I have almost too many shoes to alternate, so this happened to me a lot. I simply can’t wear them enough to break them in. However, I found a solution in the last year that saved my poor raw ankles! 😂

All you have to do is find a pair of pliers (doesn’t matter what kind), and gently grip the heel portion of the shoe and press and wiggle around in any direction for a few minutes. Don’t go crazy! Just move around in slow and short movements lol but just any kind of forced movement back there without your heel actually in it will help! I will start in the very center back and then do a few rounds a little over to the left, then repeat to the right of center.

I was pleasantly surprised and was able to wear shoes that I was sure I wouldn’t be able to wear more than once because they just tore me up. They just come too stiff out of the box sometimes.

I hope this works for you! Having to buy band-aids over and over is not a great long-term solution, so I hope this helps!