Nurses need to walk and rush in emergencies. They always need to be active and support every patient in their difficult times. To be ready for such situations, the nurses have to be comfortable with their outfits. As the outfit seems to be the same throughout the hospitals, the only thing that is left out is the footwear. Not every hospital provides the shoes to nurses. So if you are one of the people working as a nurse and looking for nursing shoes, here are some of the things that you need to consider while buying shoes. As what Lilly Harvey from ShoeAdviser have mentioned: “the uniform a nurse wears is extremely important and there is a particular nursing dress code, that must adhered to”. More than style and looks, the type of shoes that you should choose should help you last for a very long hours of standing and walking. We know how painful it might be to walk and stand in the time of long shifts. You might also be suffering from back pain, muscle pains and leg muscle strains. These are the things that can affect your health in the future if neglected at an early stage.
You should be well-known to the factors that affect your health and what type of comfort you need while working in long shifts. To have a better perspective on your feet’s health, we will have a look at why nursing shoes are important for you and what things you should look for while buying them.
Why nursing shoes are important for long shifts of nurses?
Nurses need to stand and walk alongside patients for as long as 12 hours. The work shifts sometimes stretch beyond 12 hours too. Some surveys mention that most of the nurses logged between 4000 – 8000 steps on weekend shifts. This step count leads to approximately two to four miles. While other nurses logged more than that, where the average steps counted between 10000 – 12000 per shift.
Now you can imagine walking or standing for so long time with shoes that is not comfortable. There will be many health problems like back, joint and feet aches if you are not ready with comfortable footwear. And no person would like to spend their working time with such discomfort.
To abstain yourself from the discomfort and health issues that arise from uncomfortable footwear, nurses need to look for nurse shoes, especially fit for their work. Nurse shoes are highly recommended for long shifts of nurses to make them comfortable and ready for work which goes for long hours.
How to look for perfect nurse shoes?
It is essential to look for every side of the product while opting to buy them. Be it the nursing shoes or any other thing. You should not be negligent in terms of the price, comfort, and feasibility that the shoes offer. Also, it is necessary to look at what type of shoes will be suitable for your work, depending on the tasks you perform at your workplace. For making it easy for you, we will have a look at some of the factors that you need to consider while buying the perfect nursing shoes.
1. Find the right size for your nursing shoes:
Many people feel that once they step into adulthood, their foot size remains the same for a lifetime. But this is not the case. Your foot size changes with your health. It may rise or it may lower. Sometimes the foot also swells due to changing weather conditions. So, you have to first consider your foot size before buying the nurse’s shoes. You can measure your foot size either by directly measuring it with scale. Or you can outline your foot on a piece of paper and measure the length of the foot. It is better to do such a thing every time before buying your nursing shoes so that you don’t compromise on your comfort later.
2. Look for a type of shoe that provides better comfort for long shifts:
While looking for the comfort of your nursing shoes, you must be quite aware of your work style. You can consider the time of how frequently you need to walk or stand. To fit in the situation, you can look for shoes that have a heavy sole to provide you with a better grip. Nursing shoes with heavy sole are prone to absorb the impact of concrete and make you feel comfortable like hiking shoes. Nurses should avoid shoes that are stiff and hard to walk along as they are not suitable for long shifts.
3. Ensure the shoe size fits perfectly with your feet:
You can find shoes for every type of foot. Some may have a long foot with a wide heel while some may have a short foot with narrow heels. To make sure you have the perfect shoe for your foot, try to wear it whenever you are going to buy them. Insert the foot until its narrow front and try walking and bending your foot. If you feel quite uncomfortable, then don’t go for it with a thought that you just need to sit or stand for some hours while wearing them. You may feel okay with it for a day but later regret for not looking for the utmost comfort.
4. Make the shoes comfortable to wear them daily:
After you have bought your nursing shoes, the next step is to make them secure so that you don’t have to worry about its wearability. You can take the shoes to cobblers and secure them with straps to avoid the misplacing of soles.
If you don’t take care of your feet and the shoes you are wearing for daily work, you may soon be prone to feet pain and its related injuries such as hammertoe or plantar fasciitis. Although, the injuries are curable, who would like to suffer the pain? And as the wise saying says, ‘Prevention is better than cure’, it is better to make them secure at the beginning itself.
Conclusion:
We think that you should take care of your health as much as you care for your work and patients. You should be healthier and fit enough to keep continuing what you do. It might become tough at times to bear the long hour shifts and pressure from the frequent health crisis. To cope up with the situations and challenge them without any obstacles, be sure to check the nursing shoes.
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