Yes you read that right; we may have mastered the art of tying our shoe laces back in primary school. However, as with most things, there’s more than one way to do it! Moreover, various methods of tying your laces can actually assist in shoe fit, offload high pressure areas and improve ankle stability within the shoe.
Let’s get back to basics!
If you are just beginning to guide your child with lacing their shoes, there may be times where Velcro appears to be the greatest invention on Earth! The simple act of tying a lace involves a sequence of fine motor skills, coordination, finger dexterity and motor planning. You can see how this could become quite frustrating for both you and your little shoe tier!
Below is a commonly used training method that may assist in their learning:
The bunny ear technique:
Cross the strings over each other for the first knot. Fold each end of the lace into a single “bunny ear.” Cross the bunny ears over each other (this is the bunny running around the tree). Then pass the tip of the bent ear through the hole that is created by between both ears (this is the bunny jumping into the hole). Finally pull the loops tight.
Kristen Johnson, a mum and blogger of the Unstoppable Mother recently posted a video claiming “The Easiest Way To Tie Shoe Laces”. You can watch it here
Once you and your child have mastered basic lace tying, you can move onto more specialised lacing techniques aimed at various foot requirements. Jens Jakob Andersen, who founded the website ‘Runrepeat’, has researched and identified 12 various running shoe lacing techniques. You can see this information with fantastic step by step videos here.
This highlights that there are no firm rules on the ‘right way’ to lace your shoes. Of course, it is still essential to ensure your shoe fits appropriately in length, width and depth. From there forward though, you can customise your lacing to suit your feet!
Now we have become masters in lace tying… but the darn things keep coming undone! Whether you are in the middle of a race or game, or you are concerned about tripping over loose laces, untied laces can be a real nuisance and a potential hazard. A Melbourne based company has found the solution in the ‘Safelace.’ Safelace works by threading your lace ends through the device, and then clipping the locktab to secure your tied laces together.
Lacing your shoes may seem like a basic skill to master, but as you can see there are endless options showcasing how lacing can assist in getting the best fit from your shoes. If you are still experiencing any shoe fixation or fitting problems, come in to Border Podiatry Centre for further information.
Thanks to these sites for some info and pictures
Happy lacing!