If you’re looking for a foot width chart, it shows that you are concerned enough about your feet to want to wear the right size of shoes. That’s a good thing, since shoes that are too tight in the area of the toes will rub against the toes and can contribute to hammertoes and bunions. You don’t need either of those painful conditions!
Both bunions and hammertoes can lead to bunion surgery or hammertoes surgery that leaves you with down time from work that could be as great as 6 weeks. Plus the fact that there are times when the surgical procedures performed during these surgeries don’t work. In some cases, a nerve is cut by mistake and unfortunately can’t be patched up. This means you end up with a toe that doesn’t work right – for example, you can’t move your big (or little) toe up and down, or you can’t feel hot or cold sensations on a part of your foot.
When you have bunions and/or hammertoes, the big consideration in selecting your footwear is the width of your shoes. If the shoes aren’t wide enough for your feet, your toes and foot is cramped together inside the shoes. This cuts down on oxygenation to every part of your foot. If you cramp your foot for too long, it will result in deformation of the foot. This is why the Japanese practice of foot binding ends up giving its women victims the inability to walk!
A foot width chart can be found in this article.
When you select a new shoe for the proper width, the foot should fit comfortably. This means that you shouldn’t have to wear the shoes for a while before they feel comfortable. They should be wide enough from the start. It’s old style thinking to believe that you’ll grow into your shoes or that the shoes will start to give a bit to accommodate your foot. No! Make them fit from the start. Although some shoe materials will stretch a bit with time, many of them are synthetic and won’t.
Here’s a foot width chart to help you size your foot:
Inches Wide Shoe
3-1/4 inches AA
3-7/16th inches A
3-5/8 inches B
3-13/16th inches C
4 inches D
4-1/8th inches E
4-5/16th inches EE
4-1/2 inches EEE
4-11/16th inches 4E
(Source: http://people.alfred.edu/~envhealthsafety/education/Determine%20Your%20Shoe%20Size.pdf)
You can size your own foot at home by setting a sheet of white paper on the floor, then a ruler placed at your heel and one on each side of your foot. The heel ruler should be zeroed out at the point where it meets one of the side rulers. Both rulers on the sides of the foot should connect with the heel ruler at a 90-degree angle. Then read the width of your foot from the heel ruler.
Remember that using the foot width chart is a rough estimate of your foot width. After you have this, you can select shoes sized this width, but comfort determines the true shoe width size you’ll need.
And also remember that you can purchase insoles that are sized for extra wide feet.