Those fancy socks....

Um, they hurt. But yes, I have heard they are a good thing although NO ONE I know wears the darn things. I say spend your $$ on a good pair of shoes and buy some nice athletic socks. When you grad, look into the granny-socks.

YES...You should invest but I would suggest support hose instead of socks. I was a flight attendant for 12 years before going back to school and I wore them while I flew. I could tell the difference in my legs when I wore them and when I didnt. Trust me you be happy years down the road to after standing on your feet after 12 hrs for all those years. You'll have nice legs. Alos to note..One pair would last me a long time. Just hand wash and hang to dry.

You can also get them cheaper, like at Walmart. But, yes, I have heard that they are worth the investment, and will make your legs and feet hurt much, much less than without them.

When I was in nursing school (1983) our instructor would line us up before clinical-not everyday, just randomly-and snap our hose to make sure they were support hose, we were "required" to wear them!! No, I don't wear them today. And I'm so old now, if someone snapped my hose, I'd probably slap them-ah, the sweet nursing school memories.

LOL! Read my post about Cankles... YES, wear them. I'm in perfectly fine health, exercise and play sports, and after having been out of nursing school and worked in a variety of fields, I am all of a sudden experiencing bilateral ankle edema that my FNP blames on a) being on my feet a lot as a nurse and b) sitting on my butt for 8 hours at a time during nursing education days. I'm only 26, and I'm investing in some nice support hose, and I'm sure I'll look like a total dork (if people even notice that I have them on), but I won't have the track marks on the backs of my legs that I've seen on a lot of my older nurse friends' legs!

Take care of your self starting in nursing school so you can truly ENJOY retirement years and years later!!

Gotta - I wear these knee highs from Nursemates. I don't have any problems with ankle edema, but figure an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!!

http://www.allheart.com/nm881613.html

Make sure you're buying a good brand at WalMart. One of my physicians specifically told me NOT to go to WalMart to buy them. No sense saving a buck or two if they won't do you any good.

I bought some NurseMates support hose and the trouser socks. Some of them are really tight at the top and I don't know if I'll be able to hack it in those, but the others were okay and felt just like knee-high pantyhose. I also bought some of the full support pantyhose by NurseMates for the days when we have class off campus and have to wear professional dress.

I'd rather spend the money on support hose now than on vericose vein removal later and I've also heard that your feet aren't so darn tired when you wear them.

I work 16 hour shifts. If I don't wear my support hose, my feet are so swollen that my shoes won't fit properly anymore. When I wear them, my feet and legs feel wonderful, and I can escape any type of pain even after the 16 hours has elapsed. I recommend that you invest in 1 or 2 pairs of good support hose. Personally, I have several pairs of TED hose that were manufactured by Kendall.