Best foot forward

Despite being one of the most over-worked parts of our body, few of us dedicate time to caring for our feet. So how should we be caring for our tootsies and, more importantly, how can we soothe common foot issues?

“I think a lot of us neglect our feet because they’re right down the other end and you sort of think, ‘Well, you only walk on them,’” says podiatrist Heidi Meckler.

“But, when you do start to get foot problems, then you walk differently and that can cause other problems further up your body. It can affect your knees, your hips, your back and your posture… so prevention is definitely a lot easier than cure and there is a lot of prevention that you can do at home just by looking after your feet and by having a good foot care routine.”

A good foot care routine, involves getting into the weekly habit of inspecting your feet, doing general maintenance care and trying out some essential foot exercises.

“Calf stretches are a really good thing to do. You can literally just stand on a phone book with your fore-foot on the book and your heel dropping off the back, or even on a bottom step, just letting the heels drop off the back to stretch those calf muscles. [Weekly] foot massages are good if you can find someone who will oblige!

“Another good thing, almost like a mini foot workout, is just balancing on one leg. When you do that you’ll see your foot and toes move and clench, and your ankle wobble a little bit, but while that’s happening it’s working all the different muscles together in union so it’s helping to strengthen the ankle joint and also the foot muscles.”

It’s important to make sure you’re well supported when doing the above exercises, notes Heidi, so if your balance is a little wobbly, hold on to someone or practice by holding onto the back of a very sturdy chair.

We quizzed Heidi on the best home care solutions for the most common types of foot complaint. Please note that you should always visit your local podiatrist if you’re suffering from any of the below.

DEALING WITH… BUNIONS

“If you’re wearing anything with a heel or a high heel, that’s going to make [the pain] worse because you’re putting more weight onto the fore-foot. Some people have a slight bunion and others have quite a large bulge where the big toe is almost crossing over onto the second toe… In its early stages you can tape the big toe to the second toe, sort of split it, and straighten it. That can work. You can also do exercises to help the intrinsic muscles of the foot. Try picking up a pencil with your toes or scrunching up a towel with your toes. That can help all the muscles as well. But with a bunion it really depends on how much flexibility you have in the joint and also what stage that bunion is at”.

DEALING WITH… CALLOUSES

“The best thing to do is to keep on top of it, so don’t wait until it’s got too bad. Once a week, use a pumice stone when the foot is dry or an emery board and then a good foot cream on the calloused area afterwards. That works really well at keeping the callous down and stopping it building up, because once it’s built up, it’s harder to tackle.”

DEALING WITH… CORNS

“Don’t use corn plasters, don’t try and cut it out yourself. I’ve seen a few cases like that! Corn plasters are a bit dodgy really because some of them are medicated and if you don’t get it in exactly the right spot, it ends up breaking down the healthy tissue so you end up with more problems than you started with. Corns, to treat them yourself or help yourself, again you’d be wanting to do the same thing as with a callous. Rub it down with an emery board and then use a thick moisturiser, so maybe something that’s got a urea base to it.”

DEALING WITH.. INGROWN TOENAILS

“They can be really painful. The best thing to do is not to dig down the side of the nail because if you miss a bit, you can end up getting spikes that grow up under the skin and then it makes it worse. So you want to follow the contour of the nail when you cut it. Let them grow enough so they come up past the edge [of your toe], basically so you’re not digging down into the corner or you’re not cutting them too short. You can also massage the tissue on the side of the nail. Massage that away from the nail with a bit of tea tree oil. That can help it stop digging in as well.”

Heidi Meckler is a podiatrist for Strive Footwear. For more information log on to www.strivefootwear.com