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Why you should always wear socks with your shoes
Carefully selecting shoes that allow for both comfort and breathability is important, but so is keeping shoes clean and dry.
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Slip-ons, canvas and pointed toe shoes, and any type of footwear worn without socks could contribute to foot conditions, according to a podiatric physician. (Shutterstock/File)
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lip-ons, canvas and pointed toe shoes, and any type of footwear worn without socks could contribute to foot conditions, according to a podiatric physician; a foot and ankle surgeon.
“On average your feet will sweat half a pint a day; that’s a lot to be pouring out straight into your shoe without it being absorbed by a sock,” said podiatrist at the College of Podiatry Emma Stevenson, as quoted by The Telegraph.
Stevenson also said that many shoes available nowadays tended to only have leather uppers but were usually lined with non-breathable synthetic material. Moisture, heat and bacteria become trapped inside the shoe because of this.
“Depending on the level of sweating of the foot, there may be issues with too much moisture in the feet, which can leave you vulnerable to fungal infections such as athlete’s foot,” Stevenson said.
Some of the “biggest issues” were with narrow, pointed men’s shoes and slip-on shoes, as “going sockless is common with both of these styles,” she said, adding that pointed shoes were not designed with the appropriate shape for the foot and were ill-fitting, causing friction over parts of the foot where the bone was particularly close to the surface of the skin, like toes and heels.
“In addition to increasing the risk of ingrown toenails, other bony defect issues such as bunions can be exacerbated by pointy shoes,” she said. “Slip-on shoes cause the toes to claw in order to keep the shoe on the foot and can also result in increased friction on the back of the foot where the foot slips in and out of the shoe.”
Carefully selecting shoes that allow for both comfort and breathability is important, but so is keeping shoes clean and dry.
Read also: Cleaning and caring tips for white sneakers
“As a whole, we are seeing more and more men coming to us with issues caused by poorly fitting footwear, and not just ones choosing to go sockless,” Stevenson said.
If the sockless look is so important, there are precautions and steps one can take, such as not wearing the same pair of shoes twice in a row, which can begin to smell due to gathering bacteria, according to Reader’s Digest.
Other remedies such as spraying feet with antiperspirant before putting shoes on, giving shoes 48 hours to dry out after wearing, using dry tea bags to absorb excess moisture in shoes and washing your feet diligently before and after wearing shoes can lessen the risk of your feet developing conditions. (acr/kes)
