Why Shoes Must FIT

December 4, 2014 by Mike

Tracy Byrne our podiatrist and leading advisor for Bobux takes us through an overview of what to look for when sizing your child’s feet. Fit fundamentally being the most important factor.
When shopping for a shoe, most people look for a shoe in a size that they would normally fit, and buy it sometimes without trying it on.
Whilst this is a good guideline when choosing a shoe, what is more important is the FIT!
Most deformities (like bunions/ Hallux Valgus) or foot injuries in children and adults are due to shoes being too small.
In a 2011 European study, it was found that 77% of shoes surveyed were labelled as the wrong size- sometimes up to two sizes down.

It was also discovered in an Austrian study in 2009 that the majority of preschool children surveyed were wearing the wrong size- their shoes were too small.
Shoes should allow for full toe flexibility, which needs to be monitored, as children’s feet grow at a relatively rapid rate.
It was also found with these children that the fit of the shoe directly correlated to the hallux angle in children, with only 23% of those children having a straight position of the big toe.
The others- who were found to be in shoes that were too small- had varying degrees of lateral deviations (their toe was positioned at an angle rather than being straight).
The shorter the shoe in relation to the foot, the higher the value of hallux angle, which left untreated, can lead to bunions.

As well as the length of the shoe, care should be taken when looking at the fit of the width. Shoes should have room to run your finger around the side of the shoe and your foot, however not a gap so large that the shoe is gaping open.
With more children these days wearing shoes which are more ergonomically designed to suit their needs, feet are becoming wider, and it is taking a while for some manufacturers to cotton onto this fact.
So in many cases children’s shoes are too narrow for their feet. Sizing is often not consistent between brands, and differing styles of shoes in terms of length and width, so it is always best to try the shoes on and have them fitted by an expert.
The fastening of the shoe can also affect the width, whether they are laces, elastic or Velcro. A double Velcro fastening system on children’s shoes allows for the most versatility with regards to width.