Abstract: Shoes are a daily necessity for the elderly to walk. When the elderly walk, they contact the ground through shoes, so shoes can affect the biomechanical characteristics of their lower limbs, including the function and performance of bones, muscles and joints, and further affect their gait stability. The ability of the elderly to control their body balance is weakened, and they are prone to fall when walking. So, the impact of shoes on walking stability cannot be ignored. Appropriate shoes can effectively improve the stability of the elderly when walking and reduce the risk of falls. From the perspective of biomechanics, this paper summarized the factors that affect the stability of shoes for the elderly. The results show that the characteristics of safe shoes for the elderly should include harder soles, lower heels, deeper grooves in the sole pattern, slightly abducted heel shape, higher uppers, functional insoles, and shoe lasts that can conform to the foot shape of the elderly. These shoe characteristics can improve the gait stability of the elderly.