Sometimes it can be good to stay in your comfort zone, especially when it comes to footwear. With summer on the horizon and a little European jaunt on the cards for Mr T and I, now is the time to invest in summer shoes. My pursuit for comfy summer shoes has meant swanning around the high-street shoe shops and browsing online for women’s comfort shoes.
My preference for comfort shoes began in my late twenties. I’d suffered a sprained foot and also managed to develop bunions. After visiting a chiropodist and getting some life-changing advice. I vowed never to wear vintage or silly fashion-y shoes ever again.
Wearing vintage shoes that pinched my feet had led me to develop bunions. I also have raised arches, which meant the super flat fashion-y loafers I used to live in were doing me no favours at all!
Comfort is key
I’ve shared before my love of comfy shoes. My experience and foot pain has led me to a point in life where comfort is key. There seems to be a bit of a stigma with comfy shoes. Like comfort shoes are reserved for retirees only. For me comfort is everything. Once you start wearing really comfy shoes it is difficult to settle for anything else. I thought I’d share a little bit of the advice that the chiropodist imparted all those years ago…
Keep it wide
The width of your shoes is very important. As I mentioned before, years of wearing vintage stilettos and shoes that pinched my feet led me to develop bunions. I’d been to my doctor to speak about my options for bunion surgery, but the cons outweighed the pros. Bunion surgery can mean a very long recovery period with no guarantee that they won’t come back later in life.
Now for anyone reading this that has suffered with bunions, there’s nothing fabulous about them. Your feet ache and throb and cause you no end of pain. For me switching to wearing a wider fitting shoe has been a pretty life altering decision. Making this change has meant the bunions that I had have reduced and don’t cause me much trouble at all anymore.
Support Your Arch
My feet have high arches and this means that wearing a very flat shoe is not an option. Feet need support. Look for shoes with a comfy, bouncy inner sole that will give your feet the support they deserve. Foot health is so important and the sooner you start to be kind to your feet the less likely you are to develop issues further down the line. Having correct support for your feet is paramount.
Strap in
Wearing shoes that lace up or that have an ankle strap are much better for your feet. I used to always wear slip on shoes and walk around the city. The slip on shoes would move around and cause my feet to slide around within them. Wearing slip on shoes for a long time can be a cause of serious issues with your feet.
Thankfully I acted quickly after the chiropodist gave me her sage advice and I swopped my shoes to be comfortable and fit my feet correctly. Now I barely ever suffer any pain in my feet. Hopefully my painful experiences can inspire you to consider your own foot health this summer. There’s no going back to my old ways now that I’m used to such comfort. So for the foreseeable future, I’ll be staying in my comfort zone…(when it comes to shoes anyway)
Stay fabulous (and comfortable)
Christine