Fix your foot pain with the RIGHT Shoes

Do you have a forefoot condition and are unsure which types of shoes to wear? Paul and Matt share a simple test to help you choose the right shoes and discusses the pros and cons of barefoot lifestyle. Learn about foot problems, including the impact of wearing heels and the best running shoe choices. 

We cover:

• How the wrong shoe can ruin your mechanics and cause injuries
  
  
• The best walking shoes for comfort and stability
  
  
• Plantar fasciitis shoe recommendations
  
  
• Achilles tendinopathy footwear tips
  
  
• Forefoot pain, bunions, and barefoot shoe advice
  
  
• Best beginner running shoes and speed shoes
  
  
• Sandals and slippers that won’t wreck your feet
  
  

👟 Chapters
00:00:00 – Introduction & Host Catch-up
00:02:15 – Why Shoe Choice Matters
00:05:12 – Choosing the Right Walking Shoe
00:11:05 – Plantar Fasciitis: Shoe Recommendations
00:16:28 – Achilles Tendinopathy: Heel-to-Toe Drop
00:21:00 – Forefoot Pain & Shoe Considerations
00:26:35 – Rockers & Carbon Plates for Forefoot Conditions
00:30:15 – Bunions: Causes & Shoe Strategies
00:34:05 – Barefoot Shoes: Risks & Who Should Avoid Them
00:41:00 – Best Shoes for Beginner Runners
00:46:20 – Transitioning to Speed Shoes
00:50:10 – Sandals & Slippers in Singapore
00:55:05 – Magic Wand Wish: Shoe Sizing
00:56:30 – Pet Peeve: Ignoring Footwear in Treatment

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#Shoes #FootHealth #PlantarFasciitis #RunningShoes #BarefootShoes #Bunions #AchillesPain #ShoeRecommendations #FootCare #Podcast #Wellness

Transcript

0:01

if you do have a forefoot condition you just no idea what shoe to get here's a test that I sometimes get people to do in the the clinic I have this honest Frank conversation with my patients barefoot shoes yes or no there's a massive risk of foot and ankle issues and is actually wearing a high heel good for you the worst running shoe for beginners is welcome back to the best of both worlds today we're gonna be discussing the biggest mistakes that our patients make when choosing their shoes and we're gonna share with you how to avoid these mistakes live a longer healthier life pain free I'm Paul Macaulay podiatrist and foot health content creator and I'm lucky enough to try a new pair of shoes every day I create shoe reviews for you so that you don't make the same mistakes buying the wrong pair of shoes because at the end of the day shoes are expensive I'm Matt Winter doctor of physical therapy and together today we're gonna fix your feet alright mate we're back how are you out of ten may I am 10 out of 10 yeah definitely definitely 10 out of 10 I've got some exciting news coming oh can you share I can't share any details at the moment but everyone I know in due course OK awesome and mate how are you out of 10 oh thanks for asking um mate I'm honestly 10 out of 10 today like just doing this again sharing what we share hanging out with you watching and learning how you set up the thing today stressful but I'm so so psyched to be back yeah I'm psyched too I'm psyched too let's let's get into it so why does it matter what shoes you're wearing we see that a shoe the wrong shoe can completely ruin someone's like mechanics it can affect the knees the hips and just changing the shoe to to the right shoe can make such a difference you don't need to necessarily get custom insoles go for a surgery you can just wear a better shoe and you can get better sometimes we see that actually patients look better without their shoes on than in the shoes they've chosen so it's actually taking their mechanics and making it worse yeah exactly that's definitely something we see day in day out I think the most common thing that we'll see is someone wearing like a really soft cushion shoe you can imagine if you're struggling to balance standing on one leg on a hard floor and then suddenly you put yourself on a cushion then it's gonna be even harder and we see there's you know it's very fashionable to to wear like maybe a Skechers or on running shoes and although they look great and as soon as you put them on they feel great it can actually cause more strain on the body you become way more tired at the end of the day and that fatigue can then lead into like foot conditions and lower limb conditions so so it's important because this is something we do every day we wear these things every day it's easy to change and changing it might actually allow patients to avoid costly procedures long term physiotherapy insoles you're saving them a lot of money saving them a lot of pain and it's easy to do yeah honestly sometimes when the patient comes in and I just tell him to get a different shoe and if they come in the next time they tell me oh Paul my my pain's gone like obviously I've not made thousands of dollars from seeing them over and over again but when you can make such a difference with just changing the shoes honestly you feel like a magician I love it so without seeing me or you is there anything that one of our listeners can do when they go into a shop and they're choosing a shoe to ensure or to at least give themselves a better chance of choosing the right shoe yeah I think the person's gotta go into the shop knowing exactly the purpose of what they're gonna use that shoe for so whether it's gonna be a shoe that it's just they're gonna wear on the weekends just go out for dinner so they're gonna sit down in this shoe that doesn't really matter what it is it's when you're choosing a shoe for long periods of walking then we can definitely talk through what someone should consider for that type of activity so let's talk about walking yeah something a lot of people do for exercise what are the key features of a shoe that's good for walking yeah so I think if we we'll we'll start with like the feel of the shoe it doesn't necessarily matter whether it feels soft or firm but when you pick up the shoe in the shop I suppose you want to test out yeah what the structure's like so if I grab my shoe just a maybe demo God I don't don't get too close to this man am I allowed to breathe no exactly not OK yeah and do you wanna hold the mic to me I'll just hold for the purpose of those listening I'm now holding Paul's microphone yeah um do carry on okay so we've got our shoe here I think the first thing that I would do is feel the the the heel counter so we're gonna push on the back of it we want it that to be firm and we want the the heel cup to be firm too that's gonna give the ankle stability meaning it's not gonna wobble side to side and reduce the strain on your foot when you're walking for long distances ah then I would do a bit of a twist test so you don't really want it to compress too much and then you also want to bend it in half if it bends in half very easily so for example a Converse Chuck Taylor's will bend in half literally fold in your hands there goes your converse sponsor so that you wouldn't be walking longer distances in that but for this one uh it doesn't bend through the middle uh you want it to bend at the toe box so that you can propel on through your big toe um and then I suppose with the the width of the base if you have the wider the base the more stability as well um and then the the mid the midsole material itself um it what can be soft or firm depending on you know what foot type you have as well and then I suppose you wanna check the fit okay so in terms of checking the fit what should they be doing yeah for the fit then we can take the insole out the shoe if it's a sport shoe then it's gonna come out and that's I suppose you'll be looking for a sport style shoe if you were looking for something you wanna use for walking so you take out the shoe you can place it on the ground you can place your foot on the insole on the ground and then you can stand up and then we can place our thumb in front of our longest toe whether that's your first toe or your second toe check that we got that width which I do which is great so there we go that's how you would find the right fit and you don't want your toes uh splaying over the side of your insole either if if they really play over the side of the insole then they're too narrow and you need to go for a wider fit and if you're a lady and you're like ah I can't find the right width you could go to a men's shoe cause they tend to be wider yeah I love that been holding out so yeah my arm is absolutely killing me there's there's also the issue of um hot climates and people that walk long distances is it true that the foot expands over time and do we need to take that into consideration when choosing that width yeah definitely it does expand over time um especially in the afternoon so usually I would recommend people going to try on their shoes in the afternoon that way they're more likely to get a better fit shoe and I suppose if you're buying I know of quite a few people like went walking did the Camino and they bought their shoes in the UK and then they got a lot of problems on the Camino because it's super hot in France and Spain and then so what they potentially would need to do in that situation is definitely um try them on in the afternoon that's a really good tip yeah thank you um let's let's delve down into some conditions then um plantar fasciitis is one that we see a lot in the clinic are there specific considerations for this condition yeah yeah for sure for plantar fasciitis a lot of people think oh I need something soft cause my heel hurts but but really the there's two types of plantar fasciitis you got compressive where it hurts when you put pressure on the heel and then you have tensile where you when you push your toes off you feel the pain uh today I actually saw a patient who had both so she needs a bit of cushioning under the heel but then also needs um stability for pushing off so a lot of people think they need cushioning because they want it to be soft and comfortable but actually the soft shoe causes it to be unstable and then the instability causes your foot out to work harder and actually leads to more pain over time so if you do have plantar fasciitis skip on the sketches and pick maybe something like an Asics Cayano honestly it's my No. 1 pick for it it's a such a great shoe because it has a firm midsole so you don't excessively pronate or roll in and if you reduce the amount of your foot rolls in then you do reduce the strain on your plantar fascia as well as that it does have a nice rock to it and that reduces the amount of strain on your big toe which will reduce the pulling on your plantar fascia as well and so overall for plantar fasciitis you wanna look for like a firm stable shoe so going to brands like Hoka Asics New Balance and asking for a stability shoe ah you'll be absolutely fine so are there any times when the Asics Cayano is not the best shoe for plantar fasciitis yeah I'd say that potentially in I'll I reckon like 5 to 10% of cases you've got that rigid high arch foot your foot doesn't roll in it it's just really stiff um and you you've definitely got compressive style plantar fasciitis you need cushioning so in that person then you'd go for that max cushioning shoe and but if you're not sure which foot type you have definitely see a professional before before buying because you can spend £200 on this shoe or spend like seventy pounds going to see a healthcare practitioner who could tell you what shoes to wear it's not just the Asics Kayano is it cause there there are other shoes that are stable and so we've got like a the New Balance 8 60 uh you got you already mentioned Hawker so it's the Gaviota isn't it that your go to very knowledgeable Matt wonder why who am I working with poor the podiatrist um yeah so these these two are other options aren't they yeah so the new balance is that for the slightly bigger foot in general and is that is that how you decide to be honest like the every year there's a new model and some models are better than others like we've noticed all shoes all stability shoes getting that bit softer but getting wider um but yes some brands have a wider toe box so for New Balance they have more rectangular toe box so um the Asics tend to have a much more a narrow sort of toe box especially around the 5th toe it often rubs a lot of people so if you do have that wider foot yeah Brooks New Balance are probably my favourites Hoka they look very large hmm but they're not necessarily the widest in the toe box hmm and but if you got wide toe box I would avoid the a 6 Kyanos and what I've Learned from you as well is that um if you have a wide foot and you wear a shoe that's too narrow by clumping your feet together actually makes you more unstable which could then add to that force going through the plantar fascia as well is that right yeah yeah exactly if you I I think that comes down to if your foot's like wide across the arch hmm so if you are wearing a Nike say like a Nike shoe they tend to have quite a narrow um base um or last as we would call it in shoes and then your arch if it's wider than the shoe will actually just collapse through the side of the upper hmm and therefore you can just excessively roll through it um so yeah I think that's definitely something to consider OK so let me summarize for plantar fasciitis we generally 90% of the time looking for a stable shoe like an Asics Kayano a New Balance 8 60 etcetera we want to make sure that the width is sufficient to fit the foot so it's not more unstable um and some people especially with the pain when they land on their heel specifically might need a little bit more cushioning but that's a small percentage of the population yeah I think that that's where it's like very if you're really not sure go stability go gotta see someone because there's those people that have chronic plantar fasciitis and everything hurts so when they put their heel down it hurts too but it could still be tendinitis got it thank you yeah bit of a tough one so another condition we see a lot of is Achilles tendinopathy does it differ here does the shoe choice differ yeah I think the the important the important factors of the shoes are slightly different so we focus more on the heel to toe difference is one of the key factors so when we're talking about that um in a lot of running shoes they do have like between a 6 to 12 millimeter heel to toe drop um and the higher the heel to toe drop the better for Achilles tendinopathy so we're looking at we want it to be high so for the Brooks the Brooks Adrenaline has 12 mil heel toe drop so most of the time that's one thing I'll go to it also has a firm heel counter so the heel counter underneath the heel is hard so if it's too soft your heel will actually just sink into it and that drop will reduce whereas this is hard and so it stops the foot from dropping you don't want that foot to drop into like Dorsi flexion otherwise it puts more strain on the back of the leg what is Dorsi flexion dorsiflexion is when you the uh top of the foot moves closer to the shin so the foot moves up in the air okay so and let's just explain the heel to toe drop what does that mean in practical terms so a thicker heel compared to the forefoot so the foam of the heel is thicker the 4 foot is thinner and it gives you a lot a heel a high heel effect so it makes you look like you're walking in high heels essentially or makes it feel a bit like you're walking in high heels exactly exactly and that as far as I understand means that we're taking the strain off the Achilles tendon almost putting it on a little bit of slack is that right yeah exactly putting on slack allowing it to recover heal rather than just being damaged every step that we take in this situation then is actually wearing a high heel good for you well yeah I I think wearing a high heel could benefit you the problem with high heels are that often come with instability the fact that they it's just your foot on this very thin uh stick of material foot's on there and then you your ankles got no support so actually we know that the movement side to side can also irritate the Achilles too so it's better than flat very flat sandal issues but maybe not as good as a sports trainer oh no yeah and uh here's a here's a little hack see if you agree with this sometimes I just uh get people to put a very small heel raise or even a slightly larger heel raise um so about 6 millimetres to 8 millimetres in the back of their shoe yeah and that can be enough to take the edge off the pain is that something you recommend as well yeah yeah that's definitely something I'll do in clinic straight away is um yeah heel raises out into the shoes how's that feel oh better happy days easy win with a patient and we're eventually we're aiming to get rid of that heel raise right yeah exactly eventually definitely it's a short term method that we use to reduce the pain sometimes it's actually the contact of the shoe isn't it on the Achilles that can irritate the insertion what can people do about that I think that's a really important question and I think people need to have some like close attention to detail like look at what shoe is irritating him so usually maybe a shoe with a low a low cut so often the flatter shoes have that lower cut and then you want to go and find something with a really deep heel cup so some running shoes have really deep heel cups so like the Brooks Ghost Max which we've mentioned in clinic a lot recently I love it um for treating foot conditions and it has a massive volume in it so the cup is is wide it doesn't press on the back and it's super padded so actually feel a lot more comfortable whereas like your Stan Smiths uh or your Adidas Sambas they are obviously flat and they have like a very low cut and that they often give people blisters yeah well I was gonna bring that up actually because um one of your best recommendations for shoes was Adidas Sambas wasn't it for me I didn't recommend them oh no it's Adam sorry yeah unbelievable do you think a podiatrist would recommend about you no I just I wanted to blame you for something ha ha ha no but it really cut up my Achilles and and like you know I had really bad blisters from that yeah I did get used to it in the end but yeah probably not good shoe to wear long term yeah especially so if you have a PES cavus it's flat so it's got no heel to toe drop it's gonna irritate it and then also that low cut heel cup could irritate if it's insessional as well yeah I know yeah okay one for the ladies now um 4 foot pain first of all what is the 4 foot so easy one the 4 foots at the front of the foot so the area that we're looking at here is between the toes and the start of the arch and all the way across from the big toe to the little toe so yeah very common for ladies to get forefoot conditions but also we do see them often in runners as well yeah got it and is that more about the shoes that these ladies are wearing or is it something intrinsic in their foot type yeah couple of things so we often see obviously fashion ladies fashion from way back in like especially Chinese culture they used to bind the feet they used to want them to be smaller and so a lot of ladies don't want to wear bigger shoes because they don't think it's as attractive and so they try and fit into these smaller shoes actually like 75% of people are wearing the wrong size shoes which is pretty crazy wow and I definitely see that in clinic as well and so yeah the fashion market is just these pointed small shoes that a lot of these ladies are wearing to the to the office they're spending most of their time in day to day and it really compresses the toes into an unnatural shape that paired with high heels where there's a lot of pressure on the the forefoot as well can easily lead to these forefoot conditions got it so now onto shoe considerations if someone does have a forefoot condition let's say Morton's neuroma but there's also metatarsalgia that they might have been told they have what should they be looking for in their shoe yeah they they've got to know that they've got a forefoot condition if they don't wear shoes that are wide enough their foot is never gonna get better so I have this honest Frank conversation with my patients and I say to them look you here to get better we're gonna get you in a wider shoe we're gonna reduce the pain down when the pain goes away we can start to bring in other shoes as well um so yeah they need to be looking at the width so for ladies who don't can't get a shoe wide enough for them then they may have to wear the men's style but luckily nowadays there's quite like a lot of unisex shoes and the colours quite neutral as well um which is good for them so limiting the pressure on each side is gonna reduce that the pain um and then I suppose if they're getting pain like around the big toe joint it we need to look at what are the other considerations like is it the amount of foot's like collapsing in that's causing strain on that big toe joint uh if it was then we'd be looking at something which of a firmer structure um and then I suppose if it's if they're wearing like a high heel would be a lot looking at reducing the heel so there's less pressure on the forefoot and that's the problem with some of the stability shoes isn't it so you've got the shoes might be stable which might reduce the roll onto the toe but if they've got a higher heel to toe yeah drop drop then that puts more force on the forefoot so um are there any shoes that are slightly flatter with the wide toe box and are stable yeah the def definitely are in I mean in general um I'm pretty sure like Hoka shoes have like a 6 mil heel to toe drop especially in their Gaviota's I think it's about that um so that's a bit lower then we do have our zero drop shoes um some great ones are ultra they're zero drop which means there's no difference between the heel and toe they also got an anatomical toe box so it's meant to be replicate your foot's anatomy and not compress either so that can be a really good option too rockers and I'm not talking about LED Zeppelin wait oh all the jokes um so yes so rockers now are built into a lot of these shoes um first of all can you explain what a rocker is and is it good or bad for forefoot pain yeah for sure so a rocker is on the front of the shoe obviously and it's the curvature on the front of the shoe so the rocker the base the way it works is as you transfer your weight forwards and push it towards the rocker then it will allow you to propel on further and push off so in a lot of like um very fast aggressive running shoes they'll have the carbon plate in that paired with a very aggressive rocker to be able to push themselves on forwards and like generate energy and we see that in a lot of sports shoes and shoes in general and for forefoot conditions they do actually really help hmm and because they reduce the time under load the time that you spend on your forefoot which will reduce the uh amount of irritation the areas get and the amount of pain you feel and damage that's done so they can really help um and every shoe has a slightly different rocker and the the APEX the APEX of the rocker can be at different places so um if your I mean if your pain is so further back in the forefoot then you want your APEX to be slightly further back too so you can compare shoe to shoe where the APEX is and you can put your foot in the shoe you can feel where your big toe sits you sort of like imaginally Mark it on the shoe and then compare that to another shoe um as well or you just come see me and I can tell you which one's better hahaha so um so you mentioned carbon plates there as well um obviously that makes the shoe stiffer yeah um that might reduce the amount of flexion that occurs at these toes is that right can a carbon plate actually help these conditions yeah yeah carbon plate can definitely help it I think a 4 foot condition where a carbon plate can really help is like hallux limitus or rigidus which is where the big toe it's arthritic it doesn't move as well and any movement within it actually irritates it so the carbon plate can make it super stiff and that with a aggressive rocker means your big toe doesn't have to do any work um cause as you push your weight on the rocker rocks you forwards and that carbon plate helps to sort of push you on um and that can make it actually bit more comfortable so I I did have a a lady with a high arch hallux uh rigidus she's having a lot of pain we tried the carbon plate in the clinic within the shoe and it made it better but hundred and twenty dollars for a carbon plate on one side I thought may as well just get a new pair of shoes so just went she went out got like a Marathon pair of saucony's and she said the big toe pains got better OK so to summarize um for four foot conditions what we want is first off a wide fit and that gives space if that doesn't work then we can start to consider other things which would be potentially having a 4 foot rocker yeah uh considering a stability shoe so you're not rolling into the 4 foot especially into the big toe yeah um but making sure that if we are getting a stability shoe we don't have a big heel to toe drop yep exactly um and then potentially considering a carbon plated shoe which stiffens the sole and reduces the amount of time under that 4 foot load yeah exactly and just a bit of bonus uh for the for the listeners have tuned in if you do have a forefoot condition and you've no idea what shoe to get get the Brooks Ghost Max 2 oh we've used that in clinic yeah how good is it in clinic it's so good and I haven't had a patient where I've had a problem with it yet so yeah I mean it looks like an absolute boat it looks like a boat yeah and people say that's what it feels like it runs like a boat yeah but then the pain gets better yeah so no it's been magic for me as well yeah great recommendation that thank you we've all got a grandma with a toe that sort of faces the wrong way um what is going on there and what do we need to consider in terms of shoes to deal with that sure yeah um this commonly called a bunion uh or in space scientific terminology we call it hallux valgus and basically it's the angle of the the phalanx the toe against the metatarsal and the bigger the angle the worse the bunion as well um I think it's commonly it can commonly get confused with like some big toe arthritis as well so if you're not sure you can ask someone about it does it matter I think it does I think it does matter I think it is treated in different ways and and people can um be trying to use a toe separator when the big toe's hurting and it's actually um limited range of motion and that would not make a difference so it definitely matters um then for this condition there's some really important factors so many people think it's down to shoes oh it's cause I wore high heels all my 20s and my 30s and all my mum's got one and actually yes it's to do with the shoes yes genetics is a factor but then there's also the factor of excessive pronation so if your foot excessively rolls in you're more likely to develop a bunion because there's more um pressure going on the medial or the inside portion of your big toe and which can lead to the joint sort of moving um into that abnormal position and then lastly tight calves so if you have tight calves you'll put more pressure on your forefoot and that can lead to uh more of a bunion develop so when a surgeon does a surgery on the the bunion they're like a like crack it pin it and then they'll do a calf release so that reducing the strain on the forefoot for after so it doesn't come back so actually for all forefoot conditions calf length is really important yeah I yeah exactly I think calf length is really important for any yeah any foot condition in general but yeah 4 foot conditions definitely so yeah if you have if you're wondering if you got 4 foot condition like you're talking about earlier it's all the shoes but also stretch your calves great OK great background what can they do shoe wise yeah so shoe wise um I would always go for a wide a wide shoe again um for ladies you can get some brands like New Balance and Brooks in 2 e and for like sandals wise birkenstocks tend to have a pretty wide base as well um and then you want some stability too so you want that stiffer firmer sold shoe you don't want that shoe that flexes in half easily um so when you go to the shop make sure it doesn't twist too easily make sure it doesn't bend too easily so it's giving you that stability um as well I think at birkenstocks they actually do these uh Arizona slides but they have the um the sort of toe ring over the big toe and I quite like that for bunions keeps it in place uh I suppose it reduces you got a bit of vibe to it that toe ring up bit of vibe just what I like yeah ha ha d no so back to the shoes so I would go for bunions wide and stable okay so from grandmas to weekend warriors oh and some grandmas can be weekend warriors as well um my mum yeah yeah I'm pleased you didn't say your mum ha ha ha ha ha um so let's let's go straight to the most controversial topic barefoot shoes yes or no well I think I've spoken enough so why don't you let loose on this one oh God um this is where I sit with it we've been evolving into bipedal organisms for about 4 million years we've been Homo sapiens for about 300,000 and yet we've lived in this industrial um hard floored world for about 200 so we are perfectly evolved for a world that we don't live in um and yet we want to act like we live 300 years ago 400 years ago um so yes we're evolved yes we should be able to walk bare feet but the reality is we can't or most of us can't unless you are a North African runner that's been barefoot all their life you got a body fat percentage of 12% and you're conditioned to run barefoot or without support and and that's what I talk through with my patients um so we have to wear shoes just to combat the environment that we're in yeah exactly when our foot hits the floor the floor doesn't mold around us back few thousand years ago you hit the floor oh it's nice little dirt a bit of dirt around you or maybe sand and the the the environment molds to your foot but now there's no chance of it happening and I think yeah a lot of people online get get at me so for me for barefoot shoes I do think there's a shoe for every foot but at the same time when patients come and see me with foot pain and they've got and they're asking me can they wear barefoot shoes probably 98% of the time they're not gonna be able to wear barefoot shoes because with a barefoot shoe the only thing that I can really offload is is 4 foot width but for every other condition we use the shoes geometry the shoes cushioning the shoes stability to redistribute load to other parts of the foot so that they can the area that's injured can heal and barefoot shoes for me they can't do that at all but if my patients so keen to wear barefoot shoes then our goal is to get there to get them to be able to wear barefoot shoes but it it will be a journey everything will be done gradually we'll have to do some yeah definitely intrinsic foot uh strengthening some lower limb strengthening we're gonna have to make sure like that the perfect candidate for it like you say we don't want them to necessarily be excessively like overweight um and so they can tolerate the load it's gonna put through their foot and ankle because we know that wearing barefoot shoes is gonna increase the risk of foot and ankle issues yeah do you prescribe them no cause I think it's just too high risk to reward um but the other thing is discussing when you would use them so as as you said there you might wanna use them if you're going for a uh spending some time on the beach for example or um if you're just walking um or you're going on holiday and you're gonna be you know walking and spending a lot of time on grassy fields or something like that but if you're not to go running in and if you were to go running in them it's something you'd have to build up very slowly into so yes the body has the ability to adapt we're definitely adaptable organisms but you have to balance that load with rest and then really gradually build up that load otherwise and we've seen it both of us you you can end up with not just tendon issues but um fractures stress fractures um so it can be actually really quite dangerous yeah exactly I'm gonna be a bit of a Matt here I'm gonna I'm gonna name a study 2023 study it's catching yeah uh this is the first one I've ever ever named uh but basically that minimal issues they can uh strengthen the intrinsics um but actually the there's a massive risk of foot and ankle issues from um barefoot shoes um as well they can actually double your injury risk um from wearing them so we we know from the literature actually that it can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months to get used to wearing barefoot shoes or minimalist shoes and that we know people don't go gradual the reason they come and see is cause they do too much too soon uh in the wrong equipment are there anyone who you don't and definitely don't recommend barefoot shoes to um yes I would say first of all um the heavier population there's just more force going through um those that are less conditioned um females especially um at high risk of osteoporosis and that's why I mentioned females really so that perimenopausal menopausal age especially if there's a history of osteoporosis um or even osteopenia so again we're just always manage always thinking about risk versus benefit and to me that's the high risk group yeah yeah for sure there's one more group actually I wanna ask you about what about the hypermobile group is is that another risk factor in barefoot shoes yeah I think in I think it's hard being hypermobile tends to mean that you've got very flexible joints um and you need to be strong when you're hypermobile and people will say oh I'll just stick me in a barefoot shoe and I'll get stronger but if they go into a barefoot shoe and they do their normal day to day activities and it's too much then they may end up with more pain uh I think it's not something I would do I know there's lots of people out there probably will say it's the thing to do but I personally I wouldn't do it I would I think I would get better results from going into a stability shoe uh giving that ankle stability and giving them a nice smooth ride and I think they'd enjoy that journey more than a barefoot shoe in the end at the end of the day what we're trying to do is allow people to live healthy thriving lives where they can exercise get strong um and if you're constantly getting injured because you're wearing a shoe you're just interrupting that journey of health yeah yeah exactly that's that's a great way to put it so we put those on the bonfire um what is a good shoe for someone starting out running yeah big question I think when you're starting out running it's gonna be hard running is hard it's tiring it's fatiguing it puts a lot of demands on your body especially if you're new to it so for me I think the easiest option is to go for a stability shoe um it doesn't have to be like max stability maybe like a moderate stability shoe but if you go into a cushioning shoe it like we just discussed earlier standing on the hard floor barefoot is gonna be hard enough but standing on one leg on a cushion is gonna make it put a lot of strain on your foot and ankle if you're not quite ready for that then going into that firmer more stable shoe is gonna reduce that amount of movement side to side and you can just focus on moving forwards moving your body forwards and I think that's gonna be better so moderate stability shoes if we're just going through like the big ones we got the Hoka Arahi um you got the Asics GT 2 um then we got the Brooks pre potentially glittering slash adrenaline are gonna be decent options um so I would start with that moderate stability shoe here's a here's a test that I sometimes get people to do in the the clinic um get them to stand on their one leg on the ground and then hands on hips maybe close their eyes if they can see how long they can stand see how stable it feels are they making any mistakes and then get them to put the shoe on and do the same thing and just see the change in stability and if it's horrendously bad in the shoe but they're OK without the shoe that's that's probably a shoe that's not great for them yeah yeah for sure I mean we know that it can put instability on the foot and ankle but then that can affect the knee uh can also affect the hip and we can see a lot lots of problems um with a very soft shoe so just start with a slightly firmer shoe and then you can build your rotation out from there if you if you go on for that bit longer then you can choose a slightly different shoe so you can get used to the demands of that shoe as well the worst shoe for running the worst running shoe for beginners is the Adidas Adios Pro Fours they are so unstable they're so highly cushioned they're narrow they're too lightweight I've seen I went and did the 10K and I was running along I could see this girl in front of me luminous Adidas Adidas Pros brand spanking new and in front of me she just walks to the side she starts stretching out her foot'cause I know she's not training them and she's deaf if she's running at my pace she's definitely a beginner and she was in a lot of pain they are terrible for beginners so yeah don't go when you're a runner beginner don't go top shelf and go oh yeah I'll get the most expensive because they're probably gonna be super shoes and they're probably going to be super incompatible no that's great OK so I'm beginner runner they've done their foundations they're now looking to integrate a little bit of speed into their program what's a good starting speed shoe yeah I think firstly I would do the speed runs in their daily running shoe initially just to get used to the loads of the speed running once they're all good with that they aren't showing any signs of injuries then looking at that next shoe um and it would be a case of understanding what you need more of so with a speed shoe they tend to be lighter maybe like a bit softer more spongy um which will give you a bit more energy to run that faster being lighter it's gonna be easier on the feet may have a lighter upper as well um and may have a bit more aggressive rocker so propels you forwards a bit more but if you know like for example like you excessively pronate you might want something a bit more a bit more stable on the speed shoe side so for example my mate Ollie he the speed shoe he went for he needed more stability he went for a wider based speed shoe so that can give having a wider base will give more stability whereas if you'd gone for like a Nike um the Nike Alpha flies which are one of like a very fast shoe but they are very narrow and they offer like zero stability that's probably gonna be better for someone who has been running for a long time that knows that they can run faster they run like more often and they can tolerate the the demands on their body whereas for somebody who's more of a beginner they might be looking for again something which is just a bit bit more stable and like we talked about maybe a bit firmer ankle support and a slightly firmer foam throughout not too soft as well can you give me an example of a slightly wider more stable speed shoe yeah so I'd say that the Asics Magic Speed Fours are slightly more stable than the Nike Alpha Flies and but then you could also go for like maybe a super trainer something like the uh A6 Super blasts they are great for running fast but also you can do like a a longer run in them as well um and because the race sort of fast shoes are more very expensive it's great to get a shoe which you can use for different runs different types of runs because otherwise you just gonna be using that shoe once a week they're expensive and they they wear out quite quickly so if you can use them for more than one then that's better as well so maybe going for a super trainer would be a good step towards that faster shoe let's move away from running Singaporeans spend an awful lot of time in sandals or slippers that can be pretty hard on the feet what are some good sandals or slippers that you recommend so let's first of all talk about the effect that a flip flop can have on the foot so they are attached by a thong they're not really attached to the foot so when you're walking you can't go for your normal heel to toe gait you actually shorten your step length you put more pressure directly through your heel and actually there's research to show that that increases the amount of fatigue that occurs over time hmm and we know that fatigue that tiredness in the tendons in the foot muscles can lead to then some discomfort which can lead to foot pain over time they're also because they're not attached you grip in them so it can cause it could cause some like clawing to the foot as well and you just other parts of your foot aren't working hard so cause you're not lifting your foot up high off the floor you know the front of muscles they just won't be worked they'll be underdeveloped and then when you go do go to wearing that ah clothing shoe which is slightly heavier you just can't tolerate it as much there is definitely like a Singapore shuffle my exactly um it's like a a lot of sort of hip and knee going on isn't there yeah yeah for sure I would say it's on par with the ballet flats that's the other shoe I see a lot here yeah um so I would say 70% I'm just guessing there of girls just going to the office wearing ballet flats um my girlfriend wears them um and they're just so easy aren't they they're cheap you know they look great I think yeah that's what they think anyway um and um but they they're narrow they're flimsy they've got no support yeah how bad exactly and I think goes back to when we talk about barefoot shoes we live in this hard man made environment and if you're wearing your your flip flops your sandals they're just they're not um they're not softening the blow on your feet they're not supporting your feet and in any case it's just making things worse so um I'm gonna ask you about the best sandals or flip flops in a second that are there any good work shoes that these ladies can wear yeah I'd say there are some which are more like shoes you want maybe something with that a slightly thicker sole um like a rubber sole gives it more firm more stable um there's a Singaporean brand called Another Soul that does these anytime flats um which I think are pretty good um and they're wide and comfortable um and then I suppose like Vivier has come quite popular in Singapore too and some of their shoes are a bit more sturdy and offer a bit more support but it's style by style and then if you're a bit more cash a bit more you know startup can you wear your Stan Smiths and things like that yeah Stan Smith is gonna be better than the ballet flats hundred percent um but then like in moving into that sport style shoes they're just gonna be that bit better as well correct um so back on to the uh topic in hand uh the flip flop sandals selection what do we got yeah so I would I reckon I personally think a slide is actually better than a flip flop I think it holds to your foot that bit better there's more strap in contact with your foot um and they tend to be a bit more snug as well some and some slides do offer like a bit of a boat shape rocker to them you've got your your Hoka recovery slides which got a rocker and then you have your U Force recovery slides which have a nice boat shape to them so they they could be a bit better for walking around in um but I I like a birkenstocks I think birkenstocks are great they they offer a lot of support they're firm they got a wide base they do offer some like a toe grips which so it's more secure to your foot but I would usually always go for the Milano style with the back strap um or maybe in the um Boston clog style you might be looking at the one with the strap on the back a bit which is a bit better cause it secures the foot in place and it means that you can go heel to toe you don't worry about it falling off off your legs so you can uh improve your biomechanics in that way um other sandals I suppose like keen sandals are pretty good Teva sandals are pretty good too so those types of sandals which are actually attached to your foot are gonna be much better nice so here we are onto our favourite section um where you get a chance to have your one wish for our population um with regards to shoes so this is our magic wand section not like that um off you go uh yeah so we know that 75% of people are wearing the wrong size shoe a very very simple thing for someone to do is to make sure they're wearing the right size shoe whether that's going to a a shoe shop um and getting your your foot measured so you know exactly how long it is or whether it's taking a piece of paper out drawing around your foot and measuring it with a tape measure get those measurements in your um notes so that every time that you buy a new shoe online you can go onto that measurement guide and you can pick the shoe which is the right size for you but you would always put one and a/2 1 to one and a/2 centimetres in front of your big toe so add that to it and then order your shoe okay from positive to negative uh we've had a lot of moans on today's podcast but what's your one pet peeve when it comes to shoes yeah a huge frustration of mine is that other healthcare professionals that are treating foot pain they'll happily do shockwave therapy for the foot pain they'll they'll do um maybe some custom insoles whatever it is that they're doing people spending lots of money but they will not even consider looking at their shoes so if you've got foot pain the first thing you should consider is what you're actually putting on your feet and there it is the end of our comeback um thank you so much for joining us on our collaborative journey to health and performance please make sure that you do like subscribe and get in the comments let us know if there's anything that you want to hear from us in our following podcasts from Paula Podiatrist thank you thank you and from me Matt Winter that's all we've got see you soon