9.5 4E Feet. Recommendations?

Can anyone recommend a shoe that isn't New Balance that has a wide fit for my 4E size feet? Just seems like know manufacturers really don't care about those who have wide feet. We are here, we play sports, and we need shoes too!
 

mikeler

Moderator
I think you are trapped with New Balance like me. Throw out the stock insoles and put in some Dr. Scholls for better cushioning.
 

corners

Legend
Can anyone recommend a shoe that isn't New Balance that has a wide fit for my 4E size feet? Just seems like know manufacturers really don't care about those who have wide feet. We are here, we play sports, and we need shoes too!

Ha ha. Same size. I have noticed that a couple other manufactuers - Nike and KSwiss - make or have made 4E shoes. The City Court VII is available in 4E. You can find it with Google. Anybody know if the City Court VII is worth a fig?

Asics makes 4E running shoes. ASICS! Please make the Resolution V in 4E!!!!!!!
 
Ha ha. Same size. I have noticed that a couple other manufactuers - Nike and KSwiss - make or have made 4E shoes. The City Court VII is available in 4E. You can find it with Google. Anybody know if the City Court VII is worth a fig?

Asics makes 4E running shoes. ASICS! Please make the Resolution V in 4E!!!!!!!

I've seen the Nike City Court and that is barely a tennis shoe. The KSwiss may come wide, but unless they say 4E my feet will suffocate. I tried the Babolat SFX which is supposed to be wide and my feet could barely get into those stiff shoes.
 
I think you are trapped with New Balance like me. Throw out the stock insoles and put in some Dr. Scholls for better cushioning.

I would do that, but the problem is most insoles I've tried aren't wide enough for my feet, either! :( I've have the NB 1005 and the cushioning isn't bad, but clearly could be better.
 

mikeler

Moderator
Tried on both Nike and KSwiss. I don't think I could jam my size 9, 4E foot into either of them.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Can anyone recommend a shoe that isn't New Balance that has a wide fit for my 4E size feet? Just seems like know manufacturers really don't care about those who have wide feet. We are here, we play sports, and we need shoes too!

Invest in a pair of high quality shoe stretchers and wear any shoes you want.

I used to wear New Balance 6E walking shoes and 4E tennis shoes. Now I wear adidas barricades.
 
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You might also take a look at the Head Speed Pro Lites. I'm right around a 2E, and they were too wide for me. Looks like TW is out of 9.5s right now, but you might keep an eye out for them.
 
Invest in a pair of high quality shoe stretchers and wear any shoes you want.

I used to wear New Balance 6E walking shoes and 4E tennis shoes. Now I wear adidas barricades.

interesting thought, however, by simply stretching the shoe upper and having the sole remain the same wouldn't the stability characteristics be negatively changed? in other words, you have a big car running on small tires, which doesn't make handling very good...
 

corners

Legend
Invest in a pair of high quality shoe stretchers and wear any shoes you want.

I used to wear New Balance 6E walking shoes and 4E tennis shoes. Now I wear adidas barricades.

I don't care for that. The entire sole of the foot should rest flat on the midsole of the shoe, with nothing riding up or over. In most shoes my entire 5th metatarsal is riding up on the edge of the midsole, which nowadays have ridges all along the lateral edge. Pressure on the 5th metatarsal sends signals to your nervous system to pronate and evert the foot, which is not a good thing.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
interesting thought, however, by simply stretching the shoe upper and having the sole remain the same wouldn't the stability characteristics be negatively changed? in other words, you have a big car running on small tires, which doesn't make handling very good...

No stability problem here.

When you look at the soles of shoes, they are wider on the outside of the shoes than on the inside.

I take my barricades off, put the left shoe up against my right foot, sole to sole. These medium-width soles are still wider than my 4E-6E feet.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
I don't care for that. The entire sole of the foot should rest flat on the midsole of the shoe, with nothing riding up or over. In most shoes my entire 5th metatarsal is riding up on the edge of the midsole, which nowadays have ridges all along the lateral edge. Pressure on the 5th metatarsal sends signals to your nervous system to pronate and evert the foot, which is not a good thing.


You don't care for it because you have tried stretching the shoes, or you just don't like the idea?

Here's another recommendation: Put a piece of moleskin over the spot directly on the skin. I have large bunions and bunionettes so I have to do this all the time, or else the friction kills me.

Just try it once and report back.

By the way, it sounds to me that you need to see a podiatrist and have orthotics made. If you notice a gradually growing distance between the 4th and the 5th metatarsal, you can buy wider shoes but your 5th metatarsal will continue to get farther and farther apart and your foot will grow wider if you don't address the problem (so says my podiatrist).
 
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corners

Legend
You don't care for it because you have tried stretching the shoes, or you just don't like the idea?

Here's another recommendation: Put a piece of moleskin over the spot directly on the skin. I have large bunions and bunionettes so I have to do this all the time, or else the friction kills me.

Just try it once and report back.

By the way, it sounds to me that you need to see a podiatrist and have orthotics made. If you notice a gradually growing distance between the 4th and the 5th metatarsal, you can buy wider shoes but your 5th metatarsal will continue to get farther and farther apart and your foot will grow wider if you don't address the problem (so says my podiatrist).

Thanks Scotus. The thing is that shoes cause bunions, and bunionettes. In non-shoe-wearing populations bunions are almost completely unknown. Very, very rare.

If the base of the 5th metatarsal rides up on the edge of the midsole, that edge will actually traction the 5th away from the 4th, slowly tearing the cuboid-5th metatarsal ligaments and inter-metatarsal ligaments. Orthotics are casted non-weightbearing, usually, which results in the orthotic itself being too narrow for the foot. Consequently, the lateral edge or lip of the orthotic presents another foreign ridge upon which the 5th metatarsal base will ride. It's critical that the entire sole of the foot rests on a flat surface. Orthotics are rubbish - I've got a whole bag of them - and podiatrists hopelessly confused. This is a really good example, actually. The shoe doesn't fit the foot? Stretch it. The narrow shoe is distorting the foot? Put an orthotic under it.

How about just getting a shoe that actually fits the foot? The whole shoe industry is mad. A D width shoe is actually only wide enough for a B width foot! Really. And they've done that on purpose for a hundred years because narrow feet look seemly, sexy and civilized. I'm not kidding. Jam your feet in there if you want.
 

scotus

G.O.A.T.
Thanks Scotus. The thing is that shoes cause bunions, and bunionettes. In non-shoe-wearing populations bunions are almost completely unknown. Very, very rare.

If the base of the 5th metatarsal rides up on the edge of the midsole, that edge will actually traction the 5th away from the 4th, slowly tearing the cuboid-5th metatarsal ligaments and inter-metatarsal ligaments. Orthotics are casted non-weightbearing, usually, which results in the orthotic itself being too narrow for the foot. Consequently, the lateral edge or lip of the orthotic presents another foreign ridge upon which the 5th metatarsal base will ride. It's critical that the entire sole of the foot rests on a flat surface. Orthotics are rubbish - I've got a whole bag of them - and podiatrists hopelessly confused. This is a really good example, actually. The shoe doesn't fit the foot? Stretch it. The narrow shoe is distorting the foot? Put an orthotic under it.

How about just getting a shoe that actually fits the foot? The whole shoe industry is mad. A D width shoe is actually only wide enough for a B width foot! Really. And they've done that on purpose for a hundred years because narrow feet look seemly, sexy and civilized. I'm not kidding. Jam your feet in there if you want.

Well, sounds like you have your mind made up.

For me, I don't see any difference in comfort level between my stretched Barricades and the New Balance 4E or 6E. I wear the Barricades not because they look better but because they perform better, last a whole lot longer, and fit just as comfortably.

BTW I developed bunions and bunionettes wearing 4E and 6E shoes.
 

Llefty

New User
I wear a 10 3E shoe and have also been sorely disappointed by NB's offerings. I don't know how to explain it because it doesn't seem like a terribly wide shoe, but I've been wearing Babolat Propulse 3s pain free. I went up a size and wear two pairs of socks.
 
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