Although you want to avoid it, your fingers will be squeezed

I have chosen this title because this is what can happen to you if you go to a podiatrist for having toes that are too close together, that are mounted or deviated.

You see.

The thing is, a couple of weeks ago a woman in her 50s came into the shop who was struggling to walk and was carrying a crutch.

She came in, sat down and asked if I had any "glove socks".

The woman meant toe socks.

Her podiatrist had sent her.

She wanted them so that her toes wouldn't rub against each other and to avoid the injuries they were causing.

When I look down I see that she is wearing a pair of sneakers, not for sports, but for everyday use.

Her toes were so tightly packed together that the mesh of his sneakers was like the plastic of a packet of sausages. You could see the toes squeezed as tightly as possible, as if they were vacuum-packed.

When I saw that, I explained to her that even if she bought the toe socks, if she was going to wear them in the narrow shoes she was wearing, her discomfort would not improve.

I think the woman understands me, she nods, but says she doesn't want to change her shoes.

I look at her feet again, I see again her toes like sausages and as I can't shut up, I insist that the problem is not her toes, but the space where she tries to put them.

But nothing.

She tells me that for now she's going to try the "glove socks", which is what his podiatrist told him to do.

'Where the captain rules, the sailor does not'.

So.

Well, nothing to say to the lady, but the podriatrist is putting the cart before the horse.

Because to have straight toes you need two things:

• The first: a wide, flat, flexible shoe that doesn't impede the movement of your toes.

• The second: the toes corrector.

In that order.

The socks recommended by the podiatrist are fine, but they are a patch, a band-aid.

A solution that solves nothing.

An escape forwards.

If you don't change shoes, there is no improvement.

There is.

If you're wondering what footwear I would have recommended to the lady, I'd be between:

Lems Boulder Waterproof boots or the new Chelsea Waterproof.

Because they are wide, they allow the use of braces while walking in them and because they protect you from the cold and rain.

One last note.

Wide shoes not only prevent your toes from being pinched, but also improve your stability by increasing the surface area of your feet on the ground.

Wider = more surface area = more stability.

The woman who visited me not only had toe problems, she used a crutch.

That's it.

Health starts with your feet.

Antonio Caballo.