A study of 1,846 people at Kasturba Medical College in India found that those who started wearing shoes before age 6 were twice as likely to have flat arches (a deformity) as those who stayed shoeless until age 16 or older. Going barefoot is good for your feet because your naked step stresses all the muscles evenly. "Shoes constrict the arch and toe muscles, so they become weak," says Dr. Carol Frey, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Southern California. "And weak feet have no more resistance against deformity than a bunch of wet noodles." Dress codes and broken beer bottles make shoes a necessity in this country, but you can still maximize your barefoot time. "Kick off your shoes as soon as you get home," Dr. Frey advises. And wear sandals or flip-flops whenever possible -- they're the closest thing to bare feet. Narrow Shoes Dress shoes are often too narrow for the average American man's "meaty toes," says Dr. Steven Subotnick of the California College of Podiatric Medicine. Cramming your feet into slender shoes can compress the metatarsal bones, pinching nerves and causing chronic pain in the ball of the foot. (It's called Morton's neuroma.) Also, scrunching your toes against the front of the shoe can cause hammertoe, a clawlike deformity in which your first toe joint is permanently bent. This can alter your gait and encourage blisters and corns. To avoid these painful conditions and the cortisone injections or surgery they can require, be sure your shoes have ample toe room, both horizontally and vertically. Better yet, Dr. Subotnick says, switch to shoes that are squarer in the toe, and choose wide, light hiking boots for long walks; they give your toes more headroom than sneakers do. See an orthopedist or podiatrist if you have recurrent toe cramps, tingling between your toes or aching in the balls of your feet. Thinking That New Shoes Need to Be Broken In "If your shoes aren't perfectly comfortable when you leave the store, you're headed for problems," says Dr. Glenn Gastwirth, executive director of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Here's the checklist he follows at every fitting:
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