Buyers Guide to Foot Wear
5/1/2007
The Situation
A lot of teens find themselves in jobs where they must stand all day -- they may be a cashier at a grocery store, a clerk at a clothing store, a stock person at a department store, a hamburger flipper at a fast food place. These types of jobs can be tough on the feet - if they aren't properly attired. Here's some information on what types of shoes you can wear on the job if you want to avoid sore feet.
Your Poor Feet "Your feet are probably the most overused and under appreciated parts of your body. They're certainly among the most complex - with 52 bones (26 bones per foot), 38 muscles, more than 200 ligaments and thousands of nerve endings per pair."
- Women's Wear Daily, September '94 (confirmed with a Podiatrist)
"The feet are the most used and abused parts of the body," Dr. Koven told us. If your feet hurt, every step can be an assault. Your feet have to last you a lifetime, so you should take care of them.
When You Work Long Hours Standing for long periods of time on hard surfaces puts a lot of stress on your feet. It also puts stress on your knees and lower back. But basically, the main problem you'll have will be "foot fatigue" or tired feet. Our feet were not meant to stand on hard surfaces or concrete floors all day. These types of surfaces are unyielding and offer no relief for the foot. If someone is required to stand on their feet all day they have to be very careful about what types of shoes they wear.
According to one of the Podiatrists we spoke with, the worse case scenario involves the cashier who is stationary for her/his whole work shift. Standing in one place is harder on your feet than walking. The feet and legs don't move. Standing in one place all day is a very abnormal activity for the feet - our feet are designed to take us places - and standing affects our feet negatively.
Note: Whether or not you get more serious foot problems (than tired feet) depends a lot on the type of feet you have to start with, and your family history. Genetics account for a number of predispositions toward foot problems. We inherit bone structure, and if your mother or father have a history of mal-alignment of the joints and muscles and foot problems then it's quite possible that you'll have some too...
Put Your Foot Down: What to Look For in Footwear
"...the foot's worst enemy is usually the shoe..."
- Women's Wear Daily, Sept. '94
The best advice for anyone, according to Dr. Miltchin, is to get a shoe that absorbs shock. When you walk, you strike the ground with a certain amount of force (a little bit more than your body weight) and that force is felt all the way up the body and into the spine. Your feet absorb this shock, particularly your heels. To prevent this force from injuring feet, legs and joints, you should wear a shoe that does some of the work of absorbing this shock. A good shoe for working long shifts will have shock-absorbing material in the heel and forefoot.
How do you evaluate this in a shoe? Dr. Miltchin says "A good shock absorbing shoe should feel like you're walking on air, nice and light and comfortable..". Dr. Koven said there should be a little bounce to the heel when you walk. A shock absorbing sole can be made of a number of materials including rubber and crepe. Most athletic shoes provide shock-absorbing soles.
Dr. Wong-Sing says the shoes you wear on the job should be firm and supportive. There should be some rigidity in the shoe.
We like Dr. Koven's test for assessing whether shoes will be good ones for those working long hours on their feet:
Test #1
Take your shoe, put it in two hands - the toe in one hand and the heel in the other. Push your hands together as if you were going to clap. If you can push your two hands together, it's not a good shoe. If you can bend it a little that's good. The sole of the shoe should be flexible enough to bend with the walking foot's rolling, heel-to-toe movement. The shoe should bend slightly around the toe area but if you can bend it easily in half it isn't going to give your foot much support at all.
Test #2
The "heel counter" which is the part of the shoe that raps around the heel of your foot, should be fairly rigid or stiff. The shoe should support the heel in the heel cup. To test this, hold the shoe in one hand, with your thumb on the bottom of the heel and your index finger on the upper-most part of the heel counter. Try to push your fingers together. If you can't that's good. If you can, that shoe is not going to provide your foot with much stability in the shoe. Good shoes will pass both of these tests, says Dr. Koven.
Most athletic shoes will pass these tests. A problem can be that many of the brandname running or athletic shoes are very expensive. You don't have to spend $150 for a good pair. Look for a less expensive athletic shoe, one that is reasonably priced -- one that has leather or canvass components (or man-made materials) and one that passes the two tests and the other requirements we have talked about.
Oxford type shoes are also good. Podiatrists used to recommend shoes made of natural materials like leather but now there are many synthetic materials that are just as good. The sneaker manufacturers have advanced a lot in this area, the Podiatrists told us.
A note on Doc Martins: Doc Martins were the original working shoe in England. They were designed to be firm. They are a very well made shoe. One Podiatrist said Doc Martins are a lot like the old orthopaedic shoe of years gone by. The sole is a good shock absorbing sole and the leather is prepared in such a way that it provides support for the foot. They tend to be very comfortable.
Dr. Miltchin recommends a good walking shoe because they are made with the same requirements a worker should be looking for in a shoe: they absorb shock well, are lightweight, the materials they are made of are "breathable" (allow for ventilation), and they have reinforcements on sides of the heels so that the foot doesn't wobble back and forth within the shoe.
Dr. Miltchin also likes the shoes made by the Roots company. They are well made and highly shock absorbing, but you don't have to spend that much to get a good shoe.
Dr. Wong-Sing said that laced shoes are better than slip-ons because they allow you to get the tensions adjusted correctly for your particular feet and provide you with more support. He doesn't recommend leaving sneakers untied.
Some Other Minor Considerations
Don't wear high heels if you are on your feet for long periods of time. Save them for special occasions.
The shoe should be made of materials that are breathable - allow for ventilation. Most athletic shoes take this into account. If a foot is completely enclosed, it heats up and that can cause some foot problems.
There shouldn't be any seams or roughness in the shoe that can irritate the foot.
When Shopping For Work Shoes Shop late in the day - The best time to purchase shoes is after you have been on your feet for awhile. Feet are a little bit larger at the end of the day then they are at the start. Why? As the day progresses feet tend to swell because gravity pulls the fluid in our body down to our feet. Also, as our activity level increases so does the swelling in our feet.
Wear the type of sock you intend to be wearing with those shoes when you try them on at the store.
Walk around in the shoes. Check for any tightness or rubbing. If the shoes don't fit when you try them on don't buy them, the Podiatrists told us. You cannot break them in.
Buy and wear the right sized shoes. Buy shoes that fit. (Seems obvious but some people don't always follow this rule...) Ill- fitting shoes can cause problems. If the shoe hurts in the store it will hurt later. Don't be a slave to fashion when it comes to shoes...
Shoe construction - make sure toes have room to spread naturally -the shoe should be roomy in the toe area when you're standing.
Ask the shoe clerk a lot of questions.
Day In, Day Out...
If you can don't wear the same footwear two days in a row. Why? We perspire in our shoes and it's a good idea to let the moisture, the perspiration in the fabric evaporate -- it will stop the growth of bacteria and odour. Let the air circulate in your shoes overnight or over a couple of days.
Other Helpful Things
If you are in this stationary/standing type of job such as cashier. Dr. Wong-Sing recommends that you walk around when you can, shift your weight around, go up on your toes, create some motion -- mobilize to get the blood flow going...in your legs and feet.
Socks Socks should be changed daily. (!) Socks made with natural fibres like cotton and wool are good. Natural fibres hold moisture and absorb it away from the skin. However, all of the doctors conceded that some new synthetic fibres are very good.
Rules About What You Can Wear at Work
There are dress codes at many work places. Most times you can get around that many times by getting an athletic shoe that is all black or in a solid colours. Probably most employers will allow conservative looking shoes. Old Shoes Should Retire Don't want to walk around with shoes that are worn out. Everything wears out eventually. There shouldn't be any holes or rips in your shoes. Some shoes will wear out in three or four months, some will take six months or a year to wear our. It depends a lot on the activities an individual is doing and the individual. Once the tread in the bottom of a shoe has worn a hole in the shoe it's time to get a new pair.
What if You Already Have Aching Feet? What do the Podiatrists think of over-the-counter foot soaks, epsom salts, etc.? If it feels good do it -- it's certainly not detrimental. You benefit in two ways 1) you feel a little better and 2) your feet are cleaner. They have no problem with them as long as you dry well and the soaking is not done in boiling water. The water should be warm to the touch...you don't want to burn your feet.
An Ending Thought
Feet are not supposed to hurt. They are supposed to take us from place to place. We use our hands the whole day, we use our bodies the whole day, we use our mouths the whole day, and they don't hurt. The same should be true of feet. Everyone thinks that it's okay if their feet hurt after a long day's work but it's not so. If your feet hurt at the end of the day that means something's wrong. Check the types of shoes you are wearing. If you have good shoes and your feet still hurt, go to see a foot specialist and have them checked out.
Sources:
Dr. Neil Koven, Podiatrist, Toronto
Dr. Wong-Sing, Podiatrist, Vancouver
Dr. Harley Miltchin, Podiatrist, Toronto
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