My Feet Hurt: How to Make Your Shoes More Comfortable

Are you tired of saying, “My feet hurt!”, all the time? If so, it’s likely your shoes that are to blame.

You should take some time to learn about how to make shoes comfortable. Otherwise, you might be put in a position where you’ll have to deal with all kinds of foot disorders down the line.

You can take steps to stop saying things like, “My shoes are uncomfortable” and “My shoes hurt,” on a regular basis. It’s all about rethinking the approach that you take to putting shoes on your feet.

Today, we’re going to take a closer look at how to make shoes more comfortable from now on. It should bring some much-needed relief to your feet and prevent you from having to live with constant foot pain.

Continue reading to get a handful of tips on how to help your feet by making your shoes more comfortable.

Buy Shoes That Are the Right Size for Your Feet

When is the last time that you actually went to a shoe store to find out what size your feet are? There is a good chance that it’s been a long time now since you sat down and had your feet measured.

As a result, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to hear that you might not be wearing the right size shoe. Many people are walking around in shoes that are either too big or too small simply because they haven’t taken the time to get their feet measured in years.

If you fall into this category, you should go to a shoe store to buy your next pair of shoes and measure your feet while you’re there. It could be the best solution to your “My feet hurt!” problem.

You should also check out these shoe size charts for more information on buying properly sized shoes.

Make Sure Shoes Are Wide Enough for Your Feet

When people are having their feet measured, they’ll usually pay close attention to what size shoe they should be wearing. But they don’t always realize that they should also pay close attention to the width of their feet.

If you’re someone who has feet that are on the wider side, they might be this way because of:

  • Genetics
  • Age
  • Foot issues
  • Medical conditions
  • Improper footwear

Whatever the case, you shouldn’t just ignore the fact that you have wide feet. Instead, you should make it your mission to begin buying wide shoes that will fit your feet better than the shoes you wear now. They might make a big difference in how comfortable your shoes are.

Break In Shoes Before Wearing Them for Long Stretches of Time

Are you the type of person who buys a new pair of shoes, puts them right on your feet, and immediately starts wearing them every day? If you are, you shouldn’t be shocked if your feet hurt.

You’re probably not giving your feet enough time to get adjusted to your new shoes. It’s inevitably going to lead to you dealing with foot pain until your new shoes get broken in.

There are a variety of ways that you can break in new shoes so that you don’t have any pain when you eventually begin to wear them all the time. You can do things like:

  • Wear new shoes in short spurts while you’re walking around in your house
  • Use a blow dryer to soften certain materials that are used to create shoes
  • Bend shoes with your hands to get their soles to loosen up just a little bit

As long as you do things like this, you shouldn’t be left saying, “My new shoes hurt!” They might still be a little stiff. But it’ll be so much easier to mold your shoes to your specific feet when you break them in.

Wear Moisture-Wicking Socks With Your Shoes

When you spend all day with a pair of shoes on your feet, your feet are undoubtedly going to begin to sweat at some point. And the sweat that your feet create can do more than just make them clammy.

As your feet sweat, they’re also going to slip and slide all over the place. This can lead to blisters and other things that will result in foot pain.

For this reason, you should always try to wear a pair of moisture-wicking socks with your shoes, especially if they’re new. These kinds of socks will stop your feet from getting too sweaty and leave your feet feeling more comfortable overall.

Pick Out the Right Pairs of Shoes to Wear Each Day

Many studies have suggested that the shoes you wear will help give other people some insight into your personality. With this in mind, it isn’t hard to see why so many people spend so much time picking out pairs of shoes to wear.

But unfortunately, this sometimes leads to them picking out shoes that aren’t a great fit for whatever they’re going to be doing on a given day. They’ll select, say, heavy-duty boots or high heels for a day when they’re going to spend a ton of time on their feet—and they’ll pay the price for it later!

Each and every day, you should make it your mission to select the right shoes to wear based on what you’re going to be doing. You can save yourself from a lot of discomfort by doing this and ensure that you don’t get stuck with the wrong pair of shoes on at any point.

Put Shoe Stretchers to the Test in Your Shoes

Earlier, we pointed out how important it is for people to wear the right size shoes on their feet. If everyone did this, it would eliminate most of the foot pain that people feel day in and day out.

But there are some materials, like leather, that will make a pair of shoes feel tight even when they fit right. If you have any shoes made out of these materials, you might want to consider putting shoe stretchers to the test.

You can put a pair of shoe stretchers into new shoes to stretch them out just a little bit. It’ll make them fit so much better the first time you put them on your feet and begin wearing them around.

You obviously don’t want to go too crazy with shoe stretchers and use them on all your shoes. They could end up doing some damage to certain materials that can’t be stretched.

But generally speaking, it would be smart to have shoe stretchers around in case you ever need them. They could come in handy when it comes to breaking in some types of shoes.

Stick a Pair of Orthotic Inserts in Your Shoes

If you try everything that we’ve talked about thus far and you still find yourself saying, “My feet hurt,” more often than you might like, you may have to take some drastic measures. You can begin by investing in a good pair of orthotic inserts for your shoes.

At first, you should try out a pair of very basic orthotics to see how your feet respond to them. They could do the trick and make your feet more comfortable than you may have imagined.

But if your feet don’t respond to them, you can also step things up and see if your doctor will prescribe you prescription orthotics. They’re going to be one of the last lines of defense for foot pain and should make a big difference in the way that your feet feel from here on out.

See a Podiatrist If All Your Shoes Hurt Your Feet

There are right around 18,000 podiatrists in the country right now. If you’re having a really difficult time getting rid of foot pain, you might want to make an appointment with the best one in your area to get their expert opinion.

No matter how hard you work to break shoes in and wear them properly, it might be impossible to eliminate foot pain altogether. By seeking the services of a podiatrist, you can get to the bottom of what’s going on with your feet and put an end to foot pain once and for all.

There are some foot problems that might clear up on their own once you change the way that you wear your shoes. But there are also others that aren’t going to go away without a doctor’s intervention.

Avoid Wearing Shoes That Are Worn-Out

Once upon a time, people used to wear shoes forever. Well, maybe not forever, but they pretty much wore them until there were holes in the bottoms of the soles and no chance of bringing them back to life.

If you’re wearing your shoes for anywhere close to this long these days, you should stop doing it right away. Wearing shoes for this long is going to prevent you from providing your feet with the proper amount of support. This will result in you suffering from foot pain.

Shoes don’t have an exact expiration date. But if you’re wearing a pair of shoes almost every day, you won’t want to push them beyond the one-year mark in most cases. You should try to replace them before that to protect your feet.

You should also replace most athletic shoes long before they reach the one-year mark. If you put between 300 and 500 miles on athletic shoes, they’re going to start to break down on you. It’ll only be a matter of time before your feet are killing you because of your old shoes.

Take Off Your Shoes When You’re at Home

Have you gotten into the habit of keeping your shoes on when you’re walking around in your house? You might be tracking all kinds of things throughout your home and making it dirtier than you might think.

When you walk around in a house with shoes on, you’re going to get dirt, oil, and all kinds of other debris on your floors. This could pose certain health risks to you and your family.

You’re also going to discover that your shoes will wear down on you faster when you’re wearing them at home all the time. You can make them last a little longer than they would otherwise by taking them off as soon as you get home each day.

Instead of wearing shoes in the house, you should slip your feet into some slippers or some other kind of comfortable footwear. They’ll give your feet a break and set them up with enough support for walking around your house.

You should create an area right by your front door where you can take your shoes off and put them back on as you enter and leave your house. It’ll make your feet feel better than they have in a long time.

Stop Saying, “My Feet Hurt,” Every Day and Get Some Relief

“My feet hurt!” is something that many people say all too often nowadays. They have to go through life with pain that plagues them almost all the time.

You might be able to reverse this trend by working to make your shoes more comfortable. Doing something as simple as finding out what shoe size you should be wearing or taking your shoes off in your house can give you the relief you need.

Use the tips found here to learn how to make shoes comfortable. A few small changes could make a big difference in your life.

Browse through our other blog articles for more health-related advice.