Do you get shin splints or shooting pains in your legs when you exercise?
Choosing the right shoe is extremely important to successful walking. Wearing
proper shoes can prevent injury and ensures a more comfortable physical
activity experience. How you lace your shoes is another thing to consider when
preparing to be active.
Picking Shoes & Laces
Things to look for:
- Comfort is of utmost importance
- Good toe room is highly important
- Sturdiness and support for your foot
- Durability of the shoe
- Price
- Availability of wide or narrow sizes
- Versatility: use your shoes for walking and for working/shopping.
Shoe Trying Tips
- Bring the socks you generally wear walking to use while trying on the
shoes.
- The right size for walking shoes will be a size to a size and a half
larger than your dress shoes because your feet swell while walking.
- Try on shoes later in the day or right after walking so your feet will
have swelled.
- Shoes should feel great when you put them on, don't buy them thinking
you will "wear them in."
- If you have wide or narrow feet, look for a brand that has widths.
- If any part of your foot feels it is rubbing against a rough spot in
the shoe or boot, try another pair or style. You are sure to get blisters
otherwise
- Get the right laces
- If your laces are too long, replace them with shorter laces.
- Round laces seem to be more slippery than flat ones.
- Plastic or velcro lace locks you use with your existing laces
Know your Knots
- Double knot the bow. This is not a cure-all - several walkers
reported that they needed to triple or quadruple tie their shoes to keep
them tied.
- Double knot the bow and then tuck the laces (all four ends) under the
crisscrossed laces towards the front of the shoe.
- First, tie your shoes as you normally do. Then, cross the laces.
Then form a loop with each side like rabbits ears. Take one loop and wrap
it twice around the other and pull tight. Tuck the laces in under one of
the crossed laces. They will never come untied and as a bonus they also
never knot and come undone when you pull either lace.
- Another knot:After forming the first loop go around it twice instead of
only once before pulling the second loop through. The two times around
the center of the knot keeps it from working untied.
- Other Tricks
- Lace-Stick: Rub this safe
sticky stuff on your laces and they will stay tied.
- Two words: duct tape. Run a piece of tape around the instep so it
covers the laces. They don't become loose and the ends stay tucked under
the tape.
- Squirt a little water on your shoelaces after they are tied they should
stay tied for the whole day.
- Sew them up with a needle and thread. Tie your shoes before the race
and put the stitch through the lace knot, just 3 or 4 times. When done a
strong tug will free them up.
- It is one advantage of having a gait like a duck - although my shoes
come untied I can never remember stepping on or tripping on my laces, knock
on wood! Another duck-footed walker measured her stride length to assure
herself that she couldn't step on an untied lace during a race.
