The process is simple when it comes to choosing the correct foot-shaped shoes for your favorite activities. A foot-shaped shoe has three elements to look for that will suit your feet and allow you to do what you love. These elements are easy to remember because they are common sense. When something makes sense by itself, you don't need to memorize it.
The three elements are a foot-shaped toe-box, a flexible, and zero-drop sole. These will allow your feet to function naturally. Let's discuss this in a little more detail.
The 3 elements of the right foot-shaped shoes
1- Natural foot-shaped shoes have room for your toes to splay. Without enough room for your toes, you compromise stability and balance and can't improve your foot strength. You develop deformities that can become painful. Do the insert-test: remove the insert and step on it to know if there is enough room for your toes. When your feet are inside the borders of the insert, you know it suits your foot.
2- The sole of your foot-shaped shoes needs to be flexible. Why a flexible-sole shoe? Because your feet flex from heel to toe and laterally. The sole has to allow your feet to flex as they need to. To figure this out, hold the shoe in your hands and try to bend the heel and then the toe-box. Feel the flexibility of the sole; does it wave from one end to the other? It doesn't have to bend completely in two, but it has to flex and wave as your foot does. Consequently, a flexible sole is not thick and will allow your feet to feel the ground. The thickness will vary from 3 to 10 millimeters.
3- The zero-drop sole is an essential element of the foot-shaped shoes. Zero drop means the sole is flat and has no elevation from heel to toe. You want no interference to your natural foot state when wearing your shoes. It should feel like you are barefoot. If you add an arch support there, you are interfering with the natural foot state. If you add cushioning, your brain will search for the ground. The arch and the support remove the ability of your feet to function naturally and will weaken them.
The bonus element is lightweight shoes.
The weight of the foot-shaped shoes is another factor but more difficult to find; high-quality lightweight shoes are rare on the market. The reason you want a shoe that is light is to prevent your feet from carrying extra weight that is unnecessary. The lighter your shoes are, the more comfortable they will be. At the end of the day, if you forget to remove your shoes, it is a good sign and an excellent barefoot-style shoe.
Your feet will be happy when you put them in shoes that don't modify their morphology. Can it be simpler?
1- Your feet are triangular, wider at the toe, and narrower at the heel.
2- Your feet flex from heel to toe; the sole should do precisely that.
3- Your feet are flat with a little natural arch; the foot-shaped shoes are flat, so the feet keep the strength to maintain their natural arch.
Do these shoes work for different activities?
A foot-shaped shoe with all three of the elements above will make your feet strong and healthy. Healthy feet can and do all manner of different activities. It is not the shoes that are performing those activities; it is your feet, a notion we seem to forget. Although the shoes may have different grips to the sole, designed to work better in specific environments, you still need to have your feet able to respond to the activity's demands naturally.
Is SOM Footwear a foot-shaped shoe for different activities?
SOM Sense of Motion Footwear is the perfect foot-shaped shoe for different activities. Don't take our word for it; just read our customers' testimonials, from those who have climbed all the fun mountains in the Rockies. In addition to having the three elements: foot-shaped, flexible, and zero-drop, SOM shoes are also lightweight. We have countless reports from our customers saying that they forgot to remove them at the end of the day. A customer will frequently say: "I realized I was watching TV with my SOMs on." These are happy feet!