My latest toy…
Before I tell you about my latest toy, I want to share a fond childhood memory of mine.
Bata - my first shoe shop.
One of my earliest childhood memories is going to this shop. Bata is a shoe shop where I would buy my school shoes. I remember my dad would take me holding my hand, mainly in his lunch hour as he was a busy man. I would walk up those steps in my green & white checked sleeveless uniform and my M&S knee high socks. And I felt at home! I loved the smell of new shoes. I felt like a princess, a bit like the fairy tale of Cinderalla and her glass slipper.
My dad would sit beside me and the shoe fitter would sit on the bench opposite and raise my feet one by one onto her measuring device (whose name I didn’t know at the time). Then she would magically bring me a perfectly sized pair of shoes.
My father would check to ensure there was enough space between my longest toe and the top of the shoe (but actually there is more to this then just checking my feet have enough space between the top of the shoe and my longest toe as you will discover from the blog below) I would model it in the shop, although I was shy, I felt like a new girl in her Sunday best shoes, even though I was in wearing them to school. The next day, I would be showing off my new school shoes as proud as a peacock. I felt glamorous! Little did I know that it was actually feet that I would be more interested in as a grown up!
Me as a baby looking supercute!
I recently attended a two day Foot & Ankle conference last month in Liverpool. It was an interesting place as I made some new friends – a special thanks goes to a group of Glaswegian & London female podiatrists who empowered me – we all had one thing in common – we were all female business owners! I actually hadn’t realised that I was one, until one of Glaswegians said it aloud. It was quite a tall order!
But I digress, I also met some old colleagues for a good old chinwag, updated my knowledge and to my shock horror learnt that I have been wearing the wrong size of trainers (I kinda live in my trainers – different ones but the same brand and same size)!!!
It was a mortifying experience and above all, I turned into one of my patients strongly stating to the shoe fitter that I have always worn the correct size and they feel comfortable and I am not experiencing any pain in my feet!
As the words fell out of my mouth, I could almost hear the same convo with my patients especially when they come complaining of pain in their 5th toe where there is a corn!
To be fair, I actually don’t have any corns on my toes, nor do my feet hurt but I did realise that wearing a shoe that one size bigger and wider, my foot felt much freer. Like they were not braced down and held in place – my feet felt unleashed!
So the following week, I bought myself a Brannock device.
What is a Brannock Device®?
It is a measuring device invented by Charles F. Brannock in 1927 for measuring a person’s shoes size. It is a simple yet a functional device.
You can see the device on the website here > https://brannock.com
The modern Brannock device takes three measurements of each foot:
Foot length: from heel to the tip of the longest toe
Arch length: from heel to the inside of the ball of the foot, or medial metatarsophalangeal joint. It is really important to measure this because the shoe fitting varies for long & short toed feet. We know that shoes are designed to flex at the ball of the foot or metatarsophangeal joint.
A proper shoe-fitting incorporates not only overall length (heel-to-toe measurement) but also arch length (heel-to-ball measurement) so as to properly position the ball joint in the shoe and provides room for the toes so they are not confined. If the ball of joint is not positioned well during a shoe fitting, the foot tires easily making walking rather uncomfortable.
Width: width of the foot perpendicular to the length
Why did I buy it?
I think it is an essential device, not only for retail shoe shops but for a podiatrist too. Over time, I have realised that not all shoes shops offer this service and most of my patients tend to buy shoes online. My patients also haven’t had their shoe size measured since they were in their teens:
And, we all know that foot size tends to change as we become older as I have personally discovered this at my own expense!
The foot becomes longer and wider and much more flat.
By having this device in house, I can measure my patients’ feet and they have the correct size with them.
I have also registered with Shoefit.uk who can also provide a shoe fitting service either online or in person.
I think this is valuable investment to my toolkit.
If you are unsure of your foot size, please come and see me so that I can help you.