By no means should you sacrifice your comfort for the sake of fashion, but unfortunately, there are standards – in the shoe department specifically – that inherently come with some pain as a style tax.
You may be well aware of some of the basic shoe trends that are bad for your feet (including high heels), but what about other classic shoes, are they better or worse for your feet?
To classify the types of shoes that can cause the most pain and damage, American expert Benji Tehrani, from Kings Point Foot & Ankle Clinic, listed these models with the inherent danger when wearing them.
Benji ranked the basic shoes we all own from good to absolutely terrible!
Below is a ranking of shoe types from excellent to terrible.
1- Excellent: chunky sneakers
Benjy said: “Dad shoes are very popular now, and these shoes should be the best for your feet out of all the others. They offer excellent support, but make sure they are not too small. Outsoles are usually made of materials that provide more support for people who “Walk a lot or stand for hours at work.”
2- Great: ankle boots
The expert advises women: “Make sure to buy leather shoes if possible, as they will help protect against blisters, especially when you are wearing invisible socks. The reason I like these shoes is that the zippers usually found on ankle boots provide support in the ankle and bone joint area. “It is the joint below the ankle joint that helps keep our feet in the correct position.”
3- Good: Mules shoes
“Mules are very popular nowadays because they are comfortable to wear and their easy style makes them comfortable. I think there is support in the structure of the sole that is comfortable while walking or even working in the office,” he says.
Their comfort comes from the idea that there is no heel to put pressure on the feet, which explains why people love to wear them so often.
Because the heel height is low, this means less pressure is placed on the balls of the feet, resulting in less metatarsalgia, an inflammation of the ball of the foot that usually occurs due to excess pressure and tightness in the calf muscle.
4- Good: flip flops
Bungie considers them “not the best for your feet, but recently there have been several companies producing slippers with orthopedic styles, giving your feet the arch support they need daily.”
Bungee prefers flip-flops that have a supportive sole with a built-in orthotic that helps prevent excessive movement in the foot, which is important because the less movement we have in our feet and ankles, the less tendons and tissues are tired at the end of the day.
5- Not good: ballet shoes
“These shoes provide very little plantar fascia support, and fascia is the tissue that supports the feet while walking, and too much tension in the fascia can cause tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and even arthritis of the feet in the long run,” he assessed.
6- Definitely not good: stiletto heel shoes
“These shoes cause excessive plantar flexion in the ankle, which forces your foot to bend more, placing more load on the ball of the foot, which can cause metatarsalgia,” Bunge said.
Wearing them for hours at a time causes the toes to contract together. This causes bunions and hammertoes.
If you’re going to wear high heels, wear heels that have side ridges, so you can at least put footbeds in them and give your feet the support they deserve.
Bunji advises choosing a heel that fits you well, does not put strong pressure on the big toe, and provides support in the area around the heel. He advises women who wear high-heeled shoes to wear them only at dinner parties and weddings.
He said that the best alternative is to wear a heel with a wedge or a height of less than 7 cm.
