As a runner and someone who relishes living a heathy life you always do your research before making a health product purchase. When you purchased your last pair of running shoes, you learned about the importance of bringing in your old pair to show your wear patterns and informing the sales person about your usual running distance, where your foot strikes the ground, your foot type, and any injuries you may have sustained.
If you have a heel pain condition or bunions, you may have also had orthotics made by your Seattle podiatrist. But there's one hack that can improve comfort even more.
The lacing hack!
Recently the Washington Post wrote an article on this topic focusing on how you can lace your shoes so that you can get better performance when you run and feel better too.
We found the website Katie Runs This to get the lowdown on the exact techniques you'll need for your foot type or foot problem.
Bunions and Wide Forefeet
Orthotics can help tremendously with correcting the biomechanics of your foot to offload your bunions but proper lacing can help even more. This specific lacing technique can widen your forefoot to accommodate the bunion. From the bottom of the eye row, lace up the sides of the shoe. You won't start cross-lacing until you reach your midfoot and then tying the top as usual.
High Instep
The runner with a high instep does the best in a neutral, cushioned shoe. In addition this lacing tip will help with your comfort and performance. This technique starts at the toe of the shoe with a cross-lacing pattern and then doesn't lace again until the top of the shoe. It provides the room you need at the middle of the foot and keeps the shoe from feeling too tight across the arch.
Narrow Feet
The runner with narrow feet in many ways has the opposite problem of the high arched runner. If you can't find a shoe that will fit snugly enough at the midfoot here is a lacing technique that adds a loop right where you need it. Crosslace the shoe starting at the toe and then create a loop that you will thread through it to make it more snug. Continue lacing as usual.
Black Toenail
If you have a tendency to get black toenails, you'll need to allow the material above your big toe to be pulled up and off of the nail when the outside lace is tugged and tied tightly. The special threading technique will accomplish this goal mentioned in Katie's website.
Photo credit: Katie Runs This blog
