Category Archives: Foot Pain

Many people have curled 5th (pinky) toes. This rotation, usually causes the outside of the toe to become prominent. When this happens, your shoe rubs against the protrusion, creating friction against the skin overlying this area. This friction will cause pain, and occasionally, it will form a corn (hard callous).

If your 5th toe is usually crowded in running shoes, you need to pay attention to your shoe design, and more importantly, you’ll want to find running shoes, having mesh over the painful outside spot.

These two different pair of Nike running shoes were brought in today. The shoe on the left caused 5th toe pain while the shoe on the right did not. The difference is the mesh placement. The left shoe’s trim extends onto the toe, whereas the right shoe trim is much lower and the mesh is in exactly the right place.

Looking at the side view, you can also, easily see the difference. Even though the shoe on the left had a deeper toe box, it still caused pain because the mesh and trim were in the wrong place.

If you have a bunion, hammertoes, or a curled 5th toe, you’ll want to find shoes with mesh in the right place.

There is nothing wrong with high heels, as long as they fit correctly and the heel height is not too high. In general a high arched foot, needs a heel height of 3 inches or less, whereas a flat foot should not go above 3.5 inches.

This is a Jessica Simpson ‘Bacton’ shoe worn in today, which contributed to the buildup of a corn in-between this persons 4th and 5th toes. This particular pair is 3 3/4″ high, much too high for this person’s high arched foot, in spite of an otherwise perfect fit.

A heel too high for your foot type, even if the fit is perfect, will always slide your foot forward, pushing the widest part of your forefoot into the narrowest part of the shoe. In this case, corns, hammertoes, bunions and ball of the foot pain are a virtual certainty because the heel is too high.

A pinch test can be done for body fat, now I’m going to teach you how to do a pinch test for your shoes. Below is a shoe that someone wore in today.

Not surprisingly, she hated these shoes, but has been wearing them for the past 6 months, because her podiatrist recommended them. Never mind that her podiatrist never measured her feet or had her bring in an assortment of shoes. Trustingly, this patient did what her podiatrist recommended, which was to wear these shoes which were too deep and too wide for her narrow feet.

If you are having foot or ankle pain, your shoes should fit snug to your feet, everywhere, including the toebox. If you can pinch a fold of upper in the toe-box area, then the shoe is too deep for you, no matter what anyone says.

How many of us excitedly wear our brand spankin’ new shoes for a special day or night out and we wind up with bloodied, painful heels because of the shoes?

If this is you, then chances are the shoe isn’t form fitting snugly enough which results in your foot moving up and down. Couple this friction with sweat and a stiff heel counter and you’ve created a recipe for pain.

Fortunately, here’s what you can do.

1. Make sure your shoe fit snugs. Noticeable heel slippage in the shoe department will inevitably lead to blisters if the heel counter leather is stiff.
2. If you’re prone to heel slippage (narrow or shallow feet), avoid any slip on styles that don’t adjust in the vamp, ie. straps, buckles and Velcro.
3. If your heels still slip, use a tongue pad or custom cut out a tongue pad from Wiley’s Felt Remedy.

Now what if I’m too late and the blisters have already formed?

1. Cut a generous square, with rounded corners of moleskin and completely cover the blister(s) so that it is visible above the counter of the shoe.
2. Let the moleskin wear off on it’s own. Don’t pry off or the adhesive will take the top of the blister with it.
3. Band-Aids aren’t big enough to help. You need t o custom cut the moleskin to ensure coverage.

Almost everyone who comes into my office, gets their foot measured. Why? Because wearing the wrong size shoe can cause pain and most people have no idea what their foot size really is. When was the last time you had your foot measured? Do you know the difference between to heel to toe and heel to ball? You should…it’s important, and it can mean the difference between comfort and pain.

The following pictures illustrate these two different foot measurements. The first person’s foot measures a 13 (heel to ball) and the 2nd person’s foot measures a 7.5 (heel to toe). Some of us have a longer heel to ball measurement and some of us have a longer heel to toe measurement. Whichever measurement is longer (heel to toe or heel to ball), that’s what size you are.

For those of you with bunions, it’s important that your shoe not constrict around the bump. Things to avoid over the bump include – Decorative trim, stitching or anything unforgiving. Today’s shoe is an example of what not to wear.

Neuroma (burning forefoot) pain, right foot, only when working out. Shoe review identified the following two problems.

Problem Number 1: Shoes are 1 size too short. This causes the widest part of the forefoot to be forced into the tapered part of the shoe, kinda like a vice-grip.

Problem Nunber 2: Paper thin outsole, right shoe, which corresponds to foot having pain. No difference between a worn outsole and being barefoot. No wait… thin outsole coupled with the wrong size, it’s worse than being barefoot in the gym!