Everyday Shoes Could Be Doing You Harm

I had an interesting conversation with someone recently about work/dress shoes.
It's difficult to find something that works for business wear, but isn't undoing all the work I'm trying to do with a less supportive shoe on my runs. After all, I wear the shoes I wear to work for 8-9 hours, sometimes 10 or 11. I wear my running shoes only when I run.

Probably the same problem exists for men. If we were a little more casual at the office, I could get away with something more thin-soled, but I struggle with this one.

I work at a dog daycare, so I'm really lucky. I wear NB walking shoes almost every day.

I wear motion control dress shoes. They have the support necessary, and even fit my orthotics. They do the same thing (or close) that my running shoes do.

Moving into somethign more fitting and designed for me has really helped keep the lower leg injuries at bay!

I didn't read the article, but I learned this summer during marathon training that it was my regular shoes, not my running shoes, that were causing the most issues.  I switched to almost totally heel-less shoes with wider toe boxes and superfeet inserts. 

This was a fairly sad event, as I'm only five feet tall without my heels on.  Loud heels were the best, because they let people know I was coming.  I tend to get run over a lot now by larger strangers in stores/airports/at work.

Edited by DMW 2009-12-30 3:48 PM

I am a nurse so I get to wear my running shoes with my orthotics in them . Perfect! Sometimes I wish I had the kind of job where I could dress up in heels though..........

From my "stand" point, its easier for me to do my run training before work. My running shoes seem to fit/ feel better before I have my steel toe work shoes on for 10 hour days. My everyday shoe is an equivalent to my running shoes just for the reason of the discussion.

I work in an office and wear my Merrell shoes all the time.  They are like a low cut hiking shoe.  I ignore the dress code and wear them with jeans every day.  Most comfortable shoes I've ever owned.  

I wear old running shoes for non-work hours and docker type shoes at work (business casual).

I'm contemplating getting minimalist shoes that I can use at work and on weekends at

 www.vivobarefoot.com

Brian

My office is business casual, so I get by with wearing Birkenstocks most days.  Occasionally, I have to dress nicer and pull out the "good shoes".  At home, I am always barefoot.

I was able to find a hiking shoe that looks good enough to be used a business casual.

I'm a teacher and my wardrobe is all over the map from suits to jeans.  I try to only wear "silly girl" shoes once or twice a week in the warmer months.  In the winter, I wear some kind of casual shoe with my orthotics.  Summer time I often wear flip-flops, which I know are not good. 

I'm typically in socks or barefoot.  I wear shoes when I teach a class (most of the time...) or have to walk outside in the winter or rain, or meet with high-up administrators (unless I know them personally).

For a few years, my brother and I lived together in a small town and we went on an anti-shoe crusade (he was the main instigator, but I helped from time to time -- I had a job and he didn't!) where we would walk into local businesses without shoes.  When they asked us to leave or put shoes on, we talked it over with them (armed with evidence, like the fact that feet track in no more 'germs' than shoes do), and some of them actually changed their policy.  This included a local burrito joint (which served FANTASTIC burritos.)  I loved going to that place shoeless.

I also wear low cut Merrill's most of the time. I work in a hospital and am on my feet and moving all day. I'll alternate shoes though as my feet tend to get "tired" of the same pair worn day after day. Since I started runnign in my birthday shoes, I am spending more days at work wearing relatively thin soled shoes like a pair made by Born, a nice leather slip on. Basically I try to shake it up, but don longer wear heavy shoes with orthotics.

I spent about half of last year dealing with miserable PF after ramping up my running too quickly.  After some trial and error, every pair of non-running shoes I wear has orthotics. And when its warm enough and I don't need shoes, its barefoot or Chacos sandals.

Those look interesting, but - dang, they're expensive for the little bit of material it takes to make them! I would love to find some decent looking and reasonably priced "minimalist" everyday footwear! I know my everyday shoes cause me foot pain. My feet are definitely happiest when I'm barefoot, and I'm barefoot as much as I can possibly be (around the house, etc...)

At work in the ER: old school clogs with the wooden soles.

At home: barefoot

Summer: Tevas, Keen sandals, or old running sneakers

Winter: snow boots with Sorbothane insoles for support

I ONLY wear higher heels (only 1-2 inches) for family events like weddings. Even if I'm going out fairly dressy I wear flatter shoes.

At home, I'm always wearing my Crocs Mammoths.At work, I wear Dansko and/or Merrills.For everything else (running errands, yardwork, etc.), I wear whatever retired running shoes I have lying around the house.

Edited by nscrbug 2009-12-31 4:16 PM

You can get 20% discount coupons at a lot of places, but they're still quite expensive.

I was looking at these from Soft Star for about half the price but don't think they'd pass for business casual.  I also just learned about FeelMax minimalist shoes, but won't pass for business casual in most places either...

So far, the Vivo Barefoot Dharmas are the best I've found for minimalist shoe that I think can pass for business casual.  I've never seen any of these shoes in person, though.....

Brian 

I've been wearing clogs for decades. But the latest pair I went to buy, the store told me Dansko changed their name and the pair I got is called Sanita. But oddly, I still see Dansko in other stores or on Zappos. I also wear old sneakers or sometimes buy a sneaker just for casual wear because they look cool, even though I wouldn't run in them. I have a few pairs of other shoes, but it's hard to find a comfort heel that doesn't scream "comfort."

I'm in a necktie pretty often, so am in J&M wingtips, but I always fly in adidas adistars with zoot compression socks... and walk the dogs with my last pair of running shoes ...

I've been wearing Mephisto shoes for over 15 years (Not the same pair though). They are pretty expensive shoes, they now sell for over $300 a pair. I usually find them for quite a bit less. I've had many pairs and when they wear out I send them to Mephisto and the fix them up and make them as good if not better than new.