A high-arched foot (or “cavus foot” as it’s professionally known as) can affect one foot or both feet. It can be down to genetics, if you’re someone who has “always had high arches“, or it can be something that you develop further down the line, perhaps following a previous injury or the effects of surgery, or even down to a lack of flexibility and tightness in the foot, leaving you with “artificially” high arches over time.
Often, as a runner with a high-arched foot/feet, you’ll be recommended to buy all the latest and greatest running trainers with special custom-made built-in insoles that do this that and the other (and cost a fair bit along the way too!) Now, in some cases these are necessary. However, there could be an even simpler (and much cheaper!) alternative, right under your nose..
Re-lacing your running trainers. If your arches are high, then it makes perfect sense to give them a little more breathing space at the top of the trainer. This is very easily done, in less than a minute, simply re-lace the trainer and skip out the middle holes, as shown with the photo above. Most running trainers will have either 5 or 6 eyelets on each side. For trainers with 5 eyelets, do as shown above. For running trainers with 6 eyelets, keep the first 3 laced up as normal (at the bottom of the trainer), and skip the 4th. If both feet are high-arched, then repeat on the other side.
Give it a go – the worst that could happen is you’ll have wasted 2 minutes of your time with the lacing & re-lacing. The best that could happen is you’ll find your runs more comfortable and easier without the need to go out and buy state-of-the-art trainers!