10 Best Shoes For Heel Pain [ 2024 Reviews ] - Shoe Adviser (2024)

Heel pain can be a significant concern for many people, causing a great deal of suffering when walking or running if not supported with appropriate shoes for heel pain. Buying a pair of the best shoes for heel pain available in 2021 can make a massive difference to the pain of walking while suffering from heel pain, offering great relief and helping to reduce the symptoms of heel pain significantly. Properly padded and supportive shoes for heel pain are worth tracking down if you suffer from heel pain, but it can be hard to determine which shoes for heel pain are the best shoes for heel pain 2021.

We’ve researched and tested a wide range of different shoes for heel pain to help find the top 10 shoes for heel pain and simplify your life. Below, you can find our best shoes for heel pain reviews, in which we explore the most essential features of each of our best shoes for heel pain 2021, as well as our buyers’ guide to best shoes for heel pain review to help you understand what the most important things to look for when buying shoes for heel pain are.

With our reviews and guide, you can find a great pair of shoes for heel pain, making your feet much more comfortable when you stand, walk, or run.

View the Best Shoes For Heel Pain, Below.

• Skechers Performance Women’s Go Walk Slip-On
• Brooks Men’s Adrenaline GTS 19
• Vionic Women’s Tide II Toe Post Sandal
• Clarks Men’s Tilden Cap Oxford Shoe
• ASICS Women’s Gel-Venture 6 Running-Shoes
• Skechers Men’s Go Walk Max
• Dansko Women’s Professional Mule
• New Balance Men’s 1080v9 Fresh Foam
• Vionic Women’s Spark Minna Ballet Flat
• OOFOS Sports Recovery Clog

1. Skechers Performance Women’s Go Walk Slip-On

The Skechers Performance Women's Go Walk Slip-On shoes for heel pain are ergonomically designed lightweight slip-on shoes that offer a high level of comfort and support for relief from heel pain. These shoes are built in a slip on design that is easy to put on and take off at a moment's notice and constructed from lightweight synthetic fabrics for an unobtrusive and flexible wearing experience.

The cushioning built into the insoles of the Skechers Performance Women's Go Walk Slip-On shoes for heel pain is made from Skechers' proprietary Resalyte material, a lightweight compound that offers a high level of comfort and protection without compromising on the responsiveness afforded by the flexible, textured rubber sole.

Lightweight, flexible and comfortable, the Skechers Performance Women's Go Walk Slip-On shoes for heel pain are simple and unobtrusive heel pain shoes that offer a high level of padding and support.

2. Brooks Men’s Adrenaline GTS 19

The Brooks Men's Adrenaline GTS 19 shoes for heel pain are premium, well-designed running shoes offering a high level of support for heel pain. These shoes for heel pain offer some of the best guidance and support for a wide range of foot pain problems of any trainers or other shoes in 2021. The Brooks Men's Adrenaline GTS 19 shoes for heel pain feature the Brooks special GuideRails Holistic Support System incorporated into their soles.

This system gives a high level of foot support and prevents your feet from moving around too much when you walk, helping to avoid some of the underlying causes of heel pain and helping your feet to recover while preventing further damage to your feet, knees, and ankles. The lightweight, breathable mesh of the uppers of the Brooks Men’s Adrenaline GTS 19 shoes for heel pain keeps your feet cool and dry even when running, maximizing your comfort as far as possible as well as helping to recover from heel pain.

The Brooks Men's Adrenaline GTS 19 shoes for heel pain combine a high level of support with great comfort and padding to relieve heel pain. These shoes for heel pain are an excellent choice for a wide range of situations, from supportive comfort when walking to safe and secure running.

3. Vionic Women’s Tide II Toe Post Sandal

The Vionic Women’s Tide II Toe Post Sandal is a simple and lightweight sandal style shoe for heel pain that offers a high level of support and padding for your heels despite its simple and understated design. The midsole of these sandals for heel pain is made from medium density flexible EVA foam, effectively absorbing shock to reduce stress on your feet, ankles and knees as you walk, while the outsole is made from durable TPR rubber with a high traction wave-patterned tread to allow stable, easy walking on a wide range of surfaces.

The lightweight construction and padded base of the Vionic Women's Tide II Toe Post Sandal ensure that these shoes for heel pain offer a high level of support to help relieve heel pain while walking.

Built in a simple yet stylish sandal design, the Vionic Women’s Tide II Toe Post Sandal shoe for heel pain is a far more supportive piece of footwear for heel pain than might be expected from simple sandals such as this.

4. Clarks Men’s Tilden Cap Oxford Shoe

Clarks have a long history of producing high-quality premium men's dress shoes, and the Clarks Men's Tilden Cap Oxford Shoe for heel pain is a model of men's dress shoes for heel pain that uses this expertise to combine traditional design and construction with modern orthotic elements for a stylish and practical shoe.

The inbuilt Ortholite insoles offer a high level of padding to relieve heel pain, as well as wicking away moisture to ensure that your feet stay cool, dry and sweat free even during long periods of wearing these shoes for heel pain. In addition to this, the Ortholite insoles are made from odor-inhibiting materials, keeping your feet fresh and clean throughout.

The Clarks Men’s Tilden Cap Oxford Shoe for heel pain offers greater cushioning and relief from heel pain than most men’s dress shoes thanks to the in-built Ortholite insoles of this model of shoes for heel pain.

5. ASICS Women’s Gel-Venture 6 Running-Shoes

Designed to provide a high level of protection and foot support during trail running or other outdoor activities on harder or rougher terrain, the ASICS Women's Gel-Venture 6 Running Shoes for heel pain are durable and well built. These shoes for heel pain are built with an outsole made from ASICS High Abrasion Rubber (AHAR), a durable material that stands up well to the abrasion of rougher, harder surfaces, as well as a design featuring deep grooves to offer a strong and powerful grip against even the most unstable of surfaces.

The main feature that makes these shoes for heel pain good for pain relief, however, is the gel cushioning built into the insoles of the ASICS Women's Gel-Venture 6 Running Shoes. This gel padding is focused on the heels, reducing impact shocks and cradling them to prevent further pain while walking or running.

In addition to this, the padded sock liner is entirely removable, allowing it to be taken fully out of the shoes in order to give enough space to insert a medically recommended orthotic insole, boosting the medical support potential of these shoes for heel pain and allowing them to offer relief no matter what the underlying cause of your heel pain may be.

The ASICS Women’s Gel Venture 6 running shoes for heel pain are customizable and flexible, featuring excellent gel padding and a removable sock liner to allow space for orthotic insoles of any medically recommended type or shape, granting increased orthotic support for heel pain.

6. Skechers Men’s Go Walk Max

The Skechers Men's Go Walk Max heel pain sneakers are lightweight and heavily padded sneakers for heel pain that offer a high level of comfort and relief from pain no matter what the underlying cause of your heel pain may be. These shoes for heel pain feature a breathable mesh upper and soft fabric lining, keeping your feet comfortable and cool even during extended periods of exercise, reducing sweat to keep your feet as dry and comfortable as possible.

The Skechers Goga Max High rebound insole is made from a yoga mat style material, offering a high level of rebound for your strides and reducing impact shocks significantly, giving a high level of pain relief while walking.

Offering more padding and spring than most shoes for heel pain, the Skechers Mens Go Walk Max Sneakers shoes for heel pain are exceptionally well cushioned, offering luxurious comfort and relief from heel pain for most users.

7. Dansko Women’s Professional Mule

The Dansko Women’s Professional Mule shoes for heel pain are professional clogs designed for a high level of support and comfort for wearing all day in roles that require standing or walking for extended periods of time. The polyurethane rocker bottom sole of all Dansko Stapled Clog style shoes is designed to protect the feet, legs, and back of wearers from the stresses inherent to standing and walking, as well as allowing for easy rolling motion when you walk and reducing impact shocks to increase the comfort of your heels.

The instep collar is padded to keep your feet comfortable, further reducing the strain on the underside of your feet and relieving the tendon issues that can cause heel pain.

The Dansko Women’s Professional Mule shoes for heel pain offer unparalleled comfort and support for standing or walking all day, giving effective relief from long term heel pain and maximizing your comfort in every way.

8. New Balance Men’s 1080v9 Fresh Foam

New Balance trainers are a premium running shoe brand with a focus on designing high-quality shoes that help athletes to achieve their full potential in athletic performance, a focus which also applies to the orthotic elements of these premium shoes for heel pain. As such, the New Balance Men's 1080v9 Fresh Foam shoes for heel pain are among the best heel pain relief shoes available on the market in 2021, made from durable mesh with an orthotic sole and biomechanically engineered design elements for maximum performance and comfort.

The footbed features EVA foam padding and a Fresh Foam design for a high level of comfort and odor elimination, as well as strong and flexible arch support to relieve the causes of heel pain. The most significant design element of the New Balance Men’s 1080v9 Fresh Foam shoes for heel pain, however, is the Ultra Heel, an extra thick foam heel that offers the maximum possible level of padding and cushioning to support your heel and increase the comfort level of your foot in action.

The New Balance Men’s 1080v9 Fresh Foam shoes for heel pain are premium athletic shoes for heel pain that are built to last for a long time, with durable construction and high-performance design elements throughout.

9. Vionic Women’s Spark Minna Ballet Flat

The Vionic Women's Spark Minna Ballet Flat shoe for heel pain is a simple and understated ballet flat style heel support shoe designed for orthotic support and protection to reduce heel pain. The insole is biomechanically designed for arch support, curving to cradle your arches in order to reduce stress on your plantar fascia and relieve one of the leading causes of heel pain.

The footbed is made from microfiber wrapped EVA foam, offering comfortable padding and support, and can be removed to allow the insertion of medically recommended orthotic insoles, effectively boosting the medically supportive potential of these best shoes for heel pain beyond the manufacturer’s original levels.

Combining attractive, understated ballet flat design with orthotic support for heel pain, the Vionic Women’s Spark Minna Ballet Flat shoes for heel pain are comfortable, supportive and attractive heel pain shoes for women.

10. OOFOS Sports Recovery Clog

The OOFOS Sports Recovery Clog is a lightweight foam rubber clog designed to aid recovery after sporting events. Ergonomically designed to relieve stress on your feet and legs, these shoes for heel pain feature OOfoam recovery technology built into the soles, promising 37% more impact absorption than most traditional foam options to add further relief from heel pain.

The closed cell foam construction of the sole is machine washable and minimizes odors, keeping your feet clean and fresh even when you wear the OOFOS Sports Recovery Clog shoes for extended periods of time with no break. The footbed is designed to cradle your arches naturally and comfortably, reducing stress on your plantar fascia and helping to mitigate one of the leading causes of heel pain.

Explicitly designed to aid recovery from sporting injuries, the OOFOS Sports Recovery Clog is a simple and well-padded model of shoes for heel pain that offers a high level of padding and foot support.

Shoes For Heel Pain Buyer’s Guide

Comfort

Shock absorption is one of the most important factors to consider when you’re looking to buy a pair of shoes for heel pain, as excellent shock absorption can make a massive difference to the levels of heel pain you experience. Heel pain is often caused by other foot problems that usually develop due to spending too much time wearing shoes that do not offer enough support for your feet in some key areas.

In order to combat heel pain as effectively as possible, you should work out which areas of your foot need the most padding and how high your arches are before you choose a pair of shoes for heel pain.

Fitting Shoes for Heel Pain

When you’re looking to buy a new pair of shoes for heel pain, it is essential that you make sure that your chosen shoes fit as well as possible, as shoes that do not fit properly can cause further foot problems as well as failing to relieve heel pain. A significant part of this is ensuring that you avoid buying and wearing shoes that are too tight, and therefore it is recommended that you go shopping for shoes for heel pain later on in the day, as walking for a day will cause minor swelling of your feet.

This swelling means that a pair of shoes for heel pain that fitted perfectly in the morning may be too tight to offer appropriate comfort and support later on in the day as your feet expand. When you’re buying new shoes for heel pain, ensure that both of your feet are measured by professionals in all directions.

This is important, as the length is only one dimension and your feet are three dimensional; ensuring that your shoes are of appropriate depth and width for your feet is just as important as length and can make a massive difference to the level of support and relief from heel pain that your shoes can offer.

The final thing that is worth considering when you buy a new pair of shoes for heel pain is that socks are essential. Socks add to the size of your foot, albeit not by very much, and wearing socks of different thickness (either thicker or thinner) from your usual socks when trying on your new shoes for heel pain can lead to buying a poorly fitting pair of shoes.

As such, it is important that you try shoes for heel pain on while wearing the same type of socks that you would typically wear with the shoes in question.

How to Pick Good Shoes For Heel Pain?

Heel pain can be caused by a number of different underlying foot conditions. The most common of these is plantar fasciitis, a welling of the tendons that run along the bottom of your feet. The most important thing to look for when buying shoes for heel pain caused by plantar fasciitis is an excellent sturdy heel counter. This is the back part of the shoe that wraps around your heel, supporting the back of your foot. Squeeze the heel counter of any shoes you are considering to make sure it is firm and strong rather than soft and flexible.

Related: Best Shoes for Plantar Fasciitis.

You’re also going to want a shoe for heel pain that features an elevated heel and a rocker sole design. If the heel of your chosen shoe is about an inch high, this will give enough of a slant to your foot that a little of your weight will be shifted from your painful heels towards the front of your foot, easing your heel pain a bit. Rocker soles will contribute further to this, helping your feet to move smoothly without putting too much pressure on your heels.

Best Shoes For Heel Pain When Standing?

In general, what you’re looking for when buying a pair of shoes for heel pain when standing is precisely the same as what you should look for when buying a pair of shoes for heel pain when walking, with only a few minor differences. You’re going to need a comfortable and well-padded pair of shoes for heel pain no matter what, but the material from which the sole is made from may differ.

If you’re planning on standing still for an extended period of time rather than walking, you won’t need a particularly rugged and durable outer sole on your shoes for heel pain. Instead, prioritize finding a pair of shoes for heel pain with a thick, soft sole made from memory foam or sturdy EVA foam. This extra padding will make standing more comfortable, easing your heel pain significantly while standing still.

Expert Tip

What you’re looking for in a great pair of shoes for heel pain is exceptionally sturdy arch support to hold your foot up in the correct position. Keep an eye out for strong and well-padded arches in your shoes.

Did you know?

Resting your heels can actually make the pain feel worse when you start walking again. That doesn’t mean that resting your feet is a bad idea, though! Rest is still a very important part of recovering from heel pain.