I love being active, being mobile, being able to walk and walk fast. I love being able to run as I wish, walk as I wish, and move around as much as I want to. It’s something that people almost take for granted, until it hurts.
Recently Peter and I went to Taiwan and I brought my Melissa flats along with me. I love wearing my Melissa flats. They are easy to wash, pretty, and it doesn’t hurt. But little did I know how huge a mistake it was. We walked a lot in Taiwan and I was often irritable and grouchy because these Melissa flats of mine aren’t made for walking all day. :(
I had the privilege of learning a lot about feet & shoes from Owen Oo, a pedorthist with Arch Angel, unique footwear concept store that carries stylishly designed shoes which are also supremely comfortable. Owen has a lot of knowledge of the anatomy of our foot and is trained helping people find the best fit for our feet.
I spent a very interesting evening with him at the Arch Angel outlet at Star Vista.
First, he used a special device to measure my feet size to find the true size of shoes that fits me well after taking into consideration how much my feet expands after standing (yes your feet is smaller when there’s no weight on it!). Our feet are dynamic in size and will change in size and shape when you stand or sit. We quickly established that my size is 7.
Moving on, we used another machine to measure how I distribute my body weight on my feet. Ideally, my body weight should be evenly distributed but the weight is concentrated more on the front balls of my feet and my heels. This can be easily rectified when you have shoes that help to distribute the pressure under your foot.
Owen also showed me that my toes are scrunched up together because there is not enough support at the arch of my feet. He used his hands to support my arch and immediately my toes were more spread out, making my body balance a lot better. To test, we did this:
Before wearing proper shoes, it was easy for Owen to topple me. But after wearing a shoe with proper arch support, Owen could not sway me at all. Woah. How eye-opening!
The arch in your feet is super important because it can help to absorb step shocks, and give you better balance. For someone like me, I have bunions which hurt when I try to wear pointed shoes. If you are like me, with bunions, do check in with Owen to see what shoes suit you!
Finally came the time to see some designs. It is such a unique experience to be shopping at Arch Angel. For one, it’s not about which colour/which design I like. Owen brought out the few shoes that best fit my size and shape of my feet. It’s really all about comfort over beauty at Arch Angel.
With Owen closely guiding my shoe shopping experience, I didn’t find myself trying to force my feet into ill-fitting shoes that are pretty for the eyes. Because Owen now knows my feet shape and size, every shoe I tried on was comfortable and fit me very well.
Well, thank you Owen and Arch Angel for such a educational experience. I always knew how important our feet and choice of shoes are, I just never knew the extend of the impact a well fitted shoe can do to me. :)
I went home with my chosen pair of Arch Angel shoes! :)
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Arch Angel
Store Locations: Arch Angel Purvis | Arch Angel Star Vista
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