What Shoe Is Best? Shoe Buying Tips

Here is a lecture done for the Worcester Senior center with shoe buying tips. Below you will find the link to the different resources mentioned in the video.

https://www.postwire.com/page/5be181fc84350f51db94286a

Transcript of Video

so let's talk first about what type of

shoe is best for you okay and I have a

few points here a few questions you

should ask about buying the the proper

shoe the first question is do you have

diabetes because when you have diabetes

you have to be a little bit more careful

when you buy shoes and when you have

diabetes there's a few things that we we

we look at that are make it dangerous

okay if you have diabetes and don't have

any problems you can probably wear any

shoe that you want and you're probably

going to be okay but what happens is

when you have diabetes for a long time

and your insulin is high and your blood

sugars are high that can affect a few

different areas on your body

the first area that it can affect it can

affect your nerves and some people with

diabetes they start to lose the feeling

in their feet does anyone know what

that's called neuropathy

so neuropathy means it's its path a path

og of the nerve so the nerve is injured

and you and you lose the feeling in your

feet so what would be the problem of

wearing a bad shoot if you have

neuropathy what do you think could

happen to you do you think there would

be a problem what would happen support

that would be one but there's how what

if your shoe is too small

what's gonna happen if you're wearing a

shoe that's too small you and you don't

know because you can't feel it's it

would constrict it what else

how about create a blister create a

bunion but that's going to take some

time the biggest problem with wearing a

shoe that's too small is that it can rob

because there's not enough room it's

kind of like if you if you buy a new

shoe and you have good feeling and you

wear it it hurts doesn't it but what

happens if you don't have that that hurt

feeling it you're gonna keep wearing it

and it's going to cause pain it's gonna

cause a blister now something else that

can happen I had a patient come in last

week she didn't change her shoes but she

had this problem that we talked about of

neuropathy and what some people do I

don't know if you guys do this but what

she did is

she got done wearing her shoe she took

her sock off and he shoved it into the

front of the shoe do you ever do that no

but some people do they take their sock

off they put it in their shoe and she

forgot about it what me she was gonna

make me wear it later on and she forgot

she went to wear that shoe a couple of

weeks later she put the shoe on and she

didn't feel the sock in there because

she had neuropathy and then when she put

the shoe on her feet her toes crunched

up and she ended up losing a couple of

toenails getting a blister and she

didn't know why when she came into the

office she said doctor I don't know

what's going on here I lost a couple of

toenails I have a blister and she didn't

know why and I asked her did you get a

new shoe did you change your shoes she

said no I put my hand in her shoe and I

find her sock there she didn't feel it

because of that problem called

neuropathy so that's one of the problems

that can happen with diabetics it's not

everyone but if you have it you have to

be you have to be checked and you should

know about it the other problem that

affects people with diabetes is is it

can affect your circulation or the blood

flow people with diabetes they tend to

have poor blood flow to their feet when

you have poor blood flow that's a

problem and it's a problem because if

you develop a blister it's gonna take a

lot longer to heal or if you have

another problem it's gonna take a lot

longer to heal or if you have an ingrown

toenail or if you have any problem you

could think it's an ingrown toenail but

really it's a problem with circulation

and if you have the wrong shoes that are

too tight that aren't fitting properly

they could cause a blister and cause you

a problem so that's the second problem

with diabetes okay and the third problem

really is if you have a foot problem

let's say I have a bunion or a hammer

tool or some something that makes your

foot block not look normal and you wear

a shoe

it could cause a problem right but

that's not really anyone can get that

it's not just people with diabetes but

but people with diabetes you need a

special shoe if you have neuropathy or

poor blood flow what type of specialist

- do you need there's there's a couple

of types

of shoes they're called diabetic shoes

most of the time your insurance covers

them okay there's a couple of stores in

town you need a prescription from either

your endocrinologist or your primary

care doctor or your podiatrist and they

can get you a shoe that's appropriate

usually that shoe has a little bit more

depth than the toe box meaning it's not

going to squish your foot and it's gonna

have a couple of inlays in there that's

gonna that are going to give more

cushion and reduce the calluses and

things like that so that's one thing you

have to be aware of if you have diabetes

also if you have a flat foot you have to

be careful because when you have a flat

foot you're going to need a little bit

more arch support and that's going to

give you more space in your shoe also

you have to be careful that your foot

doesn't collapse there's other problems

sometimes you need a brace so you have

to be aware if you have a really flat

foot not every shoe is going to work for

you and it may make your your feet more

tired if you have flat feet now and also

do you have a wide foot how wide is your

foot if it's really wide a lot of shoes

that they say are wide really aren't

wide even if you buy you go to the store

and you buy a doubly triply a lot of

times the width isn't appropriate and

I'm going to teach you a little

technique to see if the shoe is wide

enough for you because a lot of the

problems come if you wear a shoe that's

not wide enough or this is another

problem right now we're going from

summer to fall to winter so you're gonna

bring out some new shoes that you

haven't worn maybe in a few months and

the problem is a shoe that you wore last

year might not fit you this year and one

of the problems is is that when you're

wearing it throughout the summer for

example or through the fall and winter

that shoe stretches out the leather

stretches out but then after you don't

wear it for six or seven months what

happens that leather hardens and then it

doesn't stretch as much so you could

have a problem with the shoe you can you

could have been wearing the shoe for

years and years when you only wear it

for a few months and if it's not

stretched out enough it's going to give

you a problem it might and might cause a

blister blister it might cause a problem

so one of the tips that I want to give

you for finding the right size shoe is

pretty simple do you see what they're

doing here this is someone they took off

their shoe and they have their sock on

and what they're doing with this pencil

or this marker is they're tracing their

foot this is really important if you

have a wide foot so you step on a piece

of paper and you have someone else trace

it for you then when you go to the store

you you take that and you see if it fits

in the shoe or even better yet you take

the shoe the shoes have a sock liner you

know what a sock liner is basically it's

that that thing inside the shoe that

says Nike New Balance Asics it's that

thing that you pull out and a lot of

better quality shoes they have a sock

liner that comes out so what you do is

you take this tracing in and when you do

this tracing you actually cut it out

with the scissors kind of like arts and

crafts and you trace it you cut it out

and you bring that tracing and you take

the shoe and you pull the sock liner out

and you see if it fits and if you find

that the tracing on your foot is a lot

wider it's not going to be the right

size for you and you know what you're

probably gonna find out most shoes are

too narrow for your foot and that's just

the truth because the people that make

shoes they're making them for these

mannequins that don't really exist and

especially for females what happens with

a female every time you have a child and

if you've had two or three children your

foot size goes up your foot size goes up

a half size or a full size and sometimes

it might get wider sometimes it might

get longer and another thing you have to

be aware of

just because you've always been a size 6

or size 7 you should go and have them

measure your foot don't just assume I've

always been a size 6 and by a size 6 you

have to try it on you have to have

someone professionally measure it

because that the brands change just

because you're a size 6 in a clark

doesn't mean you're going to be a size 6

6 and

a six or a size six because there's

hundreds of shoes and they all make them

on a different format that's called a

last and so it differs so you should

really be fit in size every time but

this is a good tip take a tracing of the

shoe with you good tip for you another

tip to find it wins the best time to

shoe shop I just gave you the answer if

you read it when's the best time is the

best time in the morning

know when when's the best time in the

afternoon why your feet expand at the

end of the day your feet are a little

bit bigger you feel a little bit more

swollen so what happens if you go and

you buy shoes in the morning when your

feet are not swollen and there's no

problem you're gonna buy it but by the

afternoon your foots going to be bigger

and that shoe isn't gonna fit you so

it's better to buy the shoes in the

afternoon and also it's better to buy a

shoe at a place where you can return it

I have so many patients they come in and

they say doctor I bought 10 or 20 pairs

of shoes and none of them fit or none of

them feel good so you have to find a

store in most stores if you if you get a

shoe and then you go home and practice

wearing it in the house and you don't

get it dirty normally they'll take it

back if it's not comfortable that's what

you need to find because if you don't

like your shoe you shouldn't keep it you

should give it away or return it or

donate it and talking about donations at

our office in Worcester we actually take

donations for shoes that people don't

don't need or don't want and they give

them their I think their athletic shoes

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Author

Dr. Donald Pelto Dr. Donald Pelto is a Podiatrist at Central Massachusetts Podiatry, in Worcester and Westborough. Author of several books on foot health, he also speaks Portuguese and Spanish. He likes to go on family hikes and loves learning and talking about health related topics and healthy life hacks. Watch some of his interviews about health and video lectures on youtube.com/drpelto.

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