Investing in a good pair of shoes is a smart move – but only if you don’t let them get too old. You need to think about the work they do for you and how much time they need to recover to be at their best.
With older shoes, you need to be extra cautious. Keep in mind that the soles of your shoes last longer than their cushion; just because your soles aren’t worn out, doesn’t mean your shoes are in an adequate condition to ensure they keep absorbing shocks and protecting joints. The risk you take walking in an out-of-shape pair of shoes is that those shoes mislead your foot, put your posture out of alignment and your gait out of balance. All this in turn can damage your body.
PURCHASING SHOES
The shoes you buy are important. Some people like to change their shoes often, which is a strategy with many advantages, but not if you opt for style over support, or if you tend to choose cheaper shoes.
The thing about trying not to spend too much money on a product is that the consumer accepts it will likely have a short lifespan. The manufacturers know this, and they adapt their production costs accordingly, dragging down the quality of your footwear, which is concerning because shoes are the first point of support for your whole body. Light, soft and minimalistic shoes are the cheapest to produce and, therefore, the cheapest to buy, but the reduction in support for your feet means the risk of damage to your body is increased.
Just because you’re paying a reasonable sum of money for your shoes doesn’t mean they’re good shoes. Look out for defects at the point of purchase:
Asymmetry around the heel counter (the support at the back of the heel of the shoe). This will negatively affect your alignment, balance and posture.
A sharp spur sticking out. This might simply hurt or, more seriously, harm you, potentially being a source of infection and leading to an antalgic gait (aka a limp).
Excess of glue. Besides the aesthetic issue, this weakens the shoe and leads to uneven wear and tear, significantly reducing the lifetime of your shoes.
RETIRING SHOES
Wear and tear is inevitable, but there’s no need to be concerned until a few critical points are reached.
Shoes or heel counter out of shape.
A foot that rolls inward as you move (overpronates) or supinates (rolls the other way) will show over time, on the shoe heel, the toe box or on the whole shoe. This is unacceptable and a sign the shoes are damaging your body. Get rid of those shoes! Get rid of them even if you are having orthotics made because a pair of orthotics placed in a pair of shoes that are out-of-shape and that mislead your foot will simply not work – they will be uncomfortable and they will wear out more quickly.
Tip: Use a wooden shoe tree
Heel has worn to a sloping edge on the outside.
As we are meant to walk ‘slightly duck-toed’, i.e., with feet pointing outwards with a 7-to-12-degree angle (Fick angle), it is completely normal that the back of your shoes’ soles appear bevelled on the outside corner of the heel.
If you plan to resole a pair of shoes, make sure you have this done once the first layer of the heel is worn. If you leave it too long this can affect your knees, increase any existing pronation and impact your joints all the way up.
Tip: Wear more than one pair of shoes in rotation, to give the material some rest.
A smooth tread (the part of the shoes that contacts the ground)
This is unacceptable, quite simply because it increases your risk of slipping and falling on wet floors, mud, loose gravel, etc.
Dirty or soaking wet.
Those won’t damage your body but, shoes are dirtier than a toilet seat. In 2020, a study led by researchers at the University of Arizona found nine different species of bacteria on the shoes of participants. Over the course of two weeks, researchers discovered 440,000 units of bacteria on a single pair of shoes. At any given time, millions of bacteria live in our shoes, along with fungi and moulds. Bacteria like E. coli are extremely common on the outside of the shoes.
So, you simply need to clean your shoes, but avoid using a washing machine or tumble dryer as said shoes could shrink or bend at high temperatures or the glue could unstick with the amount of water used.
Tips: (1) Stuff your wet shoes with newspaper to adsorb the water, drying them naturally around a decent shape. (2) Store them in a dry place.
Shoes that have become rigid due to sticking mud.
Cleaning your shoes after a muddy run or hike is a bit like cleaning your barbecue immediately after use – easier to do and you’ll keep both for longer.
The materials used to make the upper of your shoes are supposed to give so that your feet feel comfortable and so the shoes can adapt to your foot shape and flex. The alternative is them becoming a source of inflammation, corns and/or blisters for the skin on your feet.
Don’t be fooled by appearances
Even if the shoe treads look good, that doesn’t mean the cushion hasn’t gone. The shoes might look alright from above when you look down at your feet, but if you check them on a flat surface from behind, you will realise that this posture is what people see when they follow you.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Shoes are our body’s biggest support. We need them in their best shape to live our best life or, in fact, to live our life at our best – both pain-free and injury-free. Every pair of shoes we wear needs to be in good condition. Consult a biomechanics professional if you have any concerns.
By Christophe Champs, an expert in Biomechanics and founder of PODO Clinic
Featured Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash
