Worn out shoe support vs. minimalist

I would guess it is the third. You adjust your stride when it comes to shoes. I think everyone does, they just don’t think about it. I walk around the house in socks and it is completely different than when I walk around in running shoes. It gets a lot trickier if I’m walking outside barefooted, because I look down a lot more. I have to be careful where I put my feet.

You probably adjust your stride to the new shoes when you get them. But after a while, you figure out what they can do (provide a lot of cushion or a little) and adjust your style accordingly. Unfortunately, it is hard to adjust to the loss of cushion, because now you’ve become very used to the shoes. It would be as if your bare feet were different.

Known problem.
With sandals the thin sole is flat, which suits your feet just fine. With new shoes the sole is flat too. But with worn-out shoes, there is a depression under the ball of the foot which distorts the bones and ligaments inside your foot, and that does cause all sorts of foot problems. Often it is not the removable footbed which has compressed but the structural core foam in the sole of the shoe. When this happens you have a choice: buy new shoes which will not hurt your feet, or persist in wearing old shoes which will hurt your feet both now and in the long term (eg Morton’s neuroma).

Do the shoe mfrs know that they are using a weak foam which breaks down too soon? (So you have to buy new shoes.) That question is left to the reader to answer.

Cheers

Do the shoe mfrs know that they are using a weak foam which breaks down too soon? (So you have to buy new shoes.) That question is left to the reader to answer.

Fortunately most shoe companies release a “new and improved” model every year.

New – yes indeed. Gotta keep the marks paying.

Improved? That is left as an exercise for the reader. I will say though that the Leadvilles have been brilliant, and the Fresh Foam models seem to have a better internal foam.

Ho Hum.
Cheers

That puts a quash on reusing worn out trail runners for daily use, since the support seems to be failing before the tread (Vibram). I also need to stop using my expensive new pair of trail runners for daily use beyond the break in period. Sucks.

I’m seriously considering regularly committing the fashion faux pa of socks and sandals. Worked great without socks in the summer and it’s even more comfy with socks!

Alternatively I need shoes that don’t wear out so damn fast. Heavy boots are out of the question. I might try some minimally focused shoes so as to blend in more with acceptable decorum.

I wore flip flops to work for many many years. Management didn’t like it, but tough. They kept my feet happy.

For the record – I have worn flip flops for the last 20+ years as well, although NOT walking in the bush here! I am not that silly.

Shoes are a relatively recent invention in the history of Man, and I was not in charge of that department … There is no reason to accept the dictates of the manufacturing and fashion industries: they are concerned about their profits, not the health of your feet.

Cheers