Whether you're walking around your house or racking up miles outdoors, the shoes you wear can impact your entire body. However, people often choose their footwear with little thought beyond price or appearance. But, the right shoes can play an essential role in helping you feel your best, perform in peak condition, and avoid injuries.
Our skilled podiatrists at Advanced Care Foot and Ankle in Corona and Ontario, California, know that choosing the right footwear can seem confusing, but they can guide you through all your options. Here’s why it’s time to pay more attention to your shoes.
It’s easy to overlook the importance of our feet. However, they provide the very foundation for our entire body, and they support each of our movements — a concept known as biomechanics.
Biomechanics deals with the external and internal forces of the human body and how they affect it as a whole. More simply put, each movement your foot makes when you walk impacts other areas of your body.
As a result, if your footwear doesn’t provide the proper support, your feet can’t function correctly. In turn, this can throw off the rest of your body, which can lead to imbalances that trigger pain, areas of weakness, and increased risk for injury. And going barefoot can cause similar issues, because the foot needs support to function.
On the other hand, wearing the right footwear can help your feet function properly. This, in turn, can increase your comfort, help you avoid damage and injury, and allow you to go farther and faster for longer periods.
Whether you wear a $2 pair of flip-flops or $200 brand-name heels, wearing the wrong footwear can force your body into unnatural positions, which may affect your joints, tendons, and ligaments. And, wearing the wrong shoes can affect more than just your feet.
Common shoe-related injuries include:
Wearing the wrong footwear can even increase your risk for injuries related to falling or tripping. Furthermore, wearing improper footwear can be extremely dangerous for people with diabetes and other circulatory conditions. This is because these disorders can affect foot sensation, so even minor irritation from a poorly fitting shoe could turn into a serious and life-threatening problem before it gets noticed.
As podiatrists, we know that choosing the right shoes can seem overwhelming. There are many options for every activity you can imagine. However, there are some general guidelines that can help simplify the process.
When choosing a shoe, look for the following:
You should also choose shoes for specific activities, especially if you participate in sports, and you should replace them regularly. In many cases, you can check your shoes for wear. However, some shoes can cause pain before obvious signs of wear occur. This can often be the case with running shoes, which should get replaced every 350-500 miles.
Our team can make personalized recommendations for the best shoes based on your individual needs. We can even create custom orthotics to ensure you get the right support for your body.
Are you wearing the right shoes? Don’t put your health and wellness at risk. We can evaluate your feet and posture and discuss how you can get the right support for your feet. To learn more, book an appointment online or over the phone with Advanced Care Foot and Ankle today.