Take the minute to tie your shoes properly.

Plantar thermal stress response (TSR) leads to skin shear forces.

"Fifteen eligible subjects were enrolled. The left foot was used as a reference and fitted to a self-adjusted and habitual lace-tightening method by each subject. The right foot was used as a test closure and fitted into three lace closure conditions: loose, tight, and preset optimal closure (reel clutch, BOA technology). Thermal images were taken after 5 minutes of acclimatization (pre-trial) and immediately after 200 walking steps in each shoe closure condition (post-trial)."

Their conclusions:
"The results from this study suggest that shoelace closure technique can have a profound effect on TSR. It therefore stands to reason that optimal lace closure may have an impact in reducing risk of plantar ulcers in people with Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Interestingly, results revealed that even a self-adjusted lace closure may not be necessarily optimal and a preset closure setting like reel clutch might ultimately be recommended to minimize risk."


Lace Up for Healthy Feet: The Impact of Shoe Closure on Plantar Stress Response

Hadi Rahemi, PhD, David G. Armstrong, DPM, MD, PhD, Ana Enriquez, BSc, Joshua Owl,BSc, Talal K. Talal, DPM, Bijan Najafi, PhD, MSc
First Published April 18, 2017

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1932296817703669?platform=hootsuite&journalCode=dsta