I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the exceptionally-popular Hokas do nothing for foot pain.
Many of the people I talk to who are struggling with Foot Pain are currently wearing or have tried wearing Hokas.
When I ask why, the answer is usually about the “thicker sole” or “extra padding.”
Fair play. That’s the first thing that comes to mind if walking hurts. Put more cushion between me and the ground.
Unfortunately, that’s not quite how it goes. But we’re going to break it down in simple terms right here.
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Hokas have a few problems:
1). They have a built-in “meta rocker,” which is there to propel you forward. Cool technology, but not appropriate for our human feet.
Our feet don’t roll, they strike the ground and generate strength to propel into stride. A lot of this strength should come from the arches, but it won’t if you’re wearing a foot rocker like this.
2). They have a narrow toe box. All their models I looked at, even their “wide” options, are simply too narrow.
This is possibly the most important feature of the shoe to get right if we want to eliminate foot pain. The toes must spread so we can allow better blood flow in and encourage better toe function to build foot strength.
3). They have an elevated heel. The stack height of the Bondi 8 model is at 39mm in the heel and 35mm in the forefoot. The Clifton model has a heel stack height of 36mm and forefoot stack height of 31mm.
4/5mm isn’t terrible considering the industry standard is about 10mm in a running shoe, however, it sounds small but it has a big effect.
A constantly elevated heel shortens the musculature on the back of the leg and hurts ankle mobility. A lack of ankle mobility usually causes the feet to turn outwards and encourage excessive pronation, leading to more foot pain. Bring that heel down, partner.
4). There’s too much cushioning. This is also called stack height, and Hokas come with varying measurements with each model.
We can all see that it’s quite high, and that’s what people seem to like. Unfortunately, that’s not what will stop foot pain.
All this cushioning separates you from the ground too much for your feet to build functional strength. “Walking on pillows” sounds great until you realize your feet are literally falling asleep on those pillows!
Our feet need *almost* the opposites of these features:
> a flat, flexible sole to not restrict the foot’s natural movement
> a wide toe box to let the toes spread, bring in good blood flow, and build strength
> a lower heel, preferably zero drop so our lower leg musculature isn’t getting altered
> less cushioning
Cushioning is a big point of concern when people are currently in Foot Pain and I remember dealing with this myself.
The truth is, you need a bit of cushioning, but not too much. You still need to feel the ground and for the sole to be flexible.
All that dense cushioning puts your foot to sleep because it doesn’t feel anything or have to work anymore. That’s a negative. Our body needs to work in order to keep functioning, otherwise it atrophies.
I got out of pain wearing Xero Shoes, which have a pretty thin sole (anywhere from 4-12mm stack height). Compare that to Hoka’s whopping 39mm stack height 😳
Lately, I’ve been wearing Lems Shoes more because I wear them to work. These have a 12.5mm stack height including a removable insole (perfect while I’m walking on hard flooring).
I’ve come to find Lems as my top choice for anyone with current Foot Pain, primarily because of that extra stack height. All the other great features are included, but it’s nice to have some cushion buffer.
Xero Shoes are a bit more “minimal” or “barefoot” because they usually have less cushion under the foot.
Regardless of which suits you, they’re both significantly better choices than wearing Hokas for Foot Pain treatment.
Check out Lems Shoes here (I wear the Primal 2’s):
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