【Solving "Shoe Pain & Slipping"】Sapporo Physical Therapist Launches New "Shoe Tuning" Service to Adjust the Shoe Itself to the Foot
A physical therapist in Sapporo has launched a new "Shoe Tuning" service to resolve foot pain and problems caused by millimeter-level misfits in ready-made shoes. This service adjusts the shoe itself to the foot, offering a custom-fit feel for foot concerns that insoles cannot address.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 4, 2026 at 18:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 4, 2026 at 09:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 4, 2026 at 09:33 (1 min after Collected)
◆ For those who bought shoes they loved, but now experience foot pain, slipping, or fatigue because the shoes don't fit...
You bought shoes you fell in love with at the store. They seemed perfectly fine then, but now they cause foot pain, slip off, or make your feet tired... Why?!
This problem isn't always the common arch issue; sometimes, millimeter-level misalignments can lead to pain or slipping. With slight micro-adjustments tailored to the wearer, shoes can transform into a custom-made feel, making your feet comfortable. Wouldn't you want to bring your shoes that are sleeping at home?
The shoes themselves are processed, and depending on the shoe, micro-adjustments inside may be necessary to fit the wearer's foot.
◆ Triggered by the comment: "My shoes don't fit, but my feet aren't bad enough for insoles."
It's frustrating when you buy shoes you love, but they're not comfortable. Stores often recommend insoles and suggest getting your feet molded to improve your arches, but your feet usually don't hurt, and it's only these specific shoes that are painful, so you want a solution. Many people struggle with problems related to the shoes themselves.
While working at a hospital since 2010 and later at a private osteopathic clinic, our representative also created insoles. However, hearing customers say, "My shoes don't fit, but my feet aren't bad enough for insoles," was a revelation.
"Indeed, 'foot pain immediately equals insoles' is a common equation," but the representative began to research why shoes don't fit, despite correct selection, wondering if "ready-made shoes might not be suitable for everyone in the first place."
◆ Problems with ready-made shoes revealed through physical therapist knowledge.
Shoe selection primarily relies on length (like 24.0 or 24.5 cm) and width (like EEE or EEEE). However, everyone's toe length, width, and shape are different. Heel size and instep height also vary significantly. The closer you look, the more unique characteristics feet have! ...But store displays only show length, or at best, width. And if you know too much, you might find no shoes to choose from.
Japanese Industrial Standards: JIS S 5037
The Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) specify three foot measurements: foot length, foot circumference, and foot width.
◆ Selection alone is insufficient, insoles can't solve it. The solution was to process the shoes to fit the feet!
Even with shoes that are roughly the right size, subtle comfort issues often remain. Through ongoing research, several common patterns of ill-fitting ready-made shoes were discovered. Surprisingly, all these problems could be solved with millimeter-level adjustments.
The most common issue was the foot sliding forward inside the shoe due to a gap caused by the difference between the wearer's heel-to-ball-of-foot length and the internal slope of the shoe. Next, when viewed from the bottom, even shoes with a straight heel structure often curve inward towards the toe ("uchifuri" - inward swing). Also, there were issues with the shoe's bending point: shoes that were too stiff to bend, or where the bending point didn't align with the ball of the foot, causing the foot to move forward or stumble. In essence, to achieve a perfect fit, micro-adjustments to the shoe's shape itself are essential.
◆ In fact, many troubles are caused by ill-fitting shoes.
In Japan, 31.6% of women suffer from bunions, and 70% of students have floating little toes. A survey of over 1,500 people revealed that 80% experience shoe problems. Among them, 43.2% struggle with "foot or toe shape deformities," and 42.1% with "foot injuries (corns, calluses, blisters, etc.)."
Moreover, 80% of elementary school children have floating toes, 20% have bunions, and 80% have adducted little toes, indicating that despite the existence of functional shoes, problems persist.
While "wearing ill-fitting shoes" is considered one of the causes of these issues, even professional fittings often fail to resolve the problems.
Sources: Living Kurashi HOW Research Institute "Survey on Shoe and Foot Problems" (https://www.kurashihow.co.jp/markets/11647/) and "Foot Measurement of Elementary School Children (2nd Report)" by Nagayama.
You bought shoes you fell in love with at the store. They seemed perfectly fine then, but now they cause foot pain, slip off, or make your feet tired... Why?!
This problem isn't always the common arch issue; sometimes, millimeter-level misalignments can lead to pain or slipping. With slight micro-adjustments tailored to the wearer, shoes can transform into a custom-made feel, making your feet comfortable. Wouldn't you want to bring your shoes that are sleeping at home?
The shoes themselves are processed, and depending on the shoe, micro-adjustments inside may be necessary to fit the wearer's foot.
◆ Triggered by the comment: "My shoes don't fit, but my feet aren't bad enough for insoles."
It's frustrating when you buy shoes you love, but they're not comfortable. Stores often recommend insoles and suggest getting your feet molded to improve your arches, but your feet usually don't hurt, and it's only these specific shoes that are painful, so you want a solution. Many people struggle with problems related to the shoes themselves.
While working at a hospital since 2010 and later at a private osteopathic clinic, our representative also created insoles. However, hearing customers say, "My shoes don't fit, but my feet aren't bad enough for insoles," was a revelation.
"Indeed, 'foot pain immediately equals insoles' is a common equation," but the representative began to research why shoes don't fit, despite correct selection, wondering if "ready-made shoes might not be suitable for everyone in the first place."
◆ Problems with ready-made shoes revealed through physical therapist knowledge.
Shoe selection primarily relies on length (like 24.0 or 24.5 cm) and width (like EEE or EEEE). However, everyone's toe length, width, and shape are different. Heel size and instep height also vary significantly. The closer you look, the more unique characteristics feet have! ...But store displays only show length, or at best, width. And if you know too much, you might find no shoes to choose from.
Japanese Industrial Standards: JIS S 5037
The Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) specify three foot measurements: foot length, foot circumference, and foot width.
◆ Selection alone is insufficient, insoles can't solve it. The solution was to process the shoes to fit the feet!
Even with shoes that are roughly the right size, subtle comfort issues often remain. Through ongoing research, several common patterns of ill-fitting ready-made shoes were discovered. Surprisingly, all these problems could be solved with millimeter-level adjustments.
The most common issue was the foot sliding forward inside the shoe due to a gap caused by the difference between the wearer's heel-to-ball-of-foot length and the internal slope of the shoe. Next, when viewed from the bottom, even shoes with a straight heel structure often curve inward towards the toe ("uchifuri" - inward swing). Also, there were issues with the shoe's bending point: shoes that were too stiff to bend, or where the bending point didn't align with the ball of the foot, causing the foot to move forward or stumble. In essence, to achieve a perfect fit, micro-adjustments to the shoe's shape itself are essential.
◆ In fact, many troubles are caused by ill-fitting shoes.
In Japan, 31.6% of women suffer from bunions, and 70% of students have floating little toes. A survey of over 1,500 people revealed that 80% experience shoe problems. Among them, 43.2% struggle with "foot or toe shape deformities," and 42.1% with "foot injuries (corns, calluses, blisters, etc.)."
Moreover, 80% of elementary school children have floating toes, 20% have bunions, and 80% have adducted little toes, indicating that despite the existence of functional shoes, problems persist.
While "wearing ill-fitting shoes" is considered one of the causes of these issues, even professional fittings often fail to resolve the problems.
Sources: Living Kurashi HOW Research Institute "Survey on Shoe and Foot Problems" (https://www.kurashihow.co.jp/markets/11647/) and "Foot Measurement of Elementary School Children (2nd Report)" by Nagayama.