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Foot discomfort makes everyday tasks and sports significantly difficult to accomplish. Proper footwear is important to encourage good movement, stability and decreased risk of injury. David Stotesbury, our registered pedorthist, shows us some simple lacing techniques to encourage increased ankle stability and decrease foot discomfort.
“Here, we can have a little chat about two of the most popular lacing techniques that individuals use.
The first one is very simple. It’s what we call a ‘Skip Lace’. A lot of individuals have a painful area on the top of their foot or happen to experience an injury where applying pressure from the lace creates discomfort. What we can do is skip an eyelet on your shoe. When we bring the lace up through one eyelet, instead of crossing it over to the other side right away, we can run up to the adjacent eyelet on the same side first. This leaves the painful area without a lacing pressure coming over it. For dorsal exostosis, bone spurs, etc, this is a great option to have the security high and low on the foot without having discomfort.
A lot of individuals have no idea what the upper eyelet is for. It does have a very specific purpose. It allows us to do what is called a ‘Lace Lock’, which increases exponentially the amount of ankle support that we are able to get out of a shoe. When you get to that eyelet, bring the shoelace through and make a loop or bunny ear. Do the same on the other side. Then we run the lace through the loop on the other side. Same for the opposite side. Then, what we’re able to do is leaver the laces back and forth until we close up the shoe. Now, when we tie the laces together, it holds a part of the lace into place and doesn’t allow things to relax around that ankle. The loops also give us better leverage to tie the shoe tighter around the ankle to give us a huge amount of support. In sports activities where we’re doing a lot of side-to-side motion, this technique allows us to really make sure that the shoe is nice and stable to reduce injuries.
There are a lot many more techniques, but these are the two most popular.”
Always interested in human anatomy and kinesiology, David’s interest in Pedorthics was sparked when a family member was prescribed a pair of custom foot orthotics. A combination of factors lead to this career path: a fascination with the assessment, explanation, and positive outcome of the pedorthic management as well as participation in multiple triathlons and a first marathon in skateboard shoes resulted in appreciation of the value of proper foot care and maintenance.
After high school, David went on to attend the University of Guelph and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics. After spending 4 years expanding his beekeeping operation and working as an apiarist at the University Of Guelph, he was drawn back to Pedorthics where he was able to complete multiple placements with the KRA team on his way to completing his Diploma in Pedorthics through Western University.
In his time spent outside the profession, David keeps busy beekeeping, woodworking, spending time with family and friends and cheering for the Maple Leafs.
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