Health Day highlights tips for buying back to school shoes for your kids. 

Buying back-to-school shoes should be more about the right fit than the right look — but with luck you can combine the two.

Shoes play a big part in how kids' feet function and should be selected with care.

"When parents bring their children in with foot pain or an injury, the first thing I do is ask about their shoes. The problem is often inappropriate or poorly fitting footwear," said John S. Blanco, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon at HSS. 

"Footwear has a lot to do with how their feet function day to day, especially during athletic activities," said Dr. Blanco. 

"If we could make sure shoes were the right size, had proper support and were laced up appropriately, we would probably solve 80% of the basic foot problems we see in kids," explained Dr. Blanco.

Shopping for shoes at a specialty store can be helpful because staff there can measure the foot and help select the best shoe for a child's foot type, said Dr. Blanco. That doesn't mean the shoes need to cost a lot.

"The price of the sneaker has nothing to do with the quality of the shoe," Dr. Blanco explained. "I see kids all the time with shoes that may look fancy on the outside, but you look inside and see that they don't provide support."

Read the full article at Healthday.com.