Why do my shoes get holes in the toe box?

One of the biggest questions we get is “Why do I get holes in my running shoes?” and “how do we prevent it”

Many runners think it’s a fault with the shoes, but unfortunately its not as simple as that. Yes some shoes are worse than others but its important to tell your running specialist store that you have this issue before making your final shoe choice.

After spending a fortune on some shiny new shoes, the last thing you expect is your toe to pop through the upper. Unfortunately this is often part of owning running shoes that are lightweight and have thin mesh uppers designed with only breathability and support in mind.

The simple reason for the holes occurring is friction and the reason for the friction depends on where the holes occur:

Holes in the Toe Box

This is the most common reason why you see holes in running shoes, its roughly 1 in every 5 runners who get this type of hole in their shoes regularly. The reason for it occurring is due to the big toe rubbing away at the mesh from underneath.

This is down to one major factor. If your hallux joint doesn’t move freely through its entire range of motion when it is loaded (when you toe off) then the distal phalanx will over extend to compensate this “lifting” of the distal phalanx occurs at a time when the mesh is close to your toes (a fraction of a second after it should). This slight difference in timing and the angle of the extension of the end of the toe (which contains the tip of the nail) rather than the whole toe is enough when repeated thousands of times when running, causing the mesh to wear quickly.

It’s not uncommon for you to see the mesh thinking after just a few runs, annoyingly although manufacturers are well aware of this problem, their aim is comfort and breathability so they very rarely reinforce the mesh substantially enough in the toe box.

If you are a aware of this problem then let us or your specialist store know and we can advice you on the best shoe. Shoes with a deeper toe box can help or pop and see the cobbler who can apply a patch, Keep your toenails as short as possible, Choose running socks with good toe padding

For more information pop in and see us at LETS RUN www.lets-run.co.uk