Shoe Lacing Tips

If you have foot issues, you have probably tried numerous ways to reduce foot pain and discomfort. One thing you may not have considered though is how your shoes are laced. While shoes generally come pre-laced in the basic crisscrossed lacing technique, there are actually some lacing tricks that can give you a better fit and lacing styles that can be beneficial to certain foot conditions.

Reduce Pain and Relieve Foot Problems

• When you put on your shoe, always loosen the laces. This allows your foot to slide in without strain and also prevents the heel of the shoe from wearing down. Once you have your foot in the shoe, start tightening the laces at the toes and tighten one eyelet at a time to assure the shoe is as snugly fitted as it should be. When shopping for shoes, look for those shoes with more eyelets. Many athletic shoes are made with two sets of eyelets at each level, an inside and outside set. The more eyelets there are, the more easily you can adjust your laces to fit you. Eyelets on the outside, away from the tongue, work better for narrow feet. This will bring the sides in tighter and give the shoe a more snug fit. For wide feet, use the eyelets on the inside near the tongue. This produces more space for the foot.

Help While Running

• If you have problems with your heel slipping while running, a lace lock may help keep your shoe in place. Lace locks are used with regular laces, and hold the ends of the laces securely together so that they cannot come untied. They provide a tighter fit at the top of the shoe near the ankle, keeping it tighter on the ankle and preventing heel slippage. Using less lace across the foot can create a looser fit for those people with thick feet who need more space, or for those people who experience swelling in their feet while running. Instead of crisscrossing the laces all the way up the shoe, cross the first two eyelets as normal. Thread the lace up through the third eyelet on each side without crossing it over the tongue. Crisscross again for the next two eyelets, then thread up through the next hole without crossing the lace over the tongue. Do this all the way up. You will be skipping a crisscross every third set of eyelets and will have spaces in your lacing.

Small or Narrow Feet

• If you have a small or narrow foot that slides around in your shoe, you can tighten up the laces with a special locking technique. Start the laces as normal with a crisscrossing technique, but crisscross on the inside of the shoe so that the laces pull outward through the second set of eyelets. Instead of crisscrossing with the third eyelet, thread each end of the lace up into the third eyelet and pull the lace tight. This will form a loop between the second and third eyelets on both sides. Thread each end of the lace back downward and through the loop created between the second and third eyelets and then back up and through the next available eyelet. Continue to crisscross the laces the rest of the way up the shoe. This gives the shoe a tighter fit across the arch, helping to hold a small foot in place.