Can you adapt to running shoes that hurt at first?

April 13, 2023 5:48 AM

I've bought new running shoes and they hurt the bottom of my feet (around the arch) when I run. Has anyone persisted with shoes like these and eventually gotten used to them so it doesn't hurt anymore? Details inside.

I am totally willing to relegate these runners to walking only or gift them on. I am extremely not interested in injuring myself.

But! The reason I'm contemplating keeping the new shoes at all is that I get a little bit of arch pain with almost all my running shoes, even my trusty old ones that I love to death and have never caused me any problems. With my old shoes, they hurt for maybe 30 seconds, a minute at most, I keep running and then all is fine. It's not every run, and importantly, it hasn't happened in my last few runs (~5kms) but it's a thing that happens.

My new shoes felt very comfortable in the store and when walking around. But on my first run with the new shoes I got arch pain. I do what I usually do and keep running. It hurts for longer than usual, but it goes away after a few minutes. But then when I slowed to a walk, my feet killed. It wasn't just the arches, it was the whole bottom of my feet. I made it home and even after taking the shoes off, I was hobbling around painfully for a little while. I rolled/massaged my feet that night and didn't have any problems after that.

I go for another run in the new shoes a few days later. This time I stopped running and started walking as soon as the arch pain started. There wasn't any pain when I walked, and I was fine afterwards.

Dr Google says it's plantar fasciitis and I suppose I can't rule out that or some other injury but I feel like it's too much of a co-incidence to be anything other than something being up with the new shoes. I've worn them 3x in total and they only hurt when running.

So my question is - is there any hope for me and these shoes? Could I wear them in or my muscles adapt to them somehow? Has anyone else had shoes like these and grown to love them?

Bonus question - how can I tell from trying shoes on whether they'll cause pain when running? I did "jog" a few steps in the shop (and they felt great!) but it's not like you can full on run to test them out.

If it matters - I have low arches, and both old and new runners are marketed as being "netural". I don't notice that the arch support was higher or more solid in the new shoes.

posted by pianissimo to Health & Fitness (17 answers total)

Is there any hope? Maybe! You might want to try some different insoles with the shoes. What you're describing sounds to me like it might be metatarsalgia, which can happen for lots of reasons, including too much impact on your forefoot, bad support for your arches (especially the metatarsal arch), or squished forefoot. Insoles can help with some of that but not all.

For your bonus question, I will walk or jog inside the store for a solid 2-5 minutes before buying a new brand of running/hiking shoes (if I'm at a large department/sporting goods store I will do laps around the store; smaller running shoe stores often have a treadmill you can use). I probably look ridiculous, especially if I'm at a big-box store, but I'm picky about shoes!
posted by mskyle at 6:14 AM on April 13, 2023

Can you go back to the store and talk to them?

I bought my shoes at a local runner’s store and got staff advice - someone watched me run and then had me try on multiple shoes, run in them and discuss how they felt.
posted by bunderful at 6:18 AM on April 13, 2023

This doesn't directly answer your question, but there's no evidence that getting the "right shoes" for your feet helps reduce injury. (Caveat: article is from 2011.) What did predict injury was initial comfort. "So where does that leave runners trying to choose a shoe? 'The only thing we have is comfort,' Dr. Nigg says.

A decade ago, he and his colleagues studied 206 soldiers who were given six different shoe inserts and allowed to choose whichever felt most comfortable. There was no apparent connection between the soldiers' foot types and the inserts they chose, but the number of injuries dropped significantly."

Obviously that contradicts your experience, since these were initially comfortable, but personally I wouldn't risk continuing to wear them if they are so uncomfortable during runs.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:35 AM on April 13, 2023

Dittoing most everything said here. If you’re running in pain, chances are higher you’ll injure yourself as you try to avoid the pain by adjusting how you come down on your feet.

An adjustable incline board took care of the pain from my plantar fascia. As long as I keep up with the stretches, mine doesn’t bother me any more. I highly recommend it to anyone.

Also encourage going to a running store to have your gait assessed — I did and found out that I under-pronate. Hoka One One shoes saved me — they have variations for over-and under-pronation and different levels of padding. Running should be tiring but not painful! Keep looking for better shoes for your specific body and gait.
posted by Silvery Fish at 6:49 AM on April 13, 2023

2nd/3rd running store. The place I buy my running shoes would let you exchange them if you presented this case to them.
posted by mmascolino at 6:58 AM on April 13, 2023

I think if you keep running in these, you're going to injure yourself. (I just pushed through the warning signs of an injury and now I'm sidelined for a while. It's no fun!)
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 7:55 AM on April 13, 2023

Idk if these are same or similar shoes than you’ve worn before, but how did you fit test them? Specifically, how’s the toe box fit? I find that if I don’t have room ahead of and around my toes for them to spread and even swell a bit while running, I get plantar fasciitis symptoms. I even get th these symptoms if my socks are too tight. I think it’s because holding your toes in makes your arches cramp and it feels like PF.
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:53 AM on April 13, 2023

People who run barefoot, or in minimal footwear, tend to avoid “heel-striking,” and instead land on the ball of the foot or the middle of the foot. In so doing, these runners use the architecture of the foot and leg and some clever Newtonian physics to avoid hurtful and potentially damaging impacts, equivalent to two to three times body weight, that shod heel-strikers repeatedly experience.
posted by Lanark at 9:05 AM on April 13, 2023

I very much doubt that shoes that injure you on the first run are going to work out long term. It's best if you cut your losses immediately and get about to returning or exchanging them, assuming you purchased them from a place with a decent return policy. If they hurt, you won't want to run in them at all. If you manage to force yourself to run with them, your injuries will get more severe and you won't be running in anything.

I have been running regularly for over a decade and I still routinely buy shoes that feel fine in the store, and inside my house walking about, but instantly injure me when I run. I believe that running is so different than walking or standing that you can't easily use the second to guess at the first.

The most a shoe has changed is that the foam and padding compresses a bit. So snug shoes become slightly less snug, and loose shoes become baggy. But it is a very slow process, and I'm comparing shoes that are new to ones that have hundreds of miles.
posted by meowzilla at 9:15 AM on April 13, 2023

On the barefoot or minimalist issue: Lanark links to a 2010 article. There's been a lot of subsequent research. As that review states, "Almost nothing about this topic is as clear cut as anyone would hope." (It also links to a 2011 Mefi page!)

I don't have the energy to read it in detail, but what I take away from the review article is that there's definitely nothing magical about minimalist shoes; if you wear them you have to adjust your running style, which you might or might not do; they might help in some ways but hurt in others; and most importantly, it varies a lot by individual. So for anyone who loves minimalist shoes, stick with it. For those who are interested, experiment cautiously. For the rest of us, it's fine to stay with the padding.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 9:18 AM on April 13, 2023

In general, running shoes aren't meant to have breakin periods like hiking boots or old-school walking shoes. The idea is that the structure and padding should make it more or less comfortable your first time out. I would be very suspicious of shoes that don't feel pretty good at first.
posted by wnissen at 9:24 AM on April 13, 2023

I was having a very similar problem and ended up going to a podiatrist about it. Turns out, I was wearing shoes that were too small! I had exactly the same problem that toodleydoodley described above. I actually injured my feet a bit because I wore the too-small shoes for too long. I purchased a new pair of running shoes a full size larger and put some good insoles in them. My feet were still sore for a little while since I had put them through a lot. But that didn’t last long and now I am pain free.
posted by imalaowai at 9:42 AM on April 13, 2023

There is no good reason to wear shoes that hurt you. (There are bad reasons. For example: I must wear shoes, and these are the only shoes I can afford.) But if your shoes cause pain, you should pay attention to what your body is telling you and junk the shoes if you can afford to do so.
posted by PaulVario at 9:52 AM on April 13, 2023

Return those and see someone about your chronic arch pain… I have multiple foot issues and can only walk thanks to orthotics.
posted by cotton dress sock at 10:10 AM on April 13, 2023

I would not continue to use those shoes.
For your bonus question, "how can I tell from trying shoes on whether they'll cause pain when running?": I don't think you can. From my experience, every new shoe is a shot in the dark. There's no way to replicate the experience of running 5k without running 5k.
posted by LoveHam at 4:32 AM on April 14, 2023

Absolutely not. Throw away those shoes with extreme prejudice. I have decades of experience with sensitive feet, and shoes that cause that kind of pain rarely get better and may make your feet much worse. The only kind of issue you should walk through is a shoe feeling a little stiff or rubbing in a place you can put a bandaid on for a while. FWIW shoes with “arch support” never work for me.
posted by haptic_avenger at 5:41 AM on April 14, 2023

Thanks for all the answers! I suspect they are too tight in the toe box/midsole, which I hadn't considered before because they don't *feel* too tight, but when I compare them to my other shoes they are much narrower. Back to shoe shopping for me. Sigh.
posted by pianissimo at 6:13 AM on April 15, 2023