More footwear testing

I did another test walk in yet another pair of sandals. This time I walked for an hour wearing some $10 Teva knockoffs. These knockoffs had very little shape to the footbed. There is no heel rise or arch. There is only a sort of design stamped in it with small bumps where the toes go. These felt really good for most of the walk but at the end I felt my sesamoid injury.

So here are the results of my tests:

Shoe	Features
Chacos	Sandal Arch support Moderate heel rise (3mm)
Results	NO Sesamoid pain NO Limping NO Achilles tendonitis pain NO Behind the knee pain NO Too small toebox NO Too much toespring YES Chafing
Feelmax Osmas	Moccasin-like shoe No arch support No heel rise
Results	YES Sesamoid pain YES Limping NO Achilles tendonitis pain NO Behind the knee pain YES Too small toebox NO Too much toespring NO Chafing
Brooks Cascadia	Standard trail running shoe Not a motion control shoe Standard running shoe features
Results	YES Sesamoid pain YES Limping YES Achilles tendonitis pain YES Behind the knee pain NO Too small toebox YES Too much toespring NO Chafing
Piper Sandals	No heel rise Arch support
Results	NO Sesamoid pain NO Limping NO Achilles tendonitis pain NO Behind the knee pain NO Too small toebox NO Too much toespring YES Chafing
Imitation Tevas	Cheap sandals No arch No heel rise
Results	YES Sesamoid pain NO Limping NO Achilles tendonitis pain NO Behind the knee pain NO Too small toebox NO Too much toespring YES Chafing

So what's the lesson? It could be any of these:

• Freedom of the feet and toes to move is the most important thing
• If shoes can't be foot-shaped, people without shoe-shaped feet should wear sandals
  
• Low/no heel is good
• Arch support helps my sesamoid injury
  
• Too much shape in the footbed is bad (that toespring thing where the ball of the foot is in a depression with toes pointing up is extremely damaging)
  
• Chafing is the main problem with sandals
• Cost does not inform about the healthfulness of the shoe