Wide Thin Feet can be troublesome!!
Wide Thin Feet can give foot pain
By Margot Manning – Podiatrist | Footwear Specialist | Running Coach
Here’s a trouble maker… A ‘normal’ foot that flattens like a pancake!
These are perfectly fine feet to look at, but when you start running they flatten to become quite wide or even longer. If your shoe is not wide enough, then running can become painful and it is possible to develop longer term nerve injuries.
There are other normal looking feet that can also turn into longer or wider feet. When this happens it causes problems in your shoes like burning pain, blisters and black toes nails. They are hard to detect at times, but boy, they can cause some pain in your feet. The challenge for you is that buying shoes become tricky because there always seems to be something not quite right.
Below are 3 relatively common foot features that can make running shoes more difficult to fit, PLUS some tips to help it easier for you.
3 troublesome foot traits:
- Hypermobile feet
- Claw Toes and hammer toes
- Deep or thick feet
#1 HYPERMOBILE FEET
- When you stand up, your normal looking foot flattens and splays.
- Burning pain in your feet after running for a while
- Bumps on the top of the 5th toe joint
Fitting tip: Go to a wider shoe!! It may be the best solution to stop the burning pain you get from wearing shoes.
Podiatry tip: Metatarsal domes attached to your insole can reduce the flattening effect
#2 CLAW TOES or HAMMER TOES
Toes like this need more depth at the toe box. You might see some redness on the top of your toe knuckles. This happens when they rub against the top of the upper. This can worsen as these toes stiffen.
What to look out for:
- knobbly toe knuckles
- bent toes
- Black toes or blistering on the end of your toes.
Fitting tip: Go for a deeper shoe at the toe box.You need more room from the foot bed to the top of the upper around your toes.
Podiatry tip: Claw toes and Hammer toes are easier to help with insole modifications when they can still straighten. These have underlying biomechanical causes that are worth getting checked.
#3 DEEP or THICK FEET
What to look for in shoes:
- DEPTH!!! The depth of the shoe is the height from the insole of the shoe to the top of the upper.
- Be wary of shoes that are tapered and make sure you don’t see the bulges of your toe knuckles through the shoes.
Fitting tip: Go for a deeper shoe through the arch.
Podiatry tip: The trickier version of these feet are those that are high arched but mobile. If there is a lot of space under the arch it may need a small fill or a simple insole to give better proprioceptive feedback to your running movement with the ground and shoe.
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