Health Many wear inappropriate shoes

Study: Most Germans push the shoe. Many people do not wear the right shoe size and therefore have health issues with their feet.

(19.08.2010) The German Shoe Institute (DSI) warns: only one in five wears appropriate footwear. This is what scientists from the Testing and Research Institute Pirmasens and the Institute of Clothing Physics Hohenstein have now published in the framework of the „German foot report“ determined.

The researchers analyzed over 10,000 feet for three years in the morning, at noon and in the evening using a 3D scanner. The result is frightening: More than 80 percent of Germans wear the wrong footwear. The shoes are about two-thirds of the cases too big and about one-third too small. In addition, women tend to buy their shoes a size smaller while men often wear too large shoes, according to Study Director Monika Richter.

Both too big and too small shoes are extremely detrimental to the health of the feet and can, worn over a longer period of time, not only cause deformities and circulatory disorders of the feet but also spinal and disc problems. „If the shoe is too far, the foot will not stop and slip into the space intended for unwinding in the shoe, the so-called encore. As a result, the toes are compressed at each step as if the shoe is too small. If the shoe is too long, it prevents the foot from rolling”, explained Norbert Becker, foot specialist of the University of Tübingen. According to the experts in the modern industrialized nations, about 60 percent suffer from foot problems, with correspondingly negative consequences for their health.

In comparison to the results of the first foot report 44 years ago, there is hardly any change in shoe size. Men are still most likely to wear size 42, and women size 38-39. However, the width, volume and circumference of the feet have changed. "There is a shift to broader feet," said Monika Richter, which may be because the Germans have become larger and fuller on average. (Fp)

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