Prevalent in many of the problems associated with pain and exercising is your choice of shoe. One day of walking on shoes not designed for a full day of walking on whatever terrain you are on, can ruin your feet and prevent you from going 100% on the rest of your vacation days. Don’t think that you can walk a whole day in the mountains on flip flops and feel no after-effects. If you don’t have the right pair of shoes with you or you refuse to put on walking shoes because sandals match your outfit better, it might be wiser to pick up a new souvenir and get yourself a new pair of shoes. Not being able to walk comfortably is one of the worst excuses for not seeing everything that you wanted to see on your trip.

If you’re lucky and you can take public transportation all over the place, like in Budapest or in Paris, then you might want to balance walking with public transportation. Give yourself a break from time to time. Sit down and relax. Don’t stress your legs and feet out to the point where you’re too sore to stand up the next morning.

There are a lot of precautions you can take to prevent soreness. One would be to wear blister bandages and good socks. Another would be to stretch throughout the day or at least once before you go to bed. Along with stretching, give yourself a foot massage and get rid of any “crinkles” in your feet. A hot shower will help loosen up your muscles as well. Even elevating your feet could keep any swelling to a minimum and leave your feet refreshed for the next day.

When I was in Budapest, my aunts and I immediately tackled the hike up to the Citadel—completely unprepared and spontaneously. I was feeling that hike for the next few days. If the damage has already been done and you’re hurting (and can’t buy new shoes), your best option is to stretch, drink water, massage, and rest. You can also try taking some pain medication.

While you are probably not going to break bones or create stress fractures, it is possible to get shin splints or blisters. These are two of the most common injuries. Shin splints, or pain in your shins, are typically caused by poor footwear and improper walking techniques. Another factor, of course, is the type of terrain that you walk on. By working on a heel-to-toe walking technique and getting proper walking shoes, you can try to overcome them, but if you can’t, ice and ibuprofen will be helpful.

Blisters can form due to improper footwear, but your socks can also cause them. If your socks do not absorb moisture correctly, blisters can form.

You may also feel pain in your calf, your thigh, or your knee after a long hike. This is because the angle at which you walk causes you to grip by placing pressure on your forefoot.  This forces your heel to drop low, and there is an increase in pressure on your thigh and knee muscles.  Practice will help prevent this from occurring.

As you may have noticed, most of these injuries are caused by improper footwear or walking techniques. Whenever setting out for a walk, be prepared. Know your limits and don’t overdo it—even if you feel great. Most importantly, make sure that you buy the right pair of shoes for your foot. Don’t pick out the shoe based on the pattern! You may have to get a shoe that is a half size bigger than you normally get; this is because your foot tends to swell when hiking or going for an intense walk. In addition to walking techniques and proper footwear, be sure to stretch before and after you exercise. Last, but not least, it is also very important to keep hydrated and eat nutritious food.

There. We just eliminated two common excuses. “I don’t have the money for ______ (insert ‘treadmill’, ‘gym membership’, ‘classes’, etc.)” and “I don’t have time to exercise.” The fact is, there is no excuse for not improving your health. Walking does not require specialized training either. Most of us have been walking since toddlerhood. So, just put one foot in front of the other and start revving up your heart. Even just a leisurely stroll will do you good, but if you really want to put your heart in high gear, you need to power walk.

Power walking can be a pretty intensive workout, so it is recommended that you warm up by walking at a slow pace for a few minutes, build up to a faster stride for as long as you can maintain it, then slow down again to cool down. Putting a little power in your step causes you to breathe more deeply and your heart to beat a little faster to keep up with the increased oxygen intake and blood flow. It is very important to be consciously aware of your breathing while you walk. Inhale deeply and exhale slowly, making sure not to hyperventilate. Slower, more deliberate breathing will carry much-needed oxygen to your muscles and organs. Whether on a track, trail or treadmill, walking will provide the overall aerobic lift your heart needs, and power walking will boost the benefit even more.

They are called Shape Ups. If you have not heard of them before, they are shoes that are designed to promote weight loss, improve posture, tone muscles, and reduce the stress that is on your knees and ankles. They are really some kind of a shoe—they look like your typical shoe, but with a curved bump on the sole. How do they work?

Well, they are designed to help by changing the way that you walk. People say that walking barefoot is good for you so that you strengthen your arches and feet. They say that running on grass is better for your bones and knees and that walking on sand can have major benefits. Well, Sketchers has decided to draw from nature to develop a new kind of shoe. What they have done is to use a kinetic wedge insert and a rolling bottom to simulate walking on soft sand. They say that the movement that these shoes put your body through results in stronger leg, buttock, back and abdominal muscles. How is that for a shoe?

I will admit that the concept is pretty interesting. The shoe itself is not to aesthetically appealing to me, but perhaps to other people it is. However, some people may determine that these shoes could aid their fitness and would choose these shoes over a typical shoe. Because this is relatively new technology, I am curious to see how these shoes work in the long run.

Speaking of running, now I am curious to find out if you can actually run in these shoes. Sketchers typically is not a strong supplier of running shoes, but maybe this shoe is different.

Shape Ups may just be the new thing, we shall see!

If you are looking into actually performing physical exercise on a pretty regular schedule, choosing a shoe based on color and price is a huge mistake. I learned that the hard way when my silver Nikes with the small pink check and black accents ended up being the source of my shin splints.

The first step in choosing a shoe is to understand your feet. It is important to know how your feet pronate, or how you roll from your heel to your toes through the foot strike. The best way to figure out how you walk is to check out the underside of a pair of used shoes.

If most of the shoe wear is:

• On the inside side, then you overpronate and probably need to choose Motion-Control Running Shoes
• On the outside side, then you underpronate and most likely need to choose Cushioned Running Shoes
• Uniform across the forefoot, then you are neutral and should choose Stability Running Shoes

The next step would be to figure out how your arches are. You could have a normal arch (choose Stability Running shoes), a low arch (choose Motion-Control shoes), or a high arch (choose cushioned shoes).

There are other things that you can take into consideration, such as the fact that overpronators should choose a straight shaped shoe while underpronators should choose a curved shaped shoe, but the number one thing you should do is go see a local specialty shoe store. Many stores even have you run on a treadmill to see the way that you run and almost every store will make the effort to take time out of their day to ensure that you purchase the right shoe. Sure, it may become a little pricey, but your feet and body will thank you in the long run.