Shoes are a popular fashion accessory, but if you’re buying your shoes based on looks alone, there could be some knee pain in your future. Here’s how knee problems and your footwear are linked and what you should look for in your next pair of shoes.
You might think of shoes as a fashion accessory, but they do a lot more than just look good. Your shoes protect your feet and your joints, too. If you don’t select the right footwear, you could wind up with painful symptoms — not just in your feet, but in your knees as well because your bones are interconnected.
About a quarter of American adults suffers from knee pain, and it’s a common complaint for both women and men. One reason knee pain is so prevalent is because you use your knees for so many activities. Another reason is because a wide variety of factors can cause painful knee joints.
In fact, proper shoe selection is an important part of managing knee pain, and at Regenexx Las Vegas, it’s just one way Josh Goodwin, MD, and his team help patients in Henderson, Nevada, play a proactive role in their care. If you’re experiencing knee pain, here’s how your shoes could be contributing to it.
The link between shoes and knee pain
While it’s pretty obvious that ill-fitting shoes can cause foot pain, the association between your shoes and your knees isn’t so clear to most people. That’s because when people think of shoes, they think of their feet, not the bones and joints in other parts of their body.
However, your shoes have a big influence on your biomechanics — the way your body moves and reacts to motion and movement. If you’ve ever worn a pair of tight shoes, you know all too well how a poor fit can cause you to walk a little more gingerly, distributing your weight to other parts of your feet to minimize the aches and pains.
Even a minor shift in your weight and your center of gravity changes the forces on your knees. Eventually, that shift can lead to knee pain.
The same is true of shoes that don’t provide adequate support for your feet and ankles. When support is limited, your feet, ankles, or both can slant, twist, or roll inward or outward, again causing a redistribution of weight that leads to excess wear-and-tear on the cartilage, tendons, and ligaments of your knees.
High heels, clogs, flip-flops, slippers, and flat-soled shoes can all lead to knee pain simply because they change the way your weight is distributed, which in turn causes extra stress on your knee joints.
The best shoes for knee pain
So what shoes should you wear if you have knee pain? Ideally, you want to select shoes that provide support without being too confining.
Look for shoes with good arch support and support around your ankles, too, and be sure there’s ample room in the toe area. If you must wear heels, flip-flops, or stiff dress shoes, limit the amount of time they’re on your feet.
If you play any type of sport or activity like walking or hiking, make an investment in shoes designed for your activity. That way, you can minimize the impact on your knees by ensuring your shoes provide ample shock absorption, and support.
In addition, replace shoes that are starting to wear out. Keeping shoes until the soles are worn down or the uppers are loose or torn might seem like a good way to save money, but in the end, you can wind up paying a much greater price in terms of foot and knee problems.
Find relief for your aching knees
Knee pain isn’t normal, no matter your age. To learn about available treatments for knee pain and what you can do to play a proactive role in your joint health, call the Regenexx Las Vegas office, conveniently located in Henderson’s Green Valley neighborhood, or book an appointment online.
