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Bunion Pain, Swollen Feet or Sore Heels? 10 Reasons Women Over 60 Are Switching Sandals This Summer

By Karen Whitfield │ August 30th, 2026 │ 8:15 AM

Every summer it’s the same story. You get your sandals out in June, and before long you’re back in closed shoes because your feet can’t take another day in them.
 

Most women blame their feet. It’s usually the sandal.
 

Here’s the trap almost nobody points out. The sandals with real arch support come in one width.
 
If your foot is wider than average, you squeeze into a medium to get the support, or you buy something wide and flat and get none. You’ve been picking between two bad options for years without anybody telling you that’s what you were doing.

1. You’ve Been Choosing Between Support and Room, and You Shouldn’t Have To

Look at what’s on offer. Almost every sandal with a shaped footbed comes in medium width only. That’s the whole market.
 

So if your foot is wide, you’ve got two choices. Squeeze into the supportive one and crush the front of your foot, or buy the roomy flat one and go without support.
 

These come in standard and wide, with the arch built into both. You stop having to pick.

2. Your Toes Are Hanging Off the Edge

Stand in the sandals you own and look straight down. If your little toe is past the edge of the footbed, that sandal is too narrow for you.
 

Loosening the strap won’t fix it. The problem isn’t the strap, it’s what you’re standing on.
 

And the edge of your foot ends up carrying weight on nothing at all.
 

These are cut wide right where your toes are. Your whole foot lands on the footbed.

3. The Strap Is Cutting a Ridge Into Your Foot

You know the look. That puff of skin that rises over the edge of the strap by the end of the day, and the red line that’s still there when you take them off.
 

That’s a strap that doesn’t move on a foot that does. Your foot changes size between morning and evening, and a fixed strap can’t do a thing about it.
 

These have three velcro straps across the front. Pull one back, set it wider, carry on. No ridge, no marks.
 

And because there are three of them, each one sets on its own. The strap over a bunion can sit looser than the other two. A buckle can’t do that, and neither can a slide.

4. Nothing Rubs the Bunion or Sits Between Your Toes

A bunion sticks out at the widest part of your foot, which is exactly where most sandal straps cross. You get a red mark, then a sore spot, then a callus.
 

And anything with a post between the toes is worse. Podiatrists will tell you that thin strip rubs, irritates, and over time can push your toes out of shape.
 

The front here is open, with nothing between your toes — and the strap that crosses the widest part is the one you can set loose on its own.

Nothing has to press on the bump.

5. You’re Gripping With Your Toes and You Don’t Know It

In a slide or a backless sandal, your toes curl on every step to keep the thing on your foot.

Podiatrists point this out constantly — your feet work harder in a sandal that has nothing holding your heel.
 

Then you wonder why your toes ache in the shoes that were supposed to be the easy ones.
 

A strap behind the heel takes the job away. Your toes lie flat and the sandal stays where it is. Most women say this is the thing they notice first.

6. Your Arch Has Dropped, and Flat Sandals Make It Worse

Arches flatten as you get older. That’s normal. What isn’t normal is spending three months a year standing on something with no shape in it at all.
 

Flat sandals let the arch keep collapsing, and that’s the road to heel pain, arch pain and feet that ache after an hour.
 

These have a shaped footbed that holds the arch up and a small wedge that takes the pull off the back of your leg.

7. That First Step Out of Bed

You put your foot down in the morning and it feels like standing on a stone. You wait for it to settle, and somewhere along the line you started calling that normal.
 

Part of it is the padding under your heel. It thins out with age, and it spreads sideways when there’s nothing cupping it — so you end up walking on bone.
 

These have a cup under the heel that keeps that padding where it should be. Ask your own doctor about the rest, but a summer on flat sandals isn’t helping.

8. A Wider, Steadier Base Under You

Most women your age already know somebody it happened to. A slip on wet tile, and everything after it was different.
 

More than one in four adults 65 and over falls each year, and women fall more often than men. That’s the CDC, not a shoe company.
 

Podiatrists warn about flat slides and flip-flops for exactly this reason — nothing holding your heel, nothing gripping the floor. These have tread underneath, a stable base, and a strap that holds your heel where it belongs.

9. You’ve Been Hiding Your Feet, and It Made Them Worse

A lot of women stop wearing sandals altogether. Not because of the pain, but because of the bunion, the callus, the toe that sits crooked.

Here’s the problem. Closed shoes make every one of those worse. Narrow toe boxes are what pushed the joint out of line to start with.
 

These are open, they’re wide where your foot is wide, and they come in black, blue, pink, beige and white. They go with a sundress or with linen pants, and nobody’s looking at your feet anyway.

10. Under $50, While Everything Else Costs More

Custom orthotics run $200 to $600, and you can’t put an orthotic in a sandal. The name-brand orthopedic sandals run $110 to $160. A podiatrist visit is $50 to $150 before you’ve bought a thing.

These are $47.95, down from $95.90, with free shipping.
 

And think about what your current sandals have already cost you. A summer of days cut short, and a vacation spent sitting on a bench while everybody else kept walking.

How To Get Yours (50% OFF Plus FREE Shipping)

Right now these are $47.95, down from $95.90, with free shipping and a 30-day money-back guarantee. While stock lasts.
 

Sizing: they run true to size, and the velcro takes care of the rest. If you’re between sizes, or your feet swell in the heat, take the bigger size and set the straps in. Exchanges are free.

And there’s nothing to fasten. No buckle, no bending down, no fiddling with a little metal pin when your hands are stiff. You press them shut and you’re done.

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Standard and Wide, With the Arch Built Into Both

Wide Footbed So Your Toes Aren’t Hanging Off

Open Front, Nothing Rubbing the Bunion

Three Velcro Straps You Set Where You Want Them

Elastic Heel Strap So You’re Not Gripping With Your Toes

OrthoFit Women’s Orthopedic Open Toe Sandals

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