Looking for some new athletic shoes for all your fun summer activities? The HSS Women’s Sports Medicine Center offers the following tips on picking the best one for you:
1. Go to a specialty running store. Running stores have the expertise to help you select the right shoe for your specific activity and foot type. Many of them even offer video analysis, so you can test a few different shoes out and then review their performance in slow motion, giving you a much better sense of their performance.
2. Try on athletic shoes at the end of the day when your foot may be slightly swollen. This will guarantee that the shoe fits well during physical activity when lots of blood flows to the feet.
3. Look for about a thumb’s width between your longest toe and the end of the shoe (1/4″ to 1/2″ of room between the inside of the toe box and your longest toe). The ball of your foot should match the widest part of the shoe. Even though the sides of your foot may be resting on the inside lining, you should still be able to wiggle or scrunch your foot without feeling constricted. If one foot is slightly longer then the other, always fit the longer foot. You can use inserts to improve the fit on the shorter shoe.
4. Wear the same weight of socks that you intend to use during physical activity – not dress socks or nylons. Socks with a high cotton content cause blisters more easily. Select socks that are a polyester-acrylic blend.
5. Make sure you try on both shoes in the pair and give them a “test drive” on a hard surface, not a carpeted floor. Run, jump or perform other movements that represent your sports activity. If you’re deciding between two pairs of shoes, wear one on each foot and move around to compare the feel.
