The major concern of most people in relation to their feet is avoiding the embarrassment of being associated with an offensive odour. Few think of care of the feet as a serious health matter.
“The feet tend to be something we forget,” podiatrist Simone McConnie says.
She explained that the most common foot problems come from wearing the wrong shoes: heel pain, arch pain, corns and calluses and ingrown toenails.
However, the most prevalent foot problem tends to be fungus. The use of nail polish contributes to this. “Polish actually has in chemicals . . . Some people are actually allergic to the chemicals and it manifests itself as a fungus,” McConnie said.
On average a nail takes about nine months to a year to grow from the base right to the end, so a fungus half-way down the length of the nail would require at least eight months to recover.
Some people grow their big toenail excessively long to facilitate nail art and when they walk normally the nail touches the ground, causing a constant jarring of the nail, which can result in the nail being lifted off.
Concerning ingrown toenails, McConnie explained: “Some women with very chunky feet are wearing the narrow shoes which means it puts a lot of pressure on the nails . . . The nail gets imbedded because the skin gets softer and because of being in an enclosed shoe it gets warm . . . Some of it is down to the shape of your toenail . . . or the way [women] are cutting their nails improperly.”
The wearing of high heels also directly impacts the wellness of people’s feet and by extension their body. McConnie said that women who wear high heels tend to get a shortening of their Achilles tendon – the big muscle from the back of the knee to the ankle (calf muscle) – over a period of time.
This means that when they have to walk in flat shoes they find it uncomfortable and sometimes complain of ankle pain or tightness in the area. Some of these women sway when they stand and that occurs because they are constantly putting a lot of stress on their lower back and spine, causing neck and back pain.
Another major complaint is arch pain. Arch pain results from lack of support in shoes, obesity, moving from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one or vice versa.
The foot shape is also important because someone may have a very high arch and depending on the way they walk they may overpull that tendon and cause tendonitis.
McConnie stressed that the most important thing to consider for healthy feet is “looking at the length, width and style of the shoe . . . but all of us have a different type of shape foot, so we all need to be familiar with our foot and which shoe best fits that shape”.hem.
