Mid-ankle shoes hurt my right heel - What to do?

[P. Bateman]

I always thought my issues with boots, chukkas, and other mid-ankle shoes were due to the last of the shoe just not fitting my feet properly. But today I made the realization that the shoes I have issue with are all mid-ankle or higher boots, and never regular shoes.

I've had Charles Tyrwhitt boots, gorgeous MTO Vass chukkas, and Alden boots that all give me trouble in the same spot on lower rear of my right heel. In the case of the Vass and Alden boots, I own shoes in the same size and last as the boots which gave me no problems.

It seems like in a shoe my heel is adequately cupped kept comfortably in place, but in a boot, due to the higher lacing, my heel isn't cupped but rather jammed into the lower heel while my ankle and upper foot are what the shoe secures to. My left foot has never had any issues, it's only the right.

The final straw happened today when I was wearing a new pair of chukka boots on their maiden voyage and after an hour I had to take off the right boot because the pain was so bad. I've made an appointment with a pediatrist to see if there's something off with my right foot, but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar issue with boots and if they were able to correct it with stretching, insoles, or another method.

Below is a picture of where in the heel my foot is in pain. The moist spot was caused from the hotspot on my heel after just an hour of wear

 

[CentralParkMan]

Yikes, looks like it's time to replace your shoes. No amount of style is worth that sort of discomfort. 0_0

 

[f800gs]

Make sure you take a couple pairs of boots with you to the Dr.

Good luck, I know how bad foot pain sucks.

 

[HiPlainsDrifter]

Yes, this exact same thing happened to me. I have a pair of Alden Indy boots and after wearing them for a couple weeks my ankle got completely swollen and still hurts two months later. And its only my right ankle near the heel, my left ankle feels fine.

I'm interested to hear what your doctor said? Were you ever able to fix the problem? I'd rather not have to get rid of my Indy boots.

 

[globetrotter]

I was going to say, see a podiatrist - but I see you are doing that. foot happiness is key to happiness in life.

 

[Holdfast]

I've no idea whether your issue is the same as mine, but I used to get pain over the malleoli whenever wearing high-sided shoes/boots regardless of fit/last, due to pain from the leather pressing into them and so for a long while avoided buying any such boots. The exception was a very soft-sided chukka that never caused any problem, and that was because it was a snug fit around my ankles from day one, holding the foot properly in place. One day, I ordered a pair of more normal leather chukkas online, absent-mindedly forgetting just why I didn't already own any. When they arrived and I slipped them on, I instantly remembered. Like you, these were in a last I knew, and owned in shoes that fit me well.

Rather than return them, I figured it might be worth experimenting with a very gradual wear-in process to see if that solved the problem. It did. They fit fine and caused me zero fit problem/pain, even during the wearing-in. In fact, they're very comfortable. The trick for me was to wear them in very slowly, gradually tightening the lacing as the leather stretched. Initially, I tied them relatively loosely and wore them around the house for just an hour. Next day, I tightened them fully and repeated for a further hour. After a few days, the laces could be fully tight and the sides moulded to the shape of my ankles while walking. I've never had to do that with a pair of shoes, but it worked on the chukkas.

As I said, I've no idea if your fit issue is related to mine, but that's what worked for me. What I can say with absolute certainty is that you should never wear shoes that cause you pain!

 

[md2010]

i have a similar issue with a pair of boot. its the metal shank moving up and down that is causing you pain. get AE boots - no metal shank and I never jad any problem.