It’s one of the worst feelings when you buy a new pair of boots and they start hurting your feet after a few hours of use.
If you’re experiencing this, here are a few things you can do if your boots hurt the top of your foot.
Break-In Your Boots
If your new boots are hurting the top of your feet, it’s possible that the boots haven’t been broken in correctly.
An effective method for doing that is to wear the boots in your home for about 1 to 2 hours. If you don’t have that much time, you can wear them for about 30 minutes.
To effectively break in your boots, wear thick socks when you wear the boots. The socks will help in creating more space in your boots than you would need.
Walk around your house while you’re wearing the boots so that they can stretch as much as possible.
When you’re sitting with the boots on, keep wiggling your toes and keep moving your feet around. This helps in making more room for your feet.
However, if you’re feeling a lot discomfort when wearing the boots, remove them immediately. If the pain doesn’t go away soon, you must visit a doctor for correct treatment.
Use A Hair Dryer To Increase Room In Your Boots
If you have faux leather shoes, you can use a hairdryer to prevent your boots from hurting the top of your foot every time you wear them.
The heat from the hairdryer expands the material and makes it pliable, allowing you to alter the shape to some extent.
Apply the heat by holding the hairdryer 2 to 3 inches away from the part of the boot that’s hurting you.
Try not to exceed heating up one area for more than 1 and a half minutes; if you do, you may hurt your feet.
Make sure that you move your feet around inside your boots so that you can push against the top of your boots.
Also, wear a pair of thick socks during this process. This will help in creating more room for your feet in your boots.
This process is best for synthetic materials; therefore, you won’t be able to do this for leather or suede boots.
Wear Protective Foot Sleeves
If your boots hurt the top of your foot constantly, you should consider wearing protective foot sleeves on your feet.
Make sure you wear them over your socks so that they don’t the seams of the sleeves don’t hurt your skin.
Pick protective foot sleeves which have a thin cushiony layer at the top of the sleeves.
This will make sure that the top of your feet don’t rub against the hard upper surface of your boots. The sleeves protect your skin from friction, and shear forces.
Also, make sure that your protective sleeves aren’t too tight. You’ll start developing additional pain in your feet if the sleeves are too tight.
An additional upside to wearing protective sleeves is that they will keep your feet warmer in the cold.
Use Boot Stretchers
One great way to make sure that your boots don’t hurt the top of your foot is to use boot stretchers.
Make sure that you get a boot stretcher which is thick at the top of the stretcher. This will ensure that it effectively pushes up on the top of your shoe.
This will increase the amount of space you have in your boots, reducing the chances of you experiencing pain when you wear your boots.
Place the boot stretchers in your boots whenever you’re not wearing them. This will stretch the boots, and it’ll help them retain their shape when they’re not in use.
Here are some things you should keep in mind when you’re buying boot stretchers for your boots.
Purchase Wooden Boot Stretchers
When you’re buying a boot stretcher, make sure that you purchase one that is made of hard and sturdy material like wood.
There are some stretchers that are made of plastic as well. Plastic boot stretchers may not be ideal for this case because they tend to bend easily.
This way, it won’t be able to push on the top of your shoe as well as a wooden stretcher would.
Check The Size Before Your Purchase
Make sure that the boot stretches you purchase are the correct size for your boots.
If the stretchers are too small, they won’t be able to push against the insides of your boots, making them ineffective.
You should also be careful not purchase stretchers that are too big for your boots. It’s likely that oversized stretchers won’t fit in your boots.
Even if they do fit, there’s a high chance that they’ll damage your boots. Forcing them in may rupture some of the seams on your boots.
The best way to pick the ideal size of boot stretchers is to take your boots to the store with you. When you’re there, try putting stretchers of different sizes in your boots.
Get The Boot Stretchers With The Right Shape
You must ensure that the boot stretchers you get have the right shape. The stretchers should be designed for boots only.
Stretchers with the right shape, size, and material will ensure that it effectively stretches your boots.
Ask the storekeeper to help you pick the most ideal boot stretchers if you’re not sure which ones you should get.
Use Sandpaper For Better Grip
On common reason for experiencing pain at the top of your feet is because your shoes don’t have a good grip.
Slippery boots push your feet to the front of the shoe, making the shoes tighter and painful in the process.
For new boots, you can use sandpaper to make the bottom of your boots rougher, improving the grip in the process.
This should reduce discomfort when wearing boots. Also, make sure not to overuse the sandpaper because it can damage your boots.
Experiencing pain when wearing boots can be a nightmare. The good thing is that you don’t have to experience that pain.
Follow the methods mentioned above and you’ll have comfortable boots in no time.
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