Keeping your feet healthy is simple. These 11 tips will help you stay active and keep your feet pain-free.
Keep Your Feet Clean and Dry
Good hygiene is essential to keeping your feet healthy. When you bathe, scrub your feet with soap and water, and then dry them well. Fungal organisms, like those that cause athlete’s foot, thrive on moisture. Drying between toes is especially important for preventing these types of infections because this is often where they begin to take hold.
Check Your Feet Regularly
Healthy individuals should perform a foot self-exam at least once a week after a bath or shower. Diabetics and those with poor circulation or neuropathy should perform these self-exams daily. When drying your feet after bathing, check your soles and between the toes to look for any scaling or peeling, as well as checking your toenails for any discoloration, which could signal a fungal infection. Check for and treat any cracks in your heels or breaks in the skin with a triple antibiotic ointment. Feet come into contact with so many common surfaces (especially during the summer months when going barefoot or in sandals is the norm) and can easily come in contact with bacteria or other potential illness-causing pathogens.
Be Careful How You Cut
When cutting toenails, you should cut straight across, and avoid trimming too close to the skin or rounding the corners of the nails, which can lead to painful ingrown toenails. If you believe that you’re getting an ingrown toenail, you should schedule an appointment with a foot specialist to have it treated so that you don’t develop an infection.
Avoid Pedicure Pitfalls
Pedicures are a great way to pamper ourselves, but there are countless hidden dangers lurking at your local salon. You should choose a reputable salon, avoid using foot baths that have jets (they harbor potentially dangerous bacteria), and bring your pedicure tools when possible. Also advisable -- make your appointment during the morning hours when fewer clients have been in the chair since it was cleaned and avoid going on busy days or days when there are specials happening. When there are lines of patrons waiting for appointments, there is a greater likelihood that corners will be cut in cleaning stations between appointments.
Treat, Don’t Hide, Ugly Toe Nails
If you notice that your toenails are becoming thick, discolored, cracked or crumbly, it could be the sign that you’ve developed a nail fungus. And while no one wants to show off those nails, hiding them under nail polish not only makes it more difficult to treat and monitor the infection, but it also may make the infection worse. Instead, take the steps to treat the fungus so that you can show off your toes’ natural beauty.
Avoid Going Barefoot In Public Places
When you’re in the gym locker room, spending an afternoon at a public pool, or enjoying a resort or water park, it may be tempting to kick off your shoes, rather than bringing them with you. However, these places are breeding grounds for infection-causing fungi, so you should always wear shower shoes. Don’t want to risk having your favorite sandals swiped? Inexpensive foam flip flops can be purchased for a few dollars at many retailers and will save your feet from a condition that is painful, unsightly and often difficult to treat.
Don’t Share Shoes
It may be tempting to borrow your girlfriend’s adorable heels for your big date, but sharing shoes can lead to fungal infections, too. You should never share shoes (or socks) that have been worn by another person - this includes rentals at places like bowling alleys. To keep your feet healthy, always wear your own footgear.
Limit Heel Time
Heels are walkable works of art, but they damage our feet and leg muscles with prolonged use. If you wear heels at work, consider wearing comfortable shoes to and from the office, and slipping them off while you’re sitting at your desk. And if you do wear heels, opt for shoes that have sturdy heels and traction on the bottoms to avoid nasty ankle-bending sprains or other injuries.
Wear Your Socks
There are more than 250,000 sweat glands in each of your feet. When your feet sweat, it creates a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. By wearing socks that are made of fibers that wick moisture away from your feet, your feet will stay drier and healthier. You should also avoid wearing tight pantyhose, which can trap moisture on your feet and increase the conditions for a bacterial breeding ground. To further help keep your feet dry and healthy, you should wear shoes that are made of natural, breathable materials.
Wear Shoes That Fit
This may seem obvious, but especially for women, squeezing our feet into pointed-toe shoes or shoes that are slightly too small seems like it’s an innocent price to pay for fashion. In reality, wearing shoes that are too tight or that don’t fit our feet properly can cause long-term foot damage. Experts suggest shopping for shoes at the end of the day, rather than in the morning, so that we can buy shoes that will accommodate for swelling that happens throughout the day. Instead of pointed toes, choose shoes that have a broad, rounded front with room for your toes and a wider heel.
Your Feet Need Doctors, Too
If you notice that you have a fungal infection that isn’t clearing up with home remedies, or if you’ve developed ingrown toenails, calluses or other foot problems, don’t try to treat them yourself. And if you have any pain, redness or discoloration that persists, you should have your feet examined by a podiatrist. While most problems can be cleared up with medication or simple, in-office procedures, but neglecting to get medical attention will go a long way toward keeping a minor problem from becoming a major issue.