During the summer my wife decided that she would get several pair of those flat genie shoes that are so popular these days. Fast forward to last month, she is at the doctor complaining of pain in her knees. The result was if she had only been wearing shoes, that actually fit, then her knees would not be hurting.

After two days of wearing the more high quality shoes in her closet, that provided her foot with proper support her knees are no longer hurting. Even though she is not happy with wearing the same 3 pairs of shoes, the lesson that she learned is that in her case she is willing to give up cute shoes for comfortable ones.

Larger individuals like my wife and I cannot afford to have our knees or feet to go out on us, so it is important that we have shoes that fit us properly. A few things to keep in mind when purchasing shoes is:

1. Is the shoe the right size.
2. Does the shoe give proper support for your arches.
3. does the shoe support your foot from heel to toe.

Buying shoes today is not like it was 30 years ago when no matter what store you frequented, there was a person to measure your foot and steer you to shoes that fit your individual foot.  Today’s shoe culture is full of buffet style choices with little help from store personnel, leaving the final choice up to the consumer, which is part of the reason that plus size women and big and tall men are making the wrong selections all the time in regard to shoes.

If ladies take the same view with their shoes that they do when bra shopping, which is getting properly measured before making a purchase there will be fewer cases of bad knees and sore feet.