Being overweight can cause feet to “splay” and become wider and the arch of the foot flatter. This is particularly evident in childhood. When we’re young, the bones in the body haven’t hardened so if a child is overweight the arch of the foot can flatten and cause a change in the whole structure of the foot.
It is vital to wear a comfortable, well-fitting shoe. For those who do have wide feet, however, it can be more challenging to find a shoe that fits, especially stylish shoes and boots that many of my clients want to wear. In particular, I have heard from several female clients (let’s face it: women have more of a shoe fetish that guys do) that they have on occasion, for a special event, squeezed their feet into narrower shoes which rubbed or pinched for hours on end, but they were willing to take a chance on the discomfort for the evening because they couldn’t find a dressy shoe in their width.
Additionally, about foot ware, obese people often struggle to reach their feet and, therefore, tend to wear shoes with little support, such as flat slip-ons or flip flops instead of the well-fitting shoes they should wear for optimal proper support.
