Buying children's shoes
AUTHOR: Marc Mitnick DPMREVIEWED BY: Podiatric Medical Review Board
This article is from the Solefit shoe store chain which specializes in children's shoes.
We have a lot of parents bringing their children into SoleFit, and one of their primary concerns is often 'how do they find shoes for their kids feet?'. And, we thought we'd put this little article together just to hopefully give some of the parents out there a brief guideline of things to look for when they're buying shoes for their children.
Now we're humans, and how humans learn to adapt to hard ground is by bending their knees, by leaning forward, by putting their foot more below them. So if we put our children in these really, really stiff, overly constructed shoes, we lose all of those cues and the ability to walk properly. So let's just take a simple analogy, and say we wanted to take a young child and protect them from a very hot stove, or very sharp glass. And so we put a big, thick glove on their hand.
Now the problem is (a) they're never going to learn to not touch that hot stove but (b) if you took that glove off in five to ten years, you've lost a lot of dexterity and muscle control with the fingers and it's the same thing with our feet. So let's look at a few things that we look at when we're recommending footwear for children.
matching the shoe to the shape of your child's feet
So the first one may seem pretty obvious but it's really important to just find a shoe that matches the shape of your child's foot. Now if you look at any young child's foot they're generally going to be the widest at the end of the toes.
But if you look at most footwear for children, it's usually widest at the base of the toes which can cause a real pinching of the toes and lead to misalignment down the road.
If you take the insole out of the shoe when you're going to buy the shoe, have your child stand on the insole. If their toes are splaying over the sides, try to find something that may be a little bit more square and stays wider up towards the end of the shoe.
Another issue is buying shoes that are too long, this is a problem that we see a lot. Now especially if you're buying something that is overly constructed, these shoes have these little ridge lines which make the shoes bend at a certain spot and if the child's toes are too far back, the shoe won't bend in the right spot.
So we are really just trying to mimic the child's barefoot when buying shoes.
what to look for in a child's shoe
Our feet are pretty miraculous in that they bend, they stretch, and they move in all kinds of different ways to be able to distribute forces properly when we're walking or running. So if a shoe is very, very stiff we take away the foot's natural ability to be able to do that. So again, looking for footwear that's minimalist, flexible is what we want.
The next one is a toe spring and toe spring is really just the elevation from the toe to the ground at the front of the shoe. Now ironically, why this is important is that if you have a shoe that's very, very stiff, they need to put that rocker sole at the front to help the foot move properly.
But we don't want our child's toes up in the air all day. We want our child's feet to develop properly and want their toes to be engaged. So again, we want to keep those shoes fairly flat and we want to eliminate the shoe being really curved up at the front along with the stiffness.
And the last one that's really important is the heel height. Now if we look at most children's shoes, they're elevated about an inch from the heel to the toe.
Now, if this is for a 9 year old kid, this is similar to an adult wearing a two inch heel relative to height.
Recent Articles
-
How the Foundation of Your Success Lies at the Health of Your Employees’ Feet
May 23, 22 06:48 PM
An interesting article on how malfunctioning feet can have a negative impact in the workplace.
-
Reasons to wear shoes around the house
May 22, 22 09:37 AM
Most people tend to not wear shoes around the house.
Here is an article as to why you might start wearing shoes when you are home.
-
Gabapentin overdose deaths
May 21, 22 10:56 AM
The CDC has found that between 2019 and 2020 there has been a significant uptick in Gabapentin (Neurontin) overdoses.
In most cases it has been due to a combination of Gabapentin and Opiods.
-
The seven best sandals for plantar fasciitis
May 20, 22 05:43 PM
I tend to find that plantar fasciitis is more prevalent in the summer simply because people wear flimsy sandals or go barefoot a lot more.
This article lists the best sandals available to control plant…
-
Are biological therapies good for neuropathic pain?
May 19, 22 07:24 PM
Apparently no.
Researchers at Mayo clinic performed a meta-analysis of studies investigating the effectiveness of biologics such as mesenchymal stem cell and PRP as aides in treating all types of neuro…
-
Latest advice for Achilles tendon repair
May 18, 22 10:44 AM
In a recent symposium, the speaker stressed Achilles strengthening rather then increasing range of motion in post Achilles surgery rehabilitation.
-
Arterial stiffness may be better indicator of Type II diabetes then other risk factors
May 16, 22 05:26 PM
An interesting study where it was observed that people with hardening of the arteries had a higher incidence of Type 2 diabetes.
This was evident regardless whether the participants had high blood pres…
-
Fascia stretching exercises
May 14, 22 10:28 AM
Fascia is a soft tissue covering surrounding muscles. To me it has always appeared as "saran wrap" around the muscle.
Here is a good review on fascia stretches will which help increase mobility and red…
-
Why your feet hurt when you wake up in the morning
May 14, 22 10:21 AM
A good review from the Cleveland Clinic on the various causes of foot and ankle pain that may be experienced when you wake up in the morning.
Plantar fasciitis is notorious for causing morning pain, bu…
-
Injury Prevention for Runners
May 10, 22 07:22 PM
Even though running is a contactless sport, runners are prone to injuries.
There is nothing worse then being out of commission and not being able to run, simply due to a prolonged injury.
This is a good…
