TIL a guy at the gear shop told me my hiking boots were the wrong size and I'd been messing up my feet for 6 years

I always bought boots a half size up for thick socks, but this guy at REI in Denver watched me walk and said my heels were slipping way too much. He measured my feet on that little metal Brannock device and I was actually a full size smaller than what I wore. Turns out my boots were so loose I was curling my toes to grip them, which caused all those arch cramps I blamed on "bad insoles." He made me try on a pair a whole size down and it felt weird at first but after a 5 mile loop around the store my feet didn't ache. I swapped out my old boots that same day and now I don't get blisters or that sore spot under my big toe anymore. Anybody else been wearing the wrong boot size for years without realizing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

john_murphy22d agoMost Upvoted

@jessica_dixon yeah it felt tight at first but that weird gripped feeling I had before just vanished. The REI guy told me most people wear boots too big because they think their feet swell more than they actually do. I had that same sore spot under my big toe for years and never connected it to the wrong size either.

jessica_dixon1mo ago

Holy crap, you were curling your toes to grip your boots for SIX YEARS?! That is wild. I can't believe your shoes were that much too big and you just thought that's how it was supposed to feel. I've heard of people wearing shoes a half size too big for thick socks, but a whole size down is a huge difference. Did your feet feel super cramped at first in the smaller size, or did it just feel weird because it was new?