The Best Shoes for Dwarfism – Supportive, Lightweight, Flexible, and Extra Deep!

Are you having a very hard time finding shoes for your child with dwarfism or achondroplasia? Is your child dealing with a foot condition such as flat feet, rolled and flexible ankles, bowed legs, low muscle tone, or maybe a “complicated” foot shape such as really wide feet? I am going to show you a list of the best shoes for dwarfism that are supportive and capable of accommodating wide or extra wide feet.

There are two types of dwarfism: disproportionate and proportionate. If your child has disproportionate dwarfism you will notice how your child has an average size torso but shorter arms and legs. If your child has proportionate dwarfism, your child’s body parts are in proportion but shortened. Whichever one of these conditions your child has, it’s important to find the correct pair of shoes to accommodate and support their feet. The correct pair of shoes will help improve your child’s overall posture, balance, and prevent foot, leg, and lower back pain.

The Challenges of Finding Shoes for Children with Dwarfism

Children with dwarfism usually experience foot and leg pain from being flat-footed, having rolled ankles and low muscle tone. I have also seen certain cases where they were experiencing lower back pain or numbness. Take a look at the image below, does it look familiar? Do you notice how the child’s feet and ankles are rolling inwards?


There are certain children’s shoes that provide a stable base of support, firm heel counters, and straight lasts that can help align your kids’ feet and legs, improving their overall posture.

Shoes for Kids with Dwarfism – The 5 Most Important Features

There are 5 key features that your kids’ shoes must provide to accommodate the shape of their wide or extra wide feet and help treat their foot conditions, whichever ones these might be.

1️⃣ Extra Depth: This is a key feature that most parents are not aware of. If you have children with extra wide feet, providing them with a pair of shoes that are labeled as extra wide (“XW”) is simply not enough. You also need to make sure that the shoes provide extra depth, to prevent the top part of their feet (instep), from rubbing against the top part of the shoes. Parents are often confused as to how they are supposed to find shoes that provide extra depth since shoes don’t come labeled that way. Let me show you a difference between a shoe that provides extra depth versus one that doesn’t:

2️⃣ Rounder Toe-Boxes: This feature helps prevent your kids’ toes from rubbing against one another or the side of the shoes. Shoes that come with rounder toe-boxes also help prevent your children from getting blisters on their toes. Let me show you the difference between a shoe that provides a rounder toe-box versus one that provides a pointer toe-box:

shoes-with-round-toe-boxes-for-kids-with-flat-feet

3️⃣ Substantial Outsoles: Shoes with substantial outsole and arch support can help prevent your child’s feet from collapsing and turning inwards or outwards. This feature might also be referred to as shock absorption, and helps reduce the impact that your kids’ feet and legs take when they come in contact with the ground. Below you can see the difference between a shoe with a substantial sole versus a shoe with a sole that is too thin and doesn’t provide the correct amount of support:

supportive-shoes-for-children-with-flat-feet

4️⃣ Firm Heel Counters: This is the back part of the shoes that provides ankle and heel support. Always check the heel counter of the shoes and make sure it feels firm. Take a look at the example below:

children's-shoes-with-heel-support

5️⃣ Lightweight/Flexible: Your kids’ shoes must be supportive, but lightweight and flexible at the same time to prevent your kids’ feet and legs from easily getting tired. Your kids’ shoes should always bend at the ball of the foot but no further.

children's-shoes-with-the-correct-amount-of-flexibility

Without further ado, let’s take a look at a selection of the best shoes for kids with dwarfism. Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links and we may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click our links and make purchases.

The Best Shoes for Dwarfism to Improve Balance and Posture

All of these shoes are available in different widths such as medium (M), wide (W), and extra wide (XW) widths. It’s highly likely that you will need to order the extra wide width for your child. 

Are Any Other Shoe Choices Available?

These are all everyday sneakers that your child can wear for most everyday activities. However, if you are looking for a different shoe style such as a sandal, boot, dress shoe, or sport shoe, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will help you find it:

fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com

Are You 100% Sure of Your Child’s Foot Size? – Let’s Find Out!

My recommendation is to have your child properly fitted for shoes at your local specialized children’s shoe store, where a shoe fitter can properly measure your kids’ feet. The issue is that most specialized children’s shoe stores have been closing down. That is the reason why I created a resource that showcases the best-fitting children’s shoe stores in the country by state.

If after looking at the resource you still can’t seem to find a good-fitting children’s shoe store in your area, then proceed to take a look at an article that I created that will show you the simplest, yet most effective way to figure out your child’s exact foot size from home.

Most parents don’t provide their children with a particular shoe just because they assume it won’t fit the shape of their child’s feet. From my 10 years of experience fitting children’s shoes, I came to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how narrow or wide your kids’ feet are, there is always a particular shoe out there that will fit the shape of your kids’ feet perfectly, and I will help you find it.

What Socks Are Better for Kids with Wide Feet?

If your child has wide or extra wide feet, it’s important that you provide your child with a pair of seamless socks to prevent your child’s toes from rubbing or overlapping one another. I have found that seamless socks are the most effective ones for children with extra wide feet. In addition to being seamless, your kids’ socks also need to be breathable and durable.

Socks do so much more than just act as a barrier between your kids’ feet and the shoes, they also prevent the buildup of bacteria inside the shoes. Your kids’ socks shouldn’t be too short or too long, they need to fit just right. I describe the best seamless socks for children in another article.

Does Your Child Want to Look a Little Taller?

I created a different resource that has a list of shoes that can help your child look a little taller.

Children with achondroplasia have their own development checklist, so keep in mind that it is perfectly normal for a 2-year-old with achondroplasia to not be walking yet. You probably have noticed that most children with dwarfism have larger heads, a normal size torso, and low muscle tone, and those 3 factors make it more challenging for children to be able to balance. However, once they start walking, they won’t have any trouble balancing.

Have you found a particular shoe that has worked well for your child with dwarfism? Please share your findings below so other parents can benefit from your experiences.