A week or so ago, I went to a foot doctor for athlete's foot. During my visit, I also learned about things that should be taken into consideration for foot-wear:
heel strength
Grasp the heel portion of a shoe. Squeeze. There should be little give here. A stiff-heeled shoe, compared to a floppy, soft-heeled shoe, helps prevent rolling ankles. For added heel, anti-roll-your-ankle strength, look for a shoe with something called anti-pronation. That is, the shoe will typically have a darker (typically gray) color on the rubber on the inside of the heel. This added stiffness helps further reduce the likelihood of rolling ankles.
sole stiffness
Grasp the toe and heel portion of the shoe. Try to twist the shoe. The sole should only allow a minimal amount of warp. If you can turn the toe and heel perpendicular to one another, you're in trouble. A stiffer sole helps prevent damaging your feet by running on steeply uneven surfaces.
If you've got less than normal arches in your feet, check out Super-feet. This arch supports are what the doctor recommended. He said the other stuff, particularly mention Dr. Scholl's, just don't cut it. "Basically garbage" is what I remember him saying. When running, about three times your body weight's worth of force is brought down on the arch of your foot. Now arch supports don't sound so bad!
Also, the doctor said, addressing running shoes (and thus all other shoes involving faster-than-walking activity), "Get shoes with at least an inch of free space."
Though Now We Weep
9 years ago
