Is it Okay to Wear Flat Shoes Everyday?
Your feet hurt and you don’t know why. You exercise a lot; you warm up and cool down before and after your workout. The rest of the time you drive to get from one place to another. When you’re home you wear the same slippers that you’ve worn your entire life… Could it be their fault? Should you not wear flat shoes every day?
Despite all of that, the pain persists. You don’t know what to do, but the annoying jab keeps you from enjoying your day as you’d like. Where is the problem?
Maybe you’re wearing the wrong type of shoe. In general, almost everyone knows that wearing heels every day is harmful, and because of this, some people have decided to not wear them as much.
However, very few people know the consequences of wearing flat shoes. They’re more comfortable and your feet seem to suffer less when you wear them. But, this isn’t always the case.
Look at the soles of your feet, do you notice the curve? This is an indication that we need some type of height to our shoes when we walk in order to adhere to the morphology of this part of our body.
When we walk, our feet make an impact with the floor. So, when we wear flat shoes regularly, this zone is not protected.
Therefore, if we don’t vary the height of our shoes, we will be harming ourselves by putting the part of our bodies that bears all of our weight at risk.
Consequences of wearing flat shoes daily
The trigger of all evils is called plantar fasciitis. It’s a condition that occurs when there’s harm done to the tendon that connects the heel to the front of the foot.
This can become dangerous when we wear flat shoes every day since they don’t adapt to the arch of our feet. Your feet suffer a lot because, in reality, it’s our last support.
- This issue can almost be seen by the naked eye: the height of the arch of our foot is decreasing.
- To resume, we’d say that wearing this type of footwear can result in having issues like flat feet.
Like we said, the inner extremities are very important for balance. So, something working incorrectly in this area will impact other muscles, bones, and joints because of the extra force that they will be forced to take on.
While some may appear to be freed from their usual work, others will have to make up for it. So, this produces a series of inflammations that will cause a large amount of pain in the back, hips, ankles...
Also, more difficulties will arise when we unconsciously change the way we walk to favor the parts of our bodies that are in pain.
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Instead of helping the issue, you’re just intensifying the problem by adapting to a body position that isn’t natural.
- Think about it: when a muscle is inflamed, the bone that it covers is displaced; this shift causes another one to then be moved and this continues throughout the body without us even noticing.
How to take care of your feet
If wearing heels daily isn’t healthy, and neither is wearing flats every day, what should you do? Follow our advice and you’ll notice a considerable difference in how your feet feel.
Use shoe inserts
Fortunately, orthopedic products are made more accessible every day. Likewise, businesses that specialize in them have multiplied.
It’s best to use shoe inserts with a height of 1-2 cm.
Change your footwear
Like with almost everything, too much is never a good thing. The midpoint is what you want. Keeping this in mind, we suggest that you switch up your type of shoe every day or every two days.
This way your feet can have days where they have to work and days where they get a break, which will optimize their abilities. Doing this will improve our posture and benefit all of our tissues.
Wear house slippers that have a silicone sole
The time we spend in our homes is also very important. We have to take care of ourselves all the time, wherever we are. So, we also have to be careful about the footwear we wear in the house.
The majority of slippers are usually flat which is why it’s important to find a pair that have a silicone base that have the same characteristics as the shoes we wear in the streets.
In any case, we want it to be clear that although flats are better for your feet than heels, you also have to keep your bone structure in mind.
This way, we will be able to adapt our clothes and accessories to our footwear since it’s not an issue of comfort, but health.
Being comfortable or feeling pretty cannot get in the way of our well being.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Etxebarria-Foronda, Iñigo, et al. “Tratamiento del pie plano flexible infantil con la técnica de calcáneo-stop.” Gaceta Médica de Bilbao 103.4 (2006): 149-153.
- Molina, Andrea Manent, et al. “Zapato plano en la artrodesis de la primera metatarsofalángica,¿ por qué no?.” Revista del Pie y Tobillo 30.1 (2016): 21-27.
- Revenga-Giertych, C., and M. P. Bulo-Concellón. “El pie plano valgo: evolución de la huella plantar y factores relacionados.” Revista de ortopedia y traumatología 49.4 (2005): 271-280.