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Wide toe box shoes are surprisingly not the norm in our typical modern day footwear. You will much more often than not find shoes that have bullet-shaped toe boxes because they come to a dull point at the end.
Why this is the norm is beyond me but what I can tell you is that tight, bullet-shaped toe boxes are one of the leading causes for bunions, hammertoes, plantar fasciitis, and lower leg tendonitis of many different kinds.
Our toes were certainly not meant to be packed in to a tight outer casing of a shoe and this is why the term “foot coffins” has now started to gain traction in the mass media to describe what traditional footwear is like.
Our feet deserve more attention than we give them currently and a different kind of attention. Traditional footwear is designed for comfort and to make walking and running easier, however, this is not at all what we need.
Our feet are meant to do the work and they are completely capable of it. Our joints, if treated well, will last us up to 120 years of good use. What we need is not shoes that bind our feet so they don’t have to work, but shoes that enable our feet to be strong so the rest of our joints and muscles above can be stable as well.
You can find my favorite wide toe box shoes here. As an added bonus, they come with a zero drop sole as well which I will be covering the benefits of in a future post.
One of the first things we should look for in our shoe selections is a wide toe box and here are 9 reasons why:
1). Toes can Spread Out for Comfort
Plain and simple, the toes want to splay outward as far as they can. They are the fingers of our feet and they too can get stronger and grasp the surface better when we give them the chance too. The more binded they are in your shoes, the weaker and more useless they will be.
2). Helps Alleviate and Avoid Bunions, Hammertoes
Bunions and hammertoes are formed when the toes are forced to be too close together for long periods of time. I, myself, have a bunion on my left foot for this very reason and many people suffer the same. The big toe joint will calcify and bulge outward when it is pulled into that bullet shape for too long and it becomes very painful and hard to get rid of once its there.
3). Improves Balance and Agility
Naturally, if our toes can spread out more, that is increased surface area that we have covered when we are moving. Not to mention the additional strength of the toes themselves when they are allowed to spread and grasp the ground. This creates a noticeable improvement in athletic performance and overall movement with the strength and control that comes from this extra traction.
4). Helps Maintain a Strong Arch and Stops Overpronating
A little known fact, unfortunately, is that the big toe is a HUGE factor in the shaping of the arches of the feet. Collapsed arches can often be attributed to toes being too weak because they are not able to function properly in the tight shoes that most people wear.
Then, with a weak and collapsed arch, the foot is highly susceptible to collapsing in at the ankle, known as pronation. This is not normal pronation, which is a natural function. This is overpronation which leads to plantar fasciitis and tendonitis.
5). Helps Alleviate Plantar Fasciitis and Lower Leg Tendonitis
Expanding on the last point, wide toe box shoes will allow the big toe (and the rest of the toes) to spread out and gain strength through regular usage again. When the toes become fully functional again, the arch of your foot will grow stronger and stop the ankle from collapsing in. This is what ultimately alleviates overpronation, plantar fasciitis, and lower leg tendonitis.
6). Allows for Pressure to be Spread Evenly Between Toes to Ensure Joint Alignment
Another expansion on the overpronation problem, our joints take severe punishment over time when we don’t resolve these issues. When we overpronate, we put our joints (ankle, knee, hip) into very poor positions and they all collapse inward when we don’t have the strength in our toes and feet. Wide toe shoes allow else to build and maintain the strength necessary to keep all of our joints from collapsing in and giving us pain.
7). Lowers Risk of Injury
A wide toe box shoe, especially when paired with a zero drop sole, will enable our feet to get stronger and even retain flexibility. This means common injuries like rolling of the ankles becomes much less common. Not to mention all of the long term joint issues previously talked about can be resolved through improved technique, meaning much less long term pain and injury.
8). Improves Circulation
The toes and feet need good circulation just like everything else in our body does. Traditional footwear has been known in some people to cause toe numbness or have the toes or feet “fall asleep” when they shouldn’t be. With wide-toed shoes, this is a thing of the past. Letting the toes spread and function at full strength is all they need to keep good circulation moving through them and the feet.
9). Feet Get Stronger and Stop Getting Sore from Exercise
Another common problem with traditional footwear is that they make the feet get sore after a long period of exercise such as a long hike. Many people complain of soreness from periods of hikes, climbing, or jumping because the feet are conditioned to be weak in this footwear.
A wide-toed shoes enables the feet to get strong and primed for long periods of exercise. When the toes are healthy and we utilize a forefoot or midfoot strike landing when moving, this preloads the plantar fascia (arch of the foot) so that it is ready take impact effectively and help us push off of our feet like a spring.
Here are the wide toe box shoes I am currently wearing. They have helped me tremendously in recovering from a major injury as well as the points mentioned above.
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