UVa) where she directed one of the most advanced 3D human movement laboratories in the world. Her research showed that the common features standard to virtually all women’s shoes from high heels and low heels to clogs and running shoes abnormally increase impact on the joints in the body. 

This research, corroborated by others, helps explain why women have twice the incidence compared to men of disabling foot and knee issues. It’s been recognized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation and universities around the world. Numerous press outlets including the New York Times, Time Magazine and a full feature segment on ABC’s 20/20 covered Casey’s research. 

By this time, Casey knew how to make shoes that were healthy. Thus she became increasingly frustrated with the fact that most of her women patients had disabling conditions that she could attribute to a lifetime of poor footwear options. 

Not able to find a shoe company that was willing to make the shoes she envisioned, Casey built a factory of her own. 

The result?

OESH Shoes.