We are all aware of the amazing benefits of running. This is the easiest yet one of the most effective types of exercise that benefits your whole body. In recent times a lot of people are getting interested in running. And the first thing they need is a good pair of running shoes.
A good pair of shoes makes your running experience a lot better. And you guessed it right. A bad pair of shoes will do the exact opposite. The fault can also be in your lacing technique even with a good pair of shoes. How you lace your running shoes has a huge effect on your feet and overall running experience.
If you don’t lace your running shoes correctly it can cause problems like foot pain, toe numbness, and so on. You must know how to lace your running shoes according to your foot shape, size, and condition. So, we are going to discuss how to lace running shoes for wide feet/flat feet/numb toes to help you out.
Why do your toes numb?
Toe numbness after a long run can be caused by a number of reasons. Let’s look at the most common ones.
- You have diabetes: If you have high sugar and fat in your blood, this damages your nerves. And that causes toe numbness.
- Your shoes are too tight: If the shoes you are wearing for a long time, this cuts off blood circulation and makes the toes numb.
- Morton’s neuroma: This means the tissue around the nerve that leads to the toes has thickened and is causing numbness.
- Reynaud’s phenomenon: If you have this problem, then cold weather or stress will cause your toes to go numb and change color.
- Heavy exercising: Exercising for a long time or running can cause numbness in the toes. The blood circulation is hampered.
- You have a bunion: The bony bump on the end of your big toe makes it harder for the shoe to fit and causes toe numbness.
- Broken toe: If you have a broken toe, then the orientation of your foot changes, and it can cause toe numbness.
- Injury in the spinal cord: If you have injured your spinal cord somehow your toe can go numb because that controls the nerves.
- Vitamin B-12 deficiency: Not enough vitamin B-12 means not enough red blood cells which cause problems like toe numbness.
- Stroke: If you had a stroke before it has weakened your nervous control. This can make your toes go numb.
How to lace running shoes for Wide feet
Let’s see how you can lace your running shoes.
Method-1
In this technique, you will leave as much room as possible.
- So, start lacing up from the bottom and go through fist eyelets.
- Now cross the laces over and go down through the second eyelets.
- then without crossing over go through the third eyelets and stay on the same side.
- Now go down through the fourth set of eyelets and this time cross over.
- Again, skip crossing over and go up through the sixth set of eyelets on the same side.
- Now crossover and go up through the sixth eyelets. Continue this up until the end.
Method-2
In this technique, you want to distribute the lacing evenly so that the pressure is evenly felt on both feet.
- Now at first take both ends of the lace through the front eyelet.
- Then make one end of the lace go through two parallel laces.
- Make the other end do the same on the opposite side.
- Finish up lacing his way.
- When you are finished each pair of eyelets will be linked by a straight path of lace.
Method-3
This method is almost like the method most people use to lace their shoes every day. But there is a small difference to make it comfortable for wide feet.
- To make this happen start your lacing by taking the two ends of the lace and making them go through the front eyelet.
- Now comes the important part. Crisscross the lace but use two alternate eyelets.
- And keep crisscrossing only through the alternate eyelets to the end. Finally, tie the ends up.
Read more : Most 11 Symptoms of Wearing Wrong Running Shoes
How to lace running shoes for flat feet
Having flat feet means you don’t have the arches as pronounced as other people. So, you are going to need as much arch support as possible to make the shoes comfortable around your feet. The method you should follow to lace your running shoes perfectly if you have flat feet is,
- You need to start from the bottom and move upwards.
- So, start lacing through the first eyelet at the bottom.
- Now cross over the lace ends and then go through the second set of eyelets.
- After that while going through the third set of eyelets but without crossing over.
- Then again cross over and go through the fourth set.
- Do this until the end. And at the end, most people with flat feet like to keep the last set of eyelets unlaced. You can try that.
- Because you need as much support as possible you should pull the ends of the lace quite hard. But not so hard.
How to lace running shoes for numb toes
Let’s see how you can lace your running shoes for numb toes.
Method-1
- You will start lacing from the big toe.
- And from there go to the top eyelet on the opposite side.
- Now start working with the other end of the lace.
- Take it through the eyelet on the other side.
- Go diagonally while going down.
- And then go up but parallel to the other side.
- Keep doing this until the end.
- Now tie the two ends together.
Method-2
- Start with your usual crisscrossing through the eyelets.
- After two eyelets skip crisscrossing and go through the same side.
- Do this for each end of the lace.
- After that go back to normal crisscrossing to the end.
- Now tie up the ends of the lace.
How to lace running shoes for heel slippage
- Start with your usual crisscross patterned lacing.
- Go through all the eyelets in the same manner leaving the last two.
- At the very top two eyelets down stop crisscrossing and horizontally through the eyelet on the top on the same side.
- This will create a loop on each side.
- Take the opposite end of the lace through each loop.
- Now you can tie the ends as usual
How to lace shoes for top of foot pain
- To avoid pain at the top of your foot you will need to lace your shoe a little differently in the middle.
- Start lacing at the bottom and go upwards.
- Do crisscrossing with the lace for the first two eyelets.
- Then stop crisscrossing and go directly upward parallelly to the eyelet on the same side. Go through it.
- Do the same with both of the ends.
- Now go back to crisscrossing again to the end.
- When you are done tie the ends up.
How do you lace running shoes for sore feet?
To avoid a sore foot problem, follow this
- Start lacing through the first eyelets.
- On one side go parallelly upwards and skip one eyelet. Go through the nest eyelet. And then change side and go to the other side parallelly.
- On another side go parallelly upwards and go through the next eyelet without skipping any. Now change side and go to the other side parallelly.
- Now continue the procedure with the ends while they are on the opposite sides.
- But this time alter the skipping which means the end that skipped earlier will not skip this time.
- And the one that did not skip will skip.
- But both of them will go first upwards and then parallelly to the other side.
- At the end tie the ends.
Read More: How to Choose Running Shoes: All Beginner To Professionals
FAQ
Still got some questions? Check the section below.
Are tight shoes better than loose shoes?
Shoes should not be either very tight or very loose. They need to be a little longer than your feet though. And they should be a little loose so that there is room for you to adjust. But if they are too loose then you will not be able to run or exercise wearing them.
On the other hand, if they are too tight then it will create friction and itchiness that will make you uncomfortable and finally will cause foot pain or toe numbness. So, the right size is the key.
Why do my new running shoes make my toes numb?
It is because they are still a little bit tight. This hampers the natural blood circulation to the toes. The feet are compressed a little bit more than usual. So, the nerves in the toes are not working properly. All of this causes toe numbness. So, lace your new shoes a little bit looser.
Conclusion
It was a long and detailed conversation on how to lace running shoes for Wide feet/ flat feet/numb toes. To conclude this discussion, we will again put a real emphasis on the fact that you need to lace your running shoes according to the shape, size, and condition of your feet.
Running will really benefit you if you do it right. But if you don’t follow the necessary suggestions, it will do the exact opposite of benefitting. And lacing your running shoes following the right technique is a very important suggestion. Try to follow it so that you will enjoy your running and really benefit from it.
