We receive questions about breaking in The Healing Sole quite often. And we totally understand! You want to feel relief right away, because you’ve been suffering with foot pain for too long.

Although the function of The Healing Sole provides more health benefits from your feet, they’re still shoes. And almost all new shoes need to be broken in for maximum comfort. This is especially true if the material of that shoe is meant to provide a solid platform with some structure.  

The break-in period for any pair of shoes can take some time. You may be especially familiar with breaking in new running shoes, work boots or dress shoes. If you don’t allow yourself the proper time to break in a pair of shoes, the results can be painful. Many orthotics and inserts that are prescribed also come with advice to only wear them for a couple hours a day for a while. This is to break them in as well of course!

Wearing new shoes for too long right away will most commonly lead to blisters or other skin irritations. Dr. Warner always develops a blister near the Achilles from running shoes whenever she starts to get back into shape.  

So, let’s run down our checklist for the break-in period.

Make sure your new shoes fit correctly. The first step may seem a bit obvious, but hear us out - the fit of your new shoes is vital. You can check that they fit in a few ways:

Once you know your shoes fit correctly, we advise taking the break-in process slowly. Wear your new pair of shoes for small increments of time and build your way up. With any new shoes, you’ll likely experience pain if you throw them on for the first time and then walk for a couple hours in them without any breaks.

Over time, the shoe will mold to your feet, making them more comfortable to wear. Before this happens though, you may experience blisters. Blisters are a common complaint amongst people breaking in shoes, so we advise protecting yourself against them. 

Using bandages to protect existing blisters, or preventing more from developing can be helpful to avoid further friction to the area. If you have access to bandaging films such as Telfa, this can help too.

We also suggest switching up your footwear throughout the day. Changing the shoes you wear throughout the day can help you break in your new shoes more slowly. Even outside the break-in period, this can increase the longevity of your shoes, because you’re not wearing them constantly. Dr. Warner also believes that humans should wear different shoes throughout the day in an effort to utilize the foot and ankle muscles and connective tissues in different ways.