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dglow
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Join Date: May 2004
 
2017-03-15, 12:36

Quote:
Originally Posted by turtle View Post
What about shoes? Someone I talked to (at my workplace) said the mats are crap and that the footwear is most important when it comes to working at a standing desk. I don't have shoes really geared to standing all day right now. I have running shoes and hiking boots. House slippers even! Nothing for standing for hours at a time though.
For a while I thought it was about buying the right shoes with good, built-in foot support. Turns out... it's about placing good inserts (insoles) into the shoes you buy. That foam pad on the bottom inside of shoes? It's generic, meant to fit everyone and not feel odd in any way that would discourage someone's purchase. Proper arch and metatarsal support at first feels like a strange bump and can scare people off, so only the expensive and/or specialty shoes include this by default.

Something like this, with more examples here.

The rise on the side, the arch support, will look familiar as most shoes have this to a greater or lesser extent. But it's the small bump in the middle of the insole which made the difference for me. This supports the central bones of the foot, the metatarsal. I didn't know I needed (or would benefit from) this until I started standing at work much more, which came about from the standing desk.

Sorry for going on... just wish to spread around what I've learned in the hope that it helps someone else.


TL;DR: Buy almost any shoes you like, but spend some extra on good replacement insoles and your feet will thank you.

Last edited by dglow : 2017-03-15 at 19:21. Reason: typo
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