Shoe shopping can sometimes feel like a chore. It is hard to find shoes that fit just right. And sometimes you think you have found the perfect shoe and it turns out that they still give you blisters! So how do you buy the right shoes for your feet?
Shoe size
One of the most important things about shoe shopping, is the size of the shoe. But did you know that you’re probably wearing the wrong size shoe? Dr. Cary Gannon, podiatric surgeon and founder of Aila Cosmetics, told Well + Good that a lot of the people who visit her office wear the wrong size shoe. Ninety percent of the people she sees wear shoes that are too small! And you might be too. Because we are inclined to stick to the same shoe size, even though our feet grow just like the rest of our body. Gannon said: “As we get older, our feet increase in size and shape, and so our foot size increases. We continually go and purchase the same size, but we forget that as we age kind of everything about our body changes.”
So the first step is to figure out the right shoe size for you!
Buying the shoe
The next step, after you have determined whether you’re wearing the right size of shoes, is to go out and purchase a pair of supportive and well fitting shoes. And there are some tricks to help you do that. Dr. Doug Tumen, author of Ask the Foot Doctor: Real-Life Answers to Enjoy Happy, Healthy, Pain-Free Feet, told Well + Good that the time of day matters. Because your feet swell during the day, a shoe that might’ve fit perfectly in the morning, might feel a little too tight in the evening. That is why he recommends to go shopping in the afternoon: “…if you shop late in the day, it’s more likely to be the true size of your foot.”
And when you have found a pair of shoes that you like, you can apply some of the methods listed below to make sure it is the right pair for you. Trumen calls these the pinch, sponge, accordion and wiggle test. The pinch test is executed by pinching the heel of your shoe. If it can be pinched together, the shoe is probably not very supportive. With the sponge test, you wring your shoe like a sponge. And with the accordeon test, you bend your shoe in half. If your shoe can do any of these things, it is not going to be supporting your feet very well. The last test is the wiggle test; if you wear your shoes, you want your toes to be able to move around.
With these tips, you will definitely be able to find a pair of shoes that fits you perfectly!