My friend the orthotic maker tells us that ballet flats are just about as bad for your feet as high heels (which he says are also very bad for your feet). You need some proper support if you want to keep walking on those feet for the rest of your life.
You can create your own ‘support’ by using and strengthening the many muscles of your feet and ankles (many of which are also part of the muscles of your lower leg). Rather that treating your feet like dead fish and making them conform 24/7 to inserts and the various unnatural shapes of shoes.
I have worked 16-hour shifts on hard floors in various non-slip sneakers and good nursing shoes and my feet, legs, and back would ache. Since conditioning my feet and changing my gait a bit, my work shoes are those little canvas (‘Chinese’) Mary Janes with the paper-thin rubber sole, and I have not had a mite of foot (or leg, or back) pain after a 16-hour shift on a hard floor. My feet support themselves now, much better than any shoe can.
I agree with your friend if he’s saying that there is no shoe that’s really good for your feet. That is my personal opinion.
But when people walk barefoot they don’t have support either.
I’m not realy onboard with the premise of the OP that most professional women are suffering with high heels. From my observations in most of the professionally dressed business world these days, women do not wear high heeled pumps, but wear more sensible shoes. Flats, mid to low heeled pumps, various clogs etc.
The only place I’ve seen a majority of high heeled warriors are in the cohort of (mainly but not entirely) younger women in high fashion urban environments who are looking to maximize their attractiveness to men, or just love high heels for their sexy and stylish look.This is relatively small subset of the overall universe of professional women.
Do you have an exercise regimen or something for your feet?
Yup. I spent my youth in hideous orthopedic shoes–back in the day before removable orthotics. Now, I wear the less hideous sandals from SAA or flattish/low heeled shoes or boots with arch supports!
You really have to try on a bunch of shoes to find good ones…
I also would like to know the details about this! It sounds interesting.
I hate shopping. I hate that men can walk into Macy’s, pick out a suit, and then the employee will take their measurements right there, tailor it, and then the guy can come pick it up next week. What?! No! I have to go to a million stores to find one pair of pants that even come close to fitting me. I have to then envision what they would look like if they did fit me and try to figure out if they could be made to fit me. Then I have to go out and find a good tailor. So far, no luck. Or you could buy a sewing machine and do it yourself which if you are relatively inexperienced at that can be a little scary because I do not want to mess up my very expensive pants. And you need to buy two pairs of every color so you can have one for flats and one for heels. It’s ridiculous.
I can not find shoes either. I have very narrow feet and I need some sort of support. I have also sprained both ankles twice (not from high heels) so in any pair of high heels I will inevitably roll my ankle about once a day. It’s doesn’t always lead to injury but it does make me look like a complete idiot for a second. I am also usually right between sizes in most brands. I have found comfortable tennis shoes but that’s it. Literally. Every other pair of shoes I own will immediately or eventually hurt my feet.
Shopping for women IMO takes time, money, patience, a thick skin, and pain.
Oh and don’t even get me started on bathing suits.
I like my shoes to match my outfit and the season. I will often buy a shoe in more than one color to match different outfits. I have small feet (5 or 5.5) so when I find a shoe I like that fits well, I jump on it, especially a nice shoe. I like my shoes to last, so I try and buy quality ones. Some manufacturers start at size 6, others only ship one size 5.5 and no size 5 to the store. I resort to buying on-line and shipping back what doesn’t fit and buying multiple colors of the ones that do fit.
Yes, I could get by on just a few pairs shoes, but I like having a variety to choose from.
Keeping in mind that I agree with you 100% on the bathing suit issue, this paragraph makes no sense to me.
If you find pants you like, buy them to fit your largest part and then have they tailored to fit the rest - just like men do.
Before my best friend had her children her waist was absurdly small - like 18 inches, Scarlet O’Hara small and she could never get pants to fit off the rack. So she bought them to fit her hips and had the waist taken in. She had a regular tailor so she started to get a deal.
BTW - I have had excellent luck with Korean lady tailors - I’m not sure if sewing arts are pushed heavily in Korea or what, but keep your eyes peeled for a Kwan, Tan or Hung on the door plate and you should do ok, at least in my experience.
That’s what I said. But the waist is usually huge because it has to fit my hips therefore I have about 5 pairs of pants sitting in my closet that are waiting to be tailored. I’m waiting for when I have the time and the money to devote to the second half of the clothing process so for now I just wear a belt (which I usually borrow from my fiance’) and high heels because all my pants need to be hemmed. And what irks me is that men can do a kind of one-stop shopping kind of thing. Go in the store, get pants, get them tailored, and leave. I can not do this. I have to do the second part on my own which is a pain in my butt.
No…but I think those ballet flats are bad for your feet. One, there is no padding. Two, there is nothing at all for the arch. Not all of us need arch support, but to have nothing there seems to bother my feet more than just walking barefoot, for some reason. I think when you walk barefoot you walk more naturally (obviously) and the ballet flats make your feet try to compensate.
Humm. Well, perhaps we shop in different stores. Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, Beneton, J Crew, etc will all pin and hem your pants, jackets, etc in store and send them to a tailor for you. They charge of course, but about what men would pay for hemming or having the waist taken in.
Nordstrom doesn’t charge if you buy full price. Buy clothes, pick them up tailored a week later.
Yeeeah I can’t afford to spend $100 on one pair of pants.
That’s good to know, especially for dresses - none of them seem to fit all of my parts at the same time. I may have to give up on buying stuff at a discount if I’m going to spend more on alterations than I spent for the damn dress!
Yeah, then it becomes a lot harder. Because you have to find pants WORTH tailoring that you can spend $20-$50 to tailor (and if you are talking about wide hips and tiny waist, that’s a lot more expensive than a simple hem) and that come into the less than $100 for a pair of pants. Or you shop a gazillon places, trying to find a pair of pants that fit decently off the rack and live with those.
Those guys going into Macy’s and walking out with tailored pants though - they are spending $100+ on one pair of pants. If you do that at Macy’s, they’ll tailor them too - just like the men.
Just using them in the ways they’re made for - running, walking, jumping, climbing in bare or nearly-so feet. When you are barefoot you instinctively protect your sensitive bony heel, which means the rest of your foot and your lower legs get quite a workout. The arch of the foot is designed to work like a spring, but it can’t perform that function very well if it’s restricted by thick shoes and ‘arch supports’.
I own several pairs of 2" heels that are supposed to be designed for comfort (those Naturalizer heels). To be honest, they’re more comfortable than 2" heels without their comfort features, but they’re not as comfortable as a decent pair of flats (not ballet flats–those are wicked uncomfortable for walking in). Similarly, heels that fit feel a lot better than heels that don’t, but not as good as flats that fit!
I continue to wear heels because they’re part of the outfit. It just doesn’t look the same with flats. I’ll wear flats when I don’t have anything important that day, but I’ll wear the heels if I really want to look put together.
So I guess I sacrifice comfort for style. However, I’ve gotten used to them now, and they don’t bother me nearly the way they did when I started wearing heels. I spend a lot of the day sitting at my desk anyway. At this point, it’s not a huge sacrifice.
Well that would make things more difficult - I’m not sure it would be worth it to spend the $$ on tailoring. Perhaps your belt solution is the best bet.