As a Podiatrist, I have many discussions with my patients about the benefits of wearing good footwear and the problems that wearing bad ones can cause.
This time of year the UK can be very wet and make it even harder to make good footwear choices.
Wellington boots are often ‘the go to’ footwear when having to walk in the rain when walking our dogs, mucking out horses or just walking in wet, long grass.
Unfortunately our feet can feel like a bag of bones in wellies as there is often no rear foot or indeed mid foot support, hence our feet can move around too freely.
This can cause pressure and friction on our toes as well as pain in our heels, ankles, knees, hips and back if worn for too long.
My advice is to try and swap your wellies where possible with high ankle boots with laces made out of a waterproof material or indeed an alternative rubber ankle boot which has Velcro or lace as a fastener. Having a firm heel counter and support around the mid foot is especially important for those of us who wear orthotics as it doesn’t counteract their good work in putting our feet and lower limb in an improved position .