Look Down Before It Starts To Hurt!

Do you sometimes get sore feet? If your feet hurt then you will stop walking and exercising and that will affect your health. It is important to wear the right shoes and worth the time and money to pick them properly so they don’t injure your feet.

Tendons, muscles, and ligaments in your feet stretch as you age and this makes your foot wider. Sometimes they even get a bit longer and the pads at the bottom thin with age. So every time you buy shoes you need to perhaps measure your feet and as you age look for shoes that will cushion your feet to absorb shock. One foot is usually larger than the other so it’s important to measure both.

You also need to work out if you have low arches, high arches, neutral arches or flat feet. If you already have pain anywhere like in the heels, knees or in your back then you need to look for shoes that support and you will need a softer, wide shoe if you have bunions or other pains in your toes like arthritis or gout. It is also important to think about what the shoes are for as sometimes you need better traction. Do you walk a lot? Then maybe you should consider wearing proper walking shoes to work and changing into something more fashionable when you get there.

It is important to go to the proper store for the type of shoe you want. Obviously you will buy differently for a wedding than you will for bush walking. In a good shoe store you can rely on the trained salesperson to assist you in the correct fit because there are so many shoes out there it is easy to get confused. It is important to not wear the same shoes you wear for basketball for plain walking as walking shoes are made for a back to front movement while shoes for the court are made for sideways movements and quick stops.

As a rule rigid soles are the best but they need to be flexible in other places to protect the foot. It is important to buy the right size which means that you need to account for the difference in brands and where they are made. Go by how they feel on your feet not the fact that you may be a standard 7 or 8 shoe and they need to fit the shape of your foot. Also there should be enough room for you to wiggle your toes – about the distance of your thumb from the front of the shoe so you have a bit of room but not so much that your feet slide round.

It is important to shoe shop wearing the type of socks or inserts you use normally. The socks and shoes should fit snugly but not tight so buy shoes towards the end of the day as your feet may have swollen by then and this needs to be taken into account. The socks you buy should provide padding and comfort and keep your feet dry.

You also need to make sure the shoes are wide enough across because often shoes don’t stretch and will only damage your feet. This means it becomes important to go for a walk in the shoes round the shop making sure they fit well and don’t slip in the back.

Whilst you may be wondering why I have spent a whole article talking about your feet and buying the right shoes just try wearing the wrong shoes for a couple of hours and you will know. Everything from aching feet and muscle cramps to varicose veins, bad circulation and arthritis developing over time which makes this an important topic.