2torial #0519:
Learn2 Choose Athletic Shoes (continued)

Determine the needs of your feet

Your feet are unique to you. In fact, they're even different from one another. Finding the proper shoe depends upon scoping out the contours of your feet. Here's what to look for:

Size. Have both your feet measured by a competent shoe salesman for size. Remember, it's not unusual for one foot to be longer or wider than the other.

Pronation. When running, our feet tend to strike first at the outside of the heel and roll diagonally forward, eventually lifting off at the inside ball of the foot, near the big toe. This is called pronation, and it's normal. If you have flat feet, however, you tend to overpronate, or roll too much toward the inside. And if you have high arches, you may underpronate, or not move diagonally enough to evenly distribute the impact of your footfall. Inform your salesperson if you have flat feet or very high arches. Different shoes can support and help distribute the motion of your feet, depending on your arch type.

Arch. To check your arches, wet the soles of your feet and then stand on a dry, flat surface where you'll be able to leave your footprints. Step back and take a look. Here's what your footprints are telling you:

• If you can see the entire outline of your footprint, with the arch area nearly filled in, you have flat feet.

• If you have a curve in the silhouette of your footprint where the arch should be, you have normal arches.

• If your footprint looks like two separate islands for the front of the foot and the heel, or if the two islands are connected by a narrow isthmus, you have high arches.

Note: Wear patterns on the soles of your old shoes, calluses on the bottoms of your feet, and even the shape of your legs can also indicate whether you tend to over- or underpronate. Here's how to read the signs:

• If the inside of your shoes' toes wear down quickly, you overpronate. If the outside heels wear quickly, you underpronate.

• Calluses appear in the areas of greatest pressure: the inside edges of the feet for overpronaters, and the outside edges for underpronaters.

• Knock-knees and toes that point outward indicate overpronation; bowlegs with toes that point inward indicate underpronation.