Do your child’s shoes fit?

Are your child’s shoes too small?

A new study reveals that many children are wearing too-small shoes that put them at high risk for developing serious foot deformities.

The study included nearly 250 boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 10 years: researchers measured the children’s feet as well as their indoor and outdoor footwear to determine whether the children were wearing properly sized shoes. They also compared the footwear measurements to the sizes given on the manufacturers’ labels to see if the shoes were marked properly. Finally, they measured the angles of the children’s toes to learn whether any of the subjects were developing a foot deformity called hallux valgus. This is a condition that occurs when the big toe begins to angle sideways, toward the second toe, causing a bunion to develop on the side of the foot just below the big toe. Shoes that are too tight are believed to be one of the leading causes of this condition.

The study found that most of the children tested were wearing the wrong size shoes – as far as outdoor shoes were concerned, 52.8% were too small for the child wearing them and 13.3% were too big. With indoor shoes/slippers, 61.6% were too small and 10.2% were too big.When compared to the size marked on the shoe, 90.2% of outdoor shoes were smaller than the stated size and 97.6% of indoor shoes/slippers were smaller than the stated size.

“The most striking finding in our study was that more than 90% of both outdoor and indoor shoes/slippers worn by the children were too small,” says Norman Espinosa, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Zürich Balgrist in Switzerland. “Interestingly, the shoe sizes given by the manufacturers almost never matched with the true sizes measured by our group.” Additionally, Espinosa notes, the prevalence of hallux valgus amongst the children in the study was higher than indicated by previous research.

To prevent these problems, Dr Espinosa says parents should measure their children’s feet every time they purchase new footwear, and that they should consider the actual size of the shoe rather than just the number marked on the inside of the shoe or the box. Also, parents should check for shoe fit every month or so, especially during times of a growth spurt. Many children will often outgrow their shoes well before the shoes are worn out.

“We truly did not expect such a large percentage of incorrectly declared shoe sizes,” he says. “We now know that we should focus on parental education to help prevent early onset of juvenile foot deformity.”

Was this article helpful?