How to Buy the Best Shoes

Never have shoes been more fashionable than they are now. In part, because shoes today are economically viable. In past centuries, shoes were only available to the upper classes. Those who were really rich were able to slip their feet into exquisite handmade slippers.

So when the industrial revolution came and mass production took over, shoes were easier to gel as people just walked into stores and bought them off a rack.

Now you can literally have one pair for every mood you are in. Manufacturer's try and appeal to this. Julia Pine, acting curator for the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto says that shoe manufacturers "constantly introduce change" in the footwear industry, not because it is an artistic thing, but because "people are conditioned to having what is most up to date," she said.

Dr. Hartley Miltchin, a doctor of Podiatric Medicine agrees.

"When it comes to fashion, most women will put aside comfort for vanity," he said. "They would rather suffer the dis­comfort and look good rather than feel comfortable."

The downside is, it can cause all kinds of problems.

But "buying the most expensive shoe doesn't necessarily mean you are getting the best shoe," says Dr. Miltchin. The reason he says is that there are certain shoes that make more sense than others. So why buy a $400 pair of shoes when a $150 pair will do?

Dr. Miltchin believes that people should wear shoes appropriate for what ever activity they are doing. So, if you plan on going hiking for the day then you wear a hiking boat; if you want to jog then you would wear a jogging shoe and so on.

"There should not be one universal shoe like the cross-trainer for all sports or activities," says Dr. Miltchin. "In fact, I find the cross-trainer isn't sufficient at all."

So what should people look for before buying their shoes?

Certainly a good fit is at the top of the list. Light weight is also always important because the heavier the shoe, the more stress you put on your lower body. Shoes should also be flexible under the ball of the foot. Finally, people should be looking for shoes with good shock absorption.

"Men or women who wear shoes that have leather soles are basically walking on concrete," says Dr. Miltchin. "They are too hard, which not only puts stress on the feet and knees, but also on the lower back."

It's best to check a pair of shoes for all of these requirements before you buy them, rather than find out what you're missing when your feet are swollen.

This is certainly true in the case of wearing high heels for which Dr. Miltchin says aggravates a lot of the foot's existing problems.

For example, a woman who has a bunion on her foot should not wear high heels, especially on a day to day basis., The bunion is going to get bigger and more sore in high heels than if she stuck to wearing flats.

High heels also put additional stress on the ball of the foot. They also tend to be narrower than flatter shoes.

"My analogy is this," says Dr. Miltchin of high heels, "if you look at your toes as cars, then you are putting five of them into a four car parking spot."

A flatter shoe just makes more sense. For one thing, says Dr. Miltchin, a woman may not always want to wear a heel. However, if she has been accustomed to doing so, what happens is her Achilles tendon, which is the strongest tendon in the human body, will shorten and become accustomed to that position. If she decides to switch to a flatter shoe, then the change could become very painful and aggravat­ing for her because the tendon is now in a stretched position.

If you like to wear a heel, Dr. Miltchin suggests you wear one that is no higher than 1 1/2 inches.

"I get the shivers when a woman tells me she has to wear high heels," says Dr. Miltchin. "I always ask why? At work is there some sort of regulation that says you have to?"

Another important point for people to consider is the size of their shoes. Not all shoe sizes are created equal. So if you think you are an SB, that's a good place to start when asking to try on a shoe, but it doesn't necessarily mean you will walk out wearing one. An 8B in a Nike running shoe may not be the same as an 8B in a Naturalizer', so you have to try them on.

As, a podiatrist, Dr. Miltchin says that 80 per cent of his patients are female. The reason lies in the shoes peo­ple are wearing. Men's shoes tend to be more roomy and fit properly. As a result, they have less prob­lems with their feet.

Women on the other hand ignore their feet more.

"If they have a bunion, they watch it grow over the years," says Dr. Miltchin, "But if that same bump was growing on their face, then they would be at their doctor's office the very same day."

What he would like to see more peo­ple do is have their feet looked at on a reg­ular basis, just to make sure everything is functioning properly.

"Feet take a lot of abuse," Dr. Miltchin says. "They are very tiny bones. Like everything else, if they are not treated proper­ly eventually there's going to be some wear and tear."

Amazing Feets

• The average person walks the equivalent of three-and-a-half times around the earth in a life­time
• One quarter of all the bones in the human body are found In the feet.
• The average person takes 9,000 steps per day.
• Women are four times as likely to develop foot trouble as men.
• North Americans spend almost $18-bil-lion a year on footwear.
• The average North American buys five pairs of shoes per year.
• Eight pairs of ruby slippers were made for Judy I Garland when she played Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz; the last pair to be auctioned sold for $165,000.
• The original version of the Cinderella story features a fur slipper instead of a glass one. The confusion arose in the similarity of a French word for white fur (vair), which resembled the word for glass (verre).

December 2000 by Hartley Miltchin, D.P.M.