FAQ relating to the comfort of shinfinTM fins are listed below. Please also see the comfortable fins page and the complete FAQ list.
For your comfort, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These most comfortable fins flex to fit different leg sizes and shapes and don’t restrict your feet at all.
Even though regular foot fins come in many different sizes, they are often a poor fit for our widely variable foot sizes and shapes. That is why it is hard to find a comfortable pair of foot fins that fit well. Firstly, our feet need extra-small to extra-large sizes. Secondly, they need very narrow to extra-wide fittings. Thirdly, our feet have a big range of foot arches and shapes. No wonder foot fins don’t fit us very well. Often, they are too tight and hurt. Or they are too loose and fall off. These are real problems which hurt us.
In contrast, these new fins don’t fit on your feet. They strap on your legs. The centre of these fins flexes in and out to match the shape of your shin. Furthermore, all fin edges are tapered, thin and flexible for extra comfort.
Their wide rubber straps are soft, comfortable and fully adjustable to fit around your leg. The straps stretch and contract as your calf muscles expand and contract during your kick.
So you can be a short person with little legs or all the way up to a tall person with long legs. Your calves can be narrow or broad. Your feet can be small and thin, or large and wide. These fins will still fit you.
Now you can have comfortable fins that actually fit you!
To avoid painful toe cramps and blisters, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These comfortable fins don’t hurt your toes. They can also be adjusted so they don’t hurt your bunions.
Regular foot fins often crush your toes and cause toe cramps. They also rub your toes, giving you blisters and hurting any bunions that you may have. They are especially painful when sand gets trapped in the foot pockets. Often you can’t use regular foot fins for very long before they hurt so much you have to stop. Then you may have to wait days for the sores to recover before you can use them again.
These new fins avoid all this toe pain because they have no foot pockets. Your toes are not inside a fin. So they don’t constrict your toes at all. You are free to move your feet and toes however you like. That’s why they don’t cause cramps in your toes.
The fin lies gently along the top of your foot as you point your toes during your forward kick. The tips are soft and flexible. So they don’t rub your toes and don’t give you sores or blisters on your toes.
If you already have bunions, you can fit the fins a little higher up your leg so they don’t touch your bunions.
Now you can have comfortable fins, stay in the water longer and have more fun!
To avoid sore feet and arch cramps, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These comfortable fins give you extra propulsion without hurting your feet.
With regular foot fins, often you can never find the right size and shape for your feet. They are either too big, so your feet slide around. Or they are too tight, so your feet feel painfully squashed. Either way, your feet press and rub on the inside of the foot pockets. This gives you sore feet and blisters, especially if sand gets trapped in there too. Cramps across the arches of your feet are a frequent problem, and dangerous too. Your feet feel like they are restricted in such an unnatural position.
These new fins avoid these problems because they have no foot pocket. So they fit regardless of foot size. They fit small feet up to extra large feet.
Instead, they strap to your legs. Your feet are completely free to move and swim naturally. So they don’t cause foot pain or arch cramps like regular fins. They are comfortable.
As you point your toes during your forward kick, the flexible fin presses gently along the top of your foot. You hardly feel it. So they don’t cause sores or blisters on your feet either.
Now your feet can be much more comfortable, so you can have more fun in the water!
To avoid ankle strain and ankle injury, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These comfortable fins give you extra power without hurting your ankles.
With regular foot fins, many people get sore ankles. Foot fins force you to point your feet far too harshly. You can feel them straining your ankle joints and ligaments. They also make you hold your feet at an unnatural angle, just to point the fins in the right direction for your kick. This gets painful after a while. When people don’t wear foot fins, they don’t have problems with ankle strain. But they like the extra power that fins give them.
These new fins give you extra power without these problems because they strap just above your ankles. So their extra fin power is connected directly to your legs. Fin power does not transfer through your ankles like with regular foot fins. So they add no ankle strain.
With these fins, your ankles aren’t forced to point your feet harshly. Your ankles do not hold your feet painfully at an unnatural angle. Instead, your ankles are relaxed and supple. Your ankles and feet are free to move the same way as good kicking without fins.
Now you can have comfortable fins and leave all that ankle strain and ankle injury in the past!
To avoid painful pressure on your Achilles tendon, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These are comfortable fins that don’t hurt or damage your Achilles.
With regular foot fins, the heel pockets of closed-heel fins often dig into your Achilles. This causes painful sores and bruising. You get a similar problem with open-heel fins. The heel straps dig into your Achilles and hurt.
These new fins avoid this problem because the straps go around your leg just above your ankle joint. This is higher than the sensitive part of your Achilles tendon where it attaches to your heel. So the straps don’t hurt your Achilles like regular fins do.
The straps are stretchy and wide, with soft edges. So they feel comfortable around your leg.
Now you can have comfortable fins and leave your Achilles tendon pain in the past!
To reduce calf cramps and not add strain to your calf muscles, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. These comfortable fins help you to avoid muscle strain and prevent calf cramps.
Regular foot fins often cause terrible cramps in your calf muscles. It becomes too painful to kick, so you have to stop. This can be very dangerous if you are stranded in the water, unable to swim. A problem with foot fins, is that they make you work your calf muscles too much pointing your toes to hold the foot fins in position. This calf muscle strain builds up and causes calf cramps.
You can test this by swimming without fins. Most likely, you don’t get calf cramps or calf muscle strain when you kick without any fins.
These new fins do not strain your calf muscles because the fins strap to your legs, not to your feet. So your calf muscles only point your feet in the same way as for your no-fins swimming. You don’t have the extra calf muscle strain needed to hold heavy foot fins in position.
With these fins you only use your calf muscles the same as for kicking without fins. So, if you don’t get calf muscle strain and calf cramps when you are kicking without fins, then that indicates that you won’t get them from using these comfortable fins.
You are not alone. Lots of people get calf cramps from regular foot fins. Now you can be free of calf cramps!
To reduce knee pain, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. They encourage you to kick with straighter knees. These fins also tend not to aggravate an existing knee problem, if you use them sensibly. In fact, customers find them very useful for knee rehabilitation after knee injuries and knee operations. You should check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first of course and read our tips and faq. These comfortable fins don’t hurt your knees.
Regular foot fins can cause knee pain that gets worse the more you use them. This is because regular foot fins cause you to bend your knees too much when you kick. Also, the leg forces needed to hold the foot fins at their required angle in the water, twists your knees and strains your ankles. After a while the knee pain builds up. Your knees can even stay sore long after you leave the water.
You can test this for yourself by swimming with no fins. You will probably find that kicking without any fins doesn’t hurt your knees so much. Most likely, this is because you are kicking with straighter knees and with less twisting of your knee joints.
Firstly, these fins avoid knee pain because they encourage you to kick from your hips with less knee-bend. Kicking with straighter knees reduces knee pain and strain in your knee joints and surrounding ligaments. It also reduces lower back pain. This is actually how good swimmers kick, with a smooth, streamlined kick.
Secondly, these fins can be adjusted around your leg to be perpendicular to your kick direction. You simply line up the fin centreline with the toe that matches your kick direction. This minimises knee twisting pain. It also reduces calf muscle strain and cramps.
Thirdly, you don’t even have to kick these fins much to get the benefits from them. Even if you swim mainly with arm power and only kick a little (or even trail your legs), the fins still help to straighten your knees and lift your body horizontal and streamlined. You can then add as much kick power as your knees feel comfortable with.
Three good reasons why these comfortable fins don’t cause knee pain and are much kinder to your knees than regular foot fins!
To reduce back pain, choose fins that strap on your legs, not on your feet. And use them with care. These comfortable fins do not tend to worsen existing lower back pain, if you are sensible about how you use them. However, you should check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first.
With regular foot fins, back pain often gets worse. They make you bend your knees too much. They drop your knees and thighs too low in the water. This causes you to arch your back to maintain stroke balance, putting painful stress on your lower back. So the bent-knee kicking style required by regular foot fins is what hurts your back.
You can test this for yourself, by swimming with no fins. It doesn’t usually hurt your back as much if you kick from your hips, with straighter knees. When your knees and thighs are higher in the water, your back is straighter and there is less stress on your lower back.
These new fins avoid causing or worsening back pain because they encourage a proper streamlined kick from the hip, with less knee-bend. This promotes a more horizontal body position, a straighter back with less arching and less lower back strain.
In fact, these fins can help you to strengthen the core muscles in your lower back and torso. So, when used with care, they can help you to strengthen your back and reduce your overall back pain. They tend not to aggravate existing back pain. But you should check with your doctor and/or physiotherapist first.
Overall, these comfortable fins are much kinder to your back than regular foot fins!
Above are just the comfortable fins FAQ. For all FAQ, please see the complete FAQ list.