[hansvm]

I had chronic pain in various parts of my feet for years from fairly tame activities (biking 20mi/day, hiking 10-20mi Saturday and Sunday, etc). I'd been fairly conscientious about "good" shoes that fit well, and it didn't make a difference. My in-laws had me go to a running shop, and the founder studied my gait for a bit and picked out shoes which would help. A month or two later, all the pain finally disappeared, and I haven't had issues in years.

That's just an n=1 anecdote, but years of pain followed by years of non-pain with a single, obvious intervention in between seems like a reasonably strong signal.

Assuming I'm not reading too much into my experience, if you're feeling fine I think your strategy probably works, and my only concern might be long-term damage you're not recognizing immediately. Other people will be more knowledgeable as to how you'd test that, but if you're comfortable and not injuring yourself then I don't think you're missing out on anything.