Are you tired of getting blisters on your feet from your heels? If you like how heels look on other people but hate how painful they are for you, you can learn to choose heels that are less painful.
Even though wearing heels will never be as comfortable as wearing sneakers, you can find heels that are comfortable enough to wear every day.
There’s no doubt that women who wear high heel sandals look beautiful when they do. But if you wear shoes with a high heel, you will always have to deal with some kind of pain.
They often irritate the skin by rubbing against it in an uncomfortable way, and they can hurt the legs or feet.
There’s no reason to put up with this, since there are many ways to choose the right shoes that will make your life easier and your feet happier.
Bright Side did research on some simple rules for women’s shoes that can help a woman find the most comfortable pair and wear them without any pain.
Choose Soft, Round Toe Heel
When the bone or tissue at the joint of the big toe moves out of place, it can cause a bony bump called a bunion to form.
Even though bunions are mostly caused by genetics, the pressure caused by shoes that are too thin or too tight can make the condition worse and make it more painful.
Knowles says that if you have them, you should choose a design with a wider toe box, like a round or square shape.
You should also look for solutions made of materials that are more flexible, like soft leather.
Heel with Rubberized Cushioning
When you have high arches, the middle of your foot doesn’t touch the ground completely. This can hurt and make you feel bad.
Because of this, you end up putting more of your weight on the outsides and balls of your feet. This means that your feet don’t absorb shock as well.
Because of this, Knowles recommends a heel with a cork or rubber platform, since both of these materials naturally absorb shock.
Knowles said that because of the way their feet are shaped, people with high arches tend to be more comfortable in shoes with higher heels.
With that said, there is a catch. Because their feet are turned inward, people with this condition are more likely to roll their ankles and get sprains.
To stop this from happening, women should only be allowed to wear heel sandals that are no higher than four inches.
Open-Toe Heel
When a person with wide feet walks down the stairs, their feet will spread out because their feet are so wide.
And because shoes that don’t fit well put too much pressure on the toes, the wearer often gets calluses from their shoes.
Because of this, the best choice would be heels with an open toe, which give your feet more room to breathe.
Just remember that if you choose a strappy sandal, those straps should have elastics or buckles so you can easily change how they fit.
Material
You should choose heels that are made of soft leather or mesh that stretches and let’s air in. Softer materials let the forefoot move more without squeezing the soft tissues. This is important because feet tend to get bigger as the day goes on or after a long walk.
When worn, this will make it less likely that the person will feel tingling, numbness, or burning.
Location of seams
People with bunions or other foot problems that make it hard to move their feet may find seams that run along where the joints meet to be painful and restricting.
Make sure to look for heels with seams that are far from the joints so that the joints don’t have to work as hard and there is more flexibility.
Wide forefoot shape
Don’t wear shoes that are too narrow or have a pointy toe because the toe box will be too small for the shape of your foot, squeezing your toes together as they try to get in.
This can be very painful and lead to long-term problems like bunions or hammertoes, which happen when the toes start to overlap.
Shoes with square or rounded toes have more space in the toe box, giving your toes more room to spread out and giving you more support when you move.
Wide heel width
Compared to skinny stiletto heels, chunky heels are more comfortable and supportive, and they are less likely to break.
Because they have a bigger surface area, they are great for evenly distributing body weight. This is especially helpful for people who tend to twist their ankles or have trouble keeping their balance. Two good examples are wedge heels and platform sandals.
Height isn’t everything
High-heeled shoes for women should have heels that are two to three inches tall. Because the amount of pressure on the ball of the foot goes up with height, shoes that are too high could make the wearer less stable.
When you wear shoes with lower heel heights, you are much less likely to hurt your ankle or get other injuries from falling.
Women should choose heels that are no taller than six centimeters, but this rule can change depending on the shape of their feet, which can be flat or arched.
Even though the point of heels is to make you look taller, too much height can cause a lot of pain, from severe aches to deformed bones.
Opt for wide heels
The beauty of high heels is that they make you look stunning. The heel should be narrower the better it is. In spite of that, this is a big mistake.
Stiletto heels, which are also called “narrow heels,” are very dangerous. Your whole body weight will be spread unevenly over your feet, which will make it hard for you to walk in a normal way.
This style of heel will make any foot problems you already have, like plantar fasciitis, blisters, ingrown toenails, or even Achilles tendinitis, worse, causing you to feel even more pain.
Measure your feet and try on heels
There are a lot of things that can make it hard to make a good decision when buying heels, like the style, the color, or even the excitement of finding them on sale. Since this is the case, you will have to deal with a lot of pain and trouble because you bought the wrong pair of high heels.
Find out how many feet you have first. In a shoe store, you can usually ask the salesperson to help you measure your feet. This will help you figure out the exact size you need to buy heels that fit you well, both in terms of width and height.
Step two is to put on some heels and walk around the store with them on. Don’t be fooled by how things look at first. You can’t tell if the heels you choose will be comfortable by trying them on just once.
So, to figure out how you walk, you should get up and move around. If the high heels in any way irritate your skin, you will almost certainly get blisters.
You should also try them on different surfaces to see how stable they are and if your feet can support your weight.
Final words
Some people think that wearing high heels means you have to give up something, but that shouldn’t be the case! It’s more important to feel good than to look good.
You won’t believe it, but it is feasible to wear women’s heels that are as comfortable as running shoes. To start, the podiatrists here strongly recommend that you choose leather high heels.
Leather is a material that feels great and can bend in many ways. Leather can shape itself to the shape of your foot over time, which makes it a good material for shoes.
On the other hand, high heels made of other hard materials can make your ankle pain worse and lead to other health problems.
