Old Shoes

It’s been said that old, worn running shoes can cause foot or leg injuries. This may be true if your old shoes were bad to start with. Running shoe companies want people to get rid of their shoes sooner to buy new ones more often. But a good shoe that has a lot of wear may still be good. Properly made running shoes that match your feet could last years depending on your training. Marketing has made many people believe that we have to replace our shoes frequently—every 500 miles or less. This may be true when the shoes are poorly made, but even cheap shoes can last a long time.

A number of factors may cause you to either repair or replace your current shoes. First and foremost, they should remain comfortable. As soon as they cease being comfortable, they need to be repaired or replaced.

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Another factor is wear. The two heaviest areas of wear are the heel and under the ball of the foot. If you run properly, there’s less wear on the heel. If your shoes wear very unevenly, this could be a problem. For example, if one heel is worn a quarter inch more than the other, this can cause a significant muscle imbalance (which may be the cause of this excess wear to start with). If one heel is worn down much more than the other, repair both heels if possible, or buy new shoes. If the area under the ball of the foot is worn through the sole, sometimes due to an imbalanced gait while running, this is also a reason to repair or replace the shoe.

A common problem in some shoes is the breakdown of the stiffener in the heel area. This is especially troublesome when the heel height is more than about an inch thick. This can create instability in the feet and lead to balance problems.