NEWS Ill fitting footwear damages children’s health
shoes at a cheaper price in stock online, show the shop and see if they can match the price – but don’t forget there is p&p to pay online and two lots if they are wrong.
Avoid slip-on shoes. Slip on shoes need to be fitted ‘closely’ so they stay on the foot. The danger is they will be too tight and restrict development and may cause ‘hammer toes or bunions’, or too loose, slip around and the child will claw their toes to keep them on, creating ‘claw toes’. A flat ballerina style with very little soling material and inadequate padding under the foot can also cause ‘plantar fasciitis’ which is a painful condition affecting nerve endings. A shoe with an adjustable fastening will accommodate different thicknesses of socks/hosiery and feet swelling in the heat.
If buying new shoes for school, you probably need to replace socks, plimsolls/trainers. The PE bag often stays at school, so if your child has grown, they have outgrown their occasional wear too.
Feet are like bonsai trees, if they are restricted in any way they become misshapen. Your toes are like the roots of a tree, they give you stability and if they twist or buckle unnaturally there is a lack of stability which can throw out other joints in the body (affecting the trunk and branches) i.e. knees, hips, back and neck.
Babies feet have cartilage which forms
gradually into 26 bones over a period of approximately 14 years. Once fully ossified (hardened) in adulthood the bones can still become deformed through illness or lack of care. However, looking after foot health in childhood at the start of development is crucial.
Footwear is greatly underestimated and
considered a harmless accessory and the only uproar in the media is centred around high-heels and winkle pickers, but the real and scary news is that most footwear is unsuitable unless it fits correctly, and the public are not qualified to know if it does or doesn’t – particularly children’s footwear. Parents often rely on their child to tell them if shoes hurt, but a small child does not have the sensitivity and an older child will care less about pain and more about fashion. There would not be thousands of podiatrists in the U.K. if we were not doing so much damage to our feet and podiatrists are seeing an increasing number of children with adult complaints i.e. plantar fasciitis, bunions, hammer toes etc.
Twenty years ago, most children’s footwear was
sold through professional shoe shops and they usually offered advice and a measuring and fitting
service. Now, more shoes are bought self-service as they are available through supermarkets, cheap fashion stores and online. The ‘proper’ shoe shops cannot compete on price and many excellent shops have closed in the past 10 years meaning there is a lack of shoe fitting expertise. Many parents are therefore unaware of the importance of fit or realise that footwear can cause foot health issues which may not be noticeable until the child is grown up, some of which cannot be reversed and lead to more serious health issues. It is natural that if a product has a size and fitting you would presume there is a standardisation, but neither shoes nor feet are standard shapes and even gauges are calibrated differently. It takes an expert to know their measure, assess their customer (both child and adult), know the various brand traits and Last shapes of the shoes they have in stock, and assess which is the most suitable for the foot shape in front of them. They may try several styles of a brand, or several brands before they find a suitable and safe fit. Parents can’t be criticised for this – how could they know?
Our advice to parents would be:
Always have feet measured and fitted professionally. A size means very little, it is a starting point. Don’t be tempted to be measured and then go elsewhere to buy cheaper shoes of the same size as they all vary in volume. Each brand has their own Last shapes and a size and fit in one shoe is different to another style or brand. You pay for what you get and there is nothing added for the fitting service. If you find the same
Back-to-School is known as ‘blister season’. School shoes need to be worn with socks for short periods indoors at home before the new term starts. Feet that have been wearing casual soft construction footwear like plimsolls, strip sandals, flip-flops, rubber clogs etc. become flaccid and soft, so putting them into strongly constructed footwear can rub and cause blisters. If shoes are painful or rubbing, take them back to where they were purchased to have both the shoes and fitting checked, but the chances are the feet are simply not used to wearing supportive footwear.
Do not hand shoes down. Shoes take on the shape of the original wearer and we all put pressure on certain parts of our shoes. These areas can rub a different foot. They can also harbour bacterial infections like athletes’ foot. Mushrooms are a fungus that grow in dark, damp, warm conditions and this perfectly describes a child’s shoe.
Leather is still the best material for footwear as it moulds to the foot shape. It is natural and porous and allows the foot to ‘breathe’ and expire an egg-cupful of perspiration daily.
Do you like your feet? Don’t neglect them, they are one of the hardest working parts of your body
Mobility is so important to your life and health, so care for young feet as an investment for their senior years.
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The Society of Shoe Fitters Registered charity no. 1178413
Email:
secretary@shoefitters-uk.org Website:
www.shoefitters-uk.org Tel: +44 (0)1953-851171
8 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • OCTOBER 2018
www.footweartoday.co.uk
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