We all know that regular exercise is important, but we don’t always make the time to get to the gym. We know that it’s important to consume a variety of healthy foods, but oftentimes we reach for seconds of dessert. We know what we should be doing, but we don’t always follow that path. Apparently, the same holds true when it comes to our shoes.
According to a study over in the United Kingdom, the vast majority of people know they should be taking more steps to ensure that their feet are in a proper fitting shoe, even though they aren’t taking some simple steps. Let’s dive into that study and see why it’s so easy to overlook the importance of a well-fitting shoe.
Shoe Fit Study
The study, which involved 2,000 UK adults, asked for information about a participants’ shoe choices and foot health habits. Here’s what they found:
- 74 percent of adults said they hadn’t measured their feet since childhood, despite knowing that proper footwear is essential for comfort and health.
- 65 percent of people admitting to wearing the wrong sized shoe, often due to convenience of lack of awareness about their actual size.
- 17 percent admitted that their shoes were too narrow.
Despite these acknowledgements, researchers found that 96 percent of surveyed adults agreed that wearing the right size shoe is essential. So the majority of respondents know that they need to take good care of their feet, but most aren’t doing the little things like checking their foot size to ensure a proper fit when choosing new shoes.
We’ve talked about the impact that poor shoe choice can have on a person’s foot many times on the blog in the past. Some of the most common issues that overly tight or ill-fitting shoes can have include:
- Bunions
- Ingrown toenails
- Plantar fasciitis
- Hammertoes
- Claw toes
- Corns
- Calluses
- Heel pain
If you’ve been dealing with any of these issues, or if you’re like the survey respondents and haven’t measured your feet in years, it may be time to commit to making better choices for your foot health going forward. You’re on your feet for hours every single day, you owe it to them to put your feet in a comfortable and supportive pair of shoes. We can help you overcome any of the foot and ankle conditions we listed above, but we’d much prefer that you prevent these issues from forming in the first place!
For more information, reach out to Dr. Silverman by filling out this contact form.