How To Pick Shoes Based On Your Foot Pain.
Shoes have progressed so much in the past few years! As Podiatrists, we rely heavily on footwear prescription to improve pain, function and help with injury recover. But, shoes can be confusing. This blog will try and simplify the different shoe features that we utilise, depending on your pain.
Heel pitch / heel drop:
What is a heel pitch / heel drop and why does it matter?
Heel pitch / heel drop is the measurement between the height of the heel in comparison to the forefoot. 90% of shoes on the market have some level of heel pitch / heel drop, ranging from 0mm up to 12mm (based current 2025 shoes).
Higher heel pitches work well for posterior ankle and leg pain such as:
Achilles Tendon Pain
Plantar Fasciopathy
Calf pain
Higher heel pitches work well for those conditions because it reduces the load through the soft tissue (calf) by plantarflexing the foot.
Vice versa lower heel pitches are more suitable to anterior pathologies such as knee and shin pain.
Sole width:
What is sole width and why does it matter?
Sole width is literally describing the width of the sole, and the width will vary on different areas of the foot (hindfoot, midfoot, forefoot) based on what each style / brand is trying to achieve.
Wide soled shoes are built for stability by increasing the surface area between the shoe and the ground. A wide soled shoe would be good for the following:
Tibialis Posterior Pain
Midfoot pain
Instability
Forefoot rocker:
What is a forefoot rocker and why does it matter?
Forefoot rocker is the curvature in the fore part of the shoe. The greater the curvature, the lower the toe flexion and forefoot loading. This works extremely well for forefoot pathologies such as:
Capsulitis
Morton’s Neuroma
Plantar Plate Injuries
As always, this advice is general and if you require any further advice about shoes, please reach out! Also, if you haven’t checked out our Ultimate Footwear Guide, you can click on the image below!
Written by Cooper Garoni.