In summer we tend to wear flatter, looser and sometimes inappropriate footwear. When a shoe is not well fastened or does not meet certain characteristics, it can cause injuries to the foot that usually appear some time later, once the season is over.
Shoes must have special characteristics to protect the foot, especially in the heel area. These are, on the one hand, the cushioning capacity of the sole of the shoe and, on the other hand, the height of the heel, which are two very important things.
In this respect, very flat shoes are not good, especially for the heel. Shoes with very thin soles are bad for the whole foot in general. For example, the typical ballerina that many girls wear has two problems: one, it is flat and, secondly, it often has no cushioning at all.
It is necessary to think about the function of the shoe. Originally man did not wear shoes, it is something that civilization incorporated. The function of the shoe is to protect the foot from the ground, from the irregularities of the terrain, from the spikes and stones that you can stick, etc. So the shoe has to be designed in such a way that it fulfills all this and that it is not something that, on the contrary, harms you.
The important thing is to cushion and the heel must have a certain height, it cannot be completely flat. Thus, the heel should have at least 2-3cm and, up to 4cm, we consider that it is a correct heel for a woman. For a man it should be at least 2cm. The fact that a shoe is flat is very bad. And this is because, normally, more than 60% of the general population and, much more, women (whose percentage can be even higher, because it is a problem linked to sex), have a very short Achilles tendon and calf muscles, as if they were shrunken. This means that when a woman goes completely barefoot, she feels more tightness than normal in the heel area. That is why it is so healthy for everyone to wear a little heel in the shoe. There are even girls who say that when they wear flat shoes, they have the sensation that they go backwards and increase the instability of the foot, twisting the ankle more.
How can we prevent shoes from hurting us, especially in the heel area?
Basically as mentioned above. It is important to always look for shoes with cushioning soles, which means that they should not be thin. The so-called “cobbler’s sole”, which is the typical thin leather sole, is very bad for the foot. Therefore, the sole must have a sufficient thickness. In addition, if possible, the shoes should have some kind of insole that adapts the foot to the shoe. And, another very important thing, wear suitable shoes that are sufficiently tied to the foot, especially now in summer, when many sandals are not tied to the back and the foot dances, having to adapt to the shoe. This is very dangerous because it causes many disorders in the foot. In fact, when the summer is over, there are many patients who suffer the consequences of having worn the wrong shoes during the summer, such as plantar fasciitis, metatarsalgia, among others. Specifically, in the heel area, plantar fasciitis is the most common injury.
What to do when we notice pain in the heel, caused by shoes?
It is necessary to go to the specialist. The sooner you go to a health professional, the better. If it is a pain that lasts more than a week and does not go away with anti-inflammatory or analgesic the recommendation is to go to the specialist in Traumatology, no longer to the family doctor or podiatrist.