Employees Returning to the Office Find Shoes Not Fitting: MD Podiatrist

After months or even years of working from home in slippers or bare feet, some people are finding they can no longer fit in their previous work shoes as they return to the office. This is because they have spent so much time at their at-home desks in slippers or barefoot, much different than narrow work shoes. Dan Michaels, DPM said the transition from a sedentary lifestyle, to now working 8 hours on their feet can cause heel and arch pain as well as swelling. This results in the shoe not fitting. 
 
 
“When they’re sitting more, now their tendons are not getting worked as hard. They are having their feet up more so their Achilles tendon will shorten. It is like when someone has surgery and they broke their leg. Now they are in bed for a little. They try to get out of bed and have to relearn how to walk because they are not used to the low bearing forces on their body,” said Dr. Michaels. He has seen increased injury because the swelling is changing the mechanics of how people walk; causing knee, hip, or lower back pain.