You never know how crucial shoes are, until you get a foot problem. Flat shoes with their adorable cuteness can be luring. It’s convenient to be able to slip your feet in and out of your flat shoes any time you want to.
Can Wearing Flat Shoes Cause Leg Pain? Yes, they can. This is because flat shoes are notorious for a lack of arch support. They are pretty harmful and can cause you a lot of leg pain.
What Kinds of Shoes are regarded as Flat?
Flat shoes are literally flat in shape. They don’t have any heels, cushions or arch support. When you put your feet in them, they’re more or less like being barefooted because you’re hitting the ground with only a thin layer of leather or whatever the shoe’s material is.
Shoes that are regarded as flat include:-
Espadrilles: These are shoes with canvas upper and braided soles. They are attractively constructed and easy to wear.
Ballet Flats: These are some of the most common kinds of flats. Ballet flats are soft, rounded shoes that usually have a small bow in front.
Pointed Toe Flats: These are flat shoes with pointed toes. They’re highly fashionable and widely used.
Flip Flops: These are casual, flat soled shoes that feature toe thongs or any other thin strap. They are open and only support your feet with thin soles.
Mules: These kinds of flats are closed at the front and open at the back. Generally, flats don’t feature heels. They have simple designs and are close to the ground.
Why Flat Shoes Cause Leg Pain and other Injuries
Why do flat shoes cause leg pain? There are a number of reasons.
- No Arch Support: The absence of proper arch support is a main disadvantage that makes flat shoes unhealthy. Shoes that lack arch support can cause back pain, hip problems and even plantar fasciitis. So, you should wear high arch support shoes.
- No Ankle Support: Flats don’t have any form of support for your ankle. Buckle straps aren’t common in them, neither are heel cups. This is not appropriate for shoes that you desire to wear often.
- No Shock Absorbency: The shock absorbency feature of good shoes is what makes some labels stand out. Shock from impact on your shoes must be absorbed to a large degree to avoid your feet from taking the entire brunt of it. Excessive shock and impact of the muscles can give you pain.
- Bad General Support and Protection: Flats are often open and give little to no protection for your feet.
Can Flat Shoes Cause Flat Feet?
Flat shoes can contribute to the development of flat feet. The condition itself is often hereditary but it can get worse with bad picks of shoes.
Flats make your feet splay forward without holding your arch up. Your tendons can stretch and tear in the process and cause your arches to fall. This can result in very painful feet.
How to Wear Flat Shoes without Causing Damage to the Legs
If you must wear flat shoes, there are different precautions that you can take to make sure that they don’t damage your feet and give you pains.
- Use orthotic inserts: Orthotic inserts can help give you the right amount of support that you need. Slip in those anytime you buy a new pair of flat shoes and you should be just fine.
- Avoid Wearing only flats: If you must wear flats, don’t wear them too often. Alternate your flat shoes with pumps, walking shoes, and so on.
- Get better fitted shoes: You can shop carefully for your flats to find those that fit you perfectly. While the majority of them are too flat and cause leg pain, some are slightly modified to provide some arch support. Look for these or ask a cobbler to customize yours for you.
Apart from leg pain, what other issues can arise from wearing flats?
The way flats can cause your feet to sprawl, you can assume an unnatural feet position by wearing too many flats.
Splits underneath your feet can also arise from wearing flats. Those, as well as torn tendons can cause you a lot of pain in your leg.
Conclusion & Final Thoughts
Flats are beautiful and can be difficult to ignore. However, your health comes first. If you must wear flats, ensure that you don’t overdo it.
It’s useless damaging your feet over a pair of shoes. We hope you’ll take our advice and take care. Thanks for reading.