The Elephant in the (Shoe) Room...

Tips

May 9

Key takeaways:

Shoe size has nothing to do with clothing size (though even clothing sizing is arbitrary!), it is a neutral indicator that can even vary by brand and model. Don’t let it bother you in the slightest if you need a larger size (or a smaller size!) than what you thought.
The human foot changing over time is a completely normal part of development, adaptation and age. Don’t worry if things have shifted from when you were 18 years old!
Many people just never realized what a properly sized shoe should feel like in the first place. Though it might not feel normal to you at first, don’t confuse familiarity with comfort.
If you are experiencing pain in your feet or just haven’t had your foot measured in a while, come by and have your size double checked.

Here at Terra Running Company we love fitting our customers for shoes! When you walk in our doors you will be greeted and told to let us know if you would like us to “fit you up.” This means that we will measure your feet, analyze your gait and foot fall, as well as interview you on any aches, pains, or problems you are trying to address with a new pair of shoes. This is a completely free and just part of our legendary customer service!

And while most customers find the information we provide from the shoe fitting process incredibly helpful, there is one aspect of it that many people struggle to accept…

… their real shoe size.

Think about it. Most people land on their shoe size by high school and, barring some life events where it is well known that feet size may change (post-pregnancy, dramatic weight gain/loss, etc.), it never occurs to most of us that it is important to periodically reexamine shoe size. Most people have absolutely no idea that feet can lengthen out over time as muscles and ligaments, strengthen, weaken and stretch. Add to this that we are in the age of online shopping where purchases are made not based on comfort but on clicks, and you end up with millions of people use to the feeling of ill-fitting shoes. This is especially harmful for those who are older and have been cramming their feet into “their normal shoe size” for 30, 40, 50+ years, not ever realizing that they are wearing a shoe that is dramatically too small. Overtime, this leads to a whole host of problems that require medical attention to address.

Knowing this you would think that most people would be ecstatic to finally put their feet into a pair of shoes that gives their toes the appropriate space, hits in the arch correctly, and doesn’t constrict blood flow or pinch nerves… right?

Wrong.

For a lot of people their is an angst around shoe size in the same way that many feel angst around clothing size. Yes, diet culture has effected even the way we view our shoes! As a shoe fitter, it can feel like the elephant in the room to inform someone of their shoe size because so many will not want to accept that, though they “have always been a size 8,” they really should be in a size 9.5. Though it is not even remotely the same thing, for many this feels like learning that, though they thought their clothing size was a small, it really should be a large. For others, there is simply the stubborn feeling that there is no way that they have been wrong about their shoe size and, for others, it is simply difficult to get used to the feeling of a properly fitting shoe after years of wearing a tight, ill-fitting shoe.

What are some signs that you may be in the wrong size:

You have neuropathy in your feet. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and make no claim to be! I can only speak from my own experience fitting many people for shoes over the years, and I can tell you that almost every, single, person that I have fit up who has told me that they have neuropathy has been — not just in the wrong shoe size — but in the dramatically wrong shoe size.
You think you need a wide width. While it is true that many people do need wide width shoes, we also see a lot of people who think they need wide width shoes but are simply in too small of a size in the first place.
Your feet (or foot) gets tingly at the end of the day or on a run or walk. This is a classic sign that you may be in the wrong size! Feet swell with activity as well as throughout the day. Though a shoe may “fit” when you first put it on, if you are in the wrong size, things will only get worse as the day, or the run, goes on.
Your toes hit the end of your shoe. Your toes should not be crammed up to the end of your shoe! There should be about a centimeter plus of distance between the end of your toes and the end of the shoe.
You have very large or very small feet. It can be difficult to find the right size shoe in stock for feet that are very large or very small and, for many people, they will just settle for what they find on the shelf. People with rarer sizes, are often in the wrong size simply out of necessity. (Let us special order a shoe in the right size for you!)
Your feet just hurt at the end of the day. This could be caused by a lot of reasons but being in the wrong size could also be the culprit.