Comments on: X-Ray Shoe-Fitting Machine

By: Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 00:45:32 +0000

And I’m so glad for you! There are so many things we all did that we now know were highly dangerous…I’m glad this one worked out well for you. Thanksfor posting.

Kate

By: Reita Duke Novkov

Reita Duke Novkov — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 23:09:29 +0000

My dad was a clerk in a shoe store in the early 1950’s for about a year. My mom would pick him up from work every night and my brother and I would accompany her. We xrayed our feet every evening. It was our entertainment while my dad finished up. Amazing that neither of us has had thyroid cancer!

By: Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 23:10:17 +0000

In reply to Warren Beecroft.

Hi
I’m almost your age, and I think we’ve all been exposed to things that may not have been good for us. I, too, remember using a fluoroscope. I am sorry you’ve had a rcurrence of prostate cancer, and I hope they’ve stopped it this time. I think there are a lot of questions medicine still needs to answer. Thank you for posting, and I wish you all the best. (You might ask your oncologist…)

By: Warren Beecroft

Warren Beecroft — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 15:13:21 +0000

Hi there
I’m from Australia and have been viewing articles related to the subject of fluoroscopes used in shoe fitting back in the fifties.
I’m 77 years old and remember the fascination of going to our local shoe shop in McHughs shoe shop in Balmain, Sydney.with my mother and younger brother so we could use the X-ray machine to look at our feet.
Cut to 2018 and I needed a bone scan related to prostate cancer and it revealed some form of curious activity in my feet which no one could explain. I am also being treated for a ingrown and distorted toenail on my left big toe. I have in 2024 undergone 32 episodes of beam radiation therapy on my prostate bed for recurrence of prostate cancer and am awaiting the outcome from my oncologist in 2 weeks. From comment here I now wonder whether my childhood exposure to this radiation might be interrelated to my present health issues.

By: Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:07:35 +0000

In reply to Duncan Sutherland.

Interesting question…I don’t know! It seems possible…

Kate

By: Duncan Sutherland

Duncan Sutherland — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 18:32:20 +0000

is it possible that use of the machines damaged toenails?

By: Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:43:18 +0000

In reply to Damian Sinclair. Thank you for posting, and I'm very sorry for your friend. No one knew these were dangerous. One fellow told me how he and his friends ran home from school with a stop at the shoe store to look at their feet. And doing the researach made me think of the employees who worked in that environment. As you say, thank goodness we have more awareness now.

By: Damian Sinclair

Damian Sinclair — Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:38:50 +0000

My former chiropractor and close friend of my family (who sadly passed away last year) used one of these machines in his youth. A few years back his right leg had to be amputated from the knee down, and he wore a prosthetic since. The doctor stated it was cause of the old Buster Brown shoe machine he used as a kid that attributed to it. I forget what it was exactly but I believe the tissue in his leg started to die and they couldn’t save it. I was reading up on-line about how the data from the use of these machines can’t really be attributed to that many complications from the lack of records. I’m just glad today there are more safeguards in place for radiation. Today, even the smallest radiological incidents are registered and recorded for study.
Very interesting read, thank you!

By: Kate Kelly

Kate Kelly — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 16:18:52 +0000

In reply to Glenda Goddard. I'm sorry you couldn't afford the Buster Browns, but hats off to your mother for figuring out a way to get the correct size so you could go shop elsewhere. I've taken my grandkids for shoes, and it is the rare shoe store where they actually understand how to measure for footware. The X-ray machine had its problems, but your mom had a good way of solving her dilemma. Thanks for posting!

By: Glenda Goddard

Glenda Goddard — Tue, 03 Oct 2023 04:23:47 +0000

I remember this machine in the buster brown shoe store in hillsboro oregon. .my mom took us there ever year and we tryed on shoe and put are feet in machine to see how they fit. But we never did get to buy any because we didn’t have money. But mom really wanted to see if two of my toes had bones in them. As I had two toes grown together..
We went to other store and got new shoe that we could afford. And we already knew are correct size.