Our feet are very important as they carry us wherever we require to be whether to the kitchen for a cool drink or walking to the top off Everest. In both cases if we haven’t looked after ourselves correctly through the years we will find walking sore, painful or even impossible. Unfortunately once or feet are damaged or sore it’s very often not possible to reverse the damage. Therefore it’s better to carry out some simple things in our day to day routines to prevent our feet being sore in later years. To keep our feet in a healthy condition there are two main things that we have to think about and practice and those are foot hygiene and footwear selection.
Hygiene – Getting into a daily habit of foot hygiene is essential to keeping your feet healthy and reducing the risk of any fungal infections which are very common in uncared for feet. Washing your feet in warm water at the start off each day is a must as well as putting on clean socks or stockings these should never be worn for more than one day. When washing don’t just wipe the foot as this misses out the parts that bacteria are most likely to grow in and that is in between the toes and around the edges off the nails. After washing ensure that dry them thoroughly including between and around the toes before putting on clean socks or stockings which should not be tight fitting as this can cause excess pressure on the foot and promote sweating. Cut the nails regularly and when doing this try to avoid cutting to short and keep the cut straight across rather than curving as this damages the nail.
Check them regularly and if they seem dry start to use a foot moisturiser cream otherwise you can end up with sore hard cracked skin. If you notice any fungal growth or decolourisation on your feet take action don’t wait thinking that it will sort itself out. Seek advice from a qualified professional if necessary rather than just guessing what is wrong as the range of remedies is large and you want to ensure that you pick the right one and only an expert can tell you exactly which to use.
Footwear – It is very important that when you shop for shoes the main thing should not be the look off the shoe but the fit to avoid damaging your feet. Women especially like to look glamorous in tight fitting or high heeled shoes this may look very nice but is it good for you. The answer is no it’s not as prolonged wearing off these types of footwear will cause serious and permanent damage to the wearer. Most people believe that once we stop growing in height our feet also stop growing well this is partially true as the feet do stop growing but spread as you age therefore your shoe size can change as you get older. A simple test is if your shoe hurts it’s the wrong size so go and get another pair.
Finally, if you have problems with sweaty feet or fungal growth avoid wearing synthetic shoes or the natural materials of canvas or leather as all these don’t allow the feet to breath properly and this causes sweating and odours try out rubber clogs at work. If you suffer from sore feet try a birkenstock soft footbed shoe like the type made by betula shoes as these are specially contoured to support the sole more.
