It’s All in Your Footprint

footprints-sand-runningWellbeing advice organization Healthline says one of the main causes of foot complications is wearing the wrong shoes for your feet. However, before choosing the running shoes that are a perfect fit for you, you need to understand what type of feet you have. Runner’s World recommends a simple “wet test” to determine whether your arches are flat, high or medium. This entails wetting the sole of the foot and stepping onto a blank piece of heavy paper.

If the footprint shows about half of the arch region “filled in,” you have an arch that naturally supports your body weight, and you can probably wear just about any shoe. If the arch of your footprint is mostly filled in, this denotes that your foot may tend to collapse inwards when you run, and you need shoes with more stability. If your footprint shows little or no contact along the outside edge, and you see just the ball of your foot and heel, you have a high arch, which may necessitate a well-cushioned shoe.