My feet ache...Why shoes are important.

Every day, I have patients come into my office with vague foot and ankle pain. In many cases, there are actual structural issues that are causing the pain: bunions, hammer toes, flat feet, high arches, etc. However, to compound the problem, the patients are frequently wearing the wrong shoes. What do I mean by wrong shoes? Shoes that can be twisted, rolled into a ball, bent in half, or that have heels that I can compress or bend are often the wrong type of shoes for foot and ankle pain. These shoes are also not ideal for any type of foot, as they can lead to foot and ankle issues down the road, and this is especially important with growing children. Certain shoes do not support the foot and allow it to function efficiently. Additionally, they can cause structures to be overused or strained, and this can lead to inflammation of tendons, muscles, fascia (often, heel pain) and nerves, and this can result in pain. Patients can develop stress fractures of bones due to improper shoe gear choices, as well. Some of these issues can be chronic and recurrent if the same bad shoes are selected day after day. This is obviously, a tricky problem for working professionals, but supportive shoes with or without a custom orthotic device can help with foot pain. Foot pain? Give us a call, 708-763-0580, or schedule on oakparkpodiatry.com or zocdoc.