Children's feet: What you should look out for when buying shoes
Walking barefoot is the best thing that can happen to children's feet. But you can't do without shoes. But beware: the wrong choice of footwear can lead to permanent damage. What to look out for when buying.
On average, it takes a good 15 years for a foot to complete its anatomical development. When a child is born, the bones in its feet are still cartilage, i.e. soft and malleable. Only a thick layer of fat provides protection.
It makes children's feet look so compact and cuddly that parents like to take photos of their offspring's feet. The skeleton only develops here gradually. For example, when the little ones start to stand and walk, the longitudinal and transverse arches of the foot develop.
Causes of malformations
The vast majority of children are born with healthy feet. If, in rare cases, a deformity does occur, it is often due to genetic causes. For all other deformities and anomalies that develop in the first few years of life, there are three main causes: poor footwear, lack of exercise and obesity.
Shoes that are too short and too tight are particularly harmful for children's feet
«Due to their anatomical structure, children's feet can still be modelled to a certain extent,» says Tanja Kostuj from the German Association for Foot and Ankle (D.A.F.). «You can actually do a lot wrong with shoes and sometimes cause permanent damage. For example, we now know that shoes that are too tight and too short can favour the development of claw toes or hallux valgus, an often painful deformity of the big toe.»
Many parents panic and quickly make an appointment with their paediatric orthopaedic surgeon.
Parents usually notice the first oddities when their children take their first steps: Their own son only walks on his toes, while his friend from the playground balances on the outer edges of his feet, and their friend's daughter seems to have no arch at all.
Many parents panic and quickly make an appointment with a paediatric orthopaedist. However, experts such as Tanja Kostuj advise patience: «These are variations of nature, and the vast majority of them disappear all by themselves by the time the child starts school.»
Children's feet need space
For children's feet to develop healthily, they need one thing above all: space. The most luxurious way to do this is to walk barefoot. Children should walk on bare soles as often as possible.
«This strengthens the foot muscles and strengthens the foot's sensory system,» says Kostuj. If the floor at home is too cold in winter, so-called stoppers or anti-slip socks can help. They keep your feet warm and prevent slipping accidents.
Walking barefoot also has a positive effect on the growth of the foot and leg bones: the constant impact and pressure impulses on the foot tell the bones that they are needed at this point, so they build their structures particularly densely here. This is a great advantage that children can benefit from as they get older, when bone density decreases again and fractures become more likely.
Scientists around the world have long been fascinated by the fact that «form follows function» plays a role in the development of feet. African children, for example, have different foot shapes to Swedish children - they have adapted over the years to the different topographical conditions and the more frequent barefoot walking.
Thick cushioning is unnecessary
There are now several manufacturers of so-called barefoot shoes that only have thin soles and thus come very close to barefoot walking. As a general rule, thick cushioning is not necessary for children's shoes. If the feet are given too much protection, they will not learn to fulfil their natural function.
Experts agree that shoes can also alter normal walking and lead to knee, hip and back problems in later years. The feet are the basis of our skeleton, and if poor posture occurs here, it gradually spreads throughout the entire body.
Swiss scientists demonstrated ten years ago just how difficult it is to make the right choice when it comes to children's shoes. «Our work back then caused quite a stir,» recalls Norman Espinosa, President of the Swiss Society for Medicine and Surgery of the Foot.
The problem with buying shoes for children: no standardised system
The doctors measured the feet of 250 children and compared them with the shoe size specified by the manufacturers for this length. The result: 80 to 90 per cent of the shoes were incorrectly labelled. «So where it said 31 on the label, there was only a 28 or 29 inside,» says Espinosa.
There is no standardised system for shoe sizes.
To make matters worse, there is no internationally standardised system for shoe sizes. In continental Europe, shoe sizes are based on the «Parisian stitch».
A Parisian stitch corresponds to two thirds of a centimetre, rounded to 6.67 millimetres. For a 15-centimetre-long child's foot - plus a 15-millimetre allowance and then divided by 6.67 millimetres - this results in a shoe size of 24.74. As we do not offer half sizes, size 25.
The British base their shoe sizes on a barley corn with an assumed length of one third of an inch, i.e. 8.46 millimetres. In this system, the child's shoe size would be 191⁄2.
In theory, the Americans also calculate using the barleycorn system, but they set different zero points for children's, men's and women's shoes ... And from here it gets very confusing. Even more so if you also want to buy shoes from a Japanese manufacturer.
Expert tip: measure children's feet before every shoe purchase
Experts advise against simply consulting conversion tables such as «a German 25 is a British 191⁄2», as such conversions and shifts can sometimes result in minimal differences that have a major impact on the fit. Norman Espinosa strongly advises measuring the child's feet before buying shoes.
Why is the impression often misleading?
Is there any air left in the front? asks mum and gives the toe of her shoe a good squeeze. «What she doesn't realise is that the offspring reflexively pulls their toes back. So the impression of «oh, there's still room» is often misleading,» says Espinosa. Another argument in favour of measuring the feet properly and adding the obligatory 12 to 15 millimetres.
If you follow the expert recommendations and ensure that children's feet can often go barefoot on tour and are otherwise properly bedded, you have little to worry about.
«Nature's potential to correct things is enormous. That's why you shouldn't start with insoles or therapy for the slightest anomaly,» says Espinosa. Overtreatment is a major problem today. He advises parents as well as doctors and therapists to be more relaxed.
«A drop foot with pain naturally requires treatment. But there are children who have this deformity and can walk without pain - they don't need treatment for the time being.»
The best training for healthy feet is to use them. And that goes far beyond the way to school and the walk from the nursery to the kitchen. Jumping, running, sneaking, balancing, tripping, dancing, sprinting - it's good for your feet!
How to find the right shoes for your child
If you pay attention to a few things when buying shoes, you can ensure that your child's feet can develop healthily. This can also prevent complaints in adult life.
Five tips for buying shoes:
- Measure your child's feet at least every three months. If you have a specialist retailer nearby who has a professional measuring device - great. If necessary, a sheet of paper on which you trace the outline of the foot will also do. The inside length of the foot is crucial, so you should not use shoes that «fit well» as a basis.
- Add the so-called allowance to the measured length of the foot: 15 millimetres. Take the resulting total length and check the shoe manufacturer's conversion table to see what size your child's shoes are. With other, especially foreign manufacturers, the size may be completely different.
- Children's feet can easily differ by up to two sizes , so always measure both feet and base your purchase on the size of the larger foot.
- The right shoe is not only determined by the length, but also by the shape of the foot: a narrow foot needs a narrower shoe, a wide foot needs a wider shoe.
- Buy the shoes locally in a specialist shop, so you can judge the shape and weight of the shoes better than on the Internet.
What makes a good children's shoe?
Ein guter Kinderschuh sollte eine weiche Textiloberfläche haben, denn so kann nichts drücken. Entscheidend ist zudem das Gewicht: je leichter, desto besser. Gerade Herbst- und Winterschuhe wiegen schnell mal ein halbes Kilogramm – zu schwer für Kinderfüsse. Kinder sind viel aktiver als Erwachsene, Schuhe dürfen dann nicht wie Bleikugeln an den Füssen hängen und den Nachwuchs in seiner Bewegung behindern.
Pay attention to whether pressure points form anywhere on the feet, this is a sign that the footwear should be changed urgently. If your child complains that they are in pain after wearing certain shoes or that they are too tight, this is a warning sign that you should take seriously.
