Wide Foot Facts

Living the Good Life with Wide Feet!

Category: General Care

General Foot Care

Foot care is really important but it is one part our bodies that we neglect too often. The skin is very delicate and we need to take good care of it if it is going to look good. Since the feet carry the weight of your entire body all day we need to be “aware and take care”. These tips can make a big difference:
• Keep hard, dry skin off your feet using a pumice stone. Soak your feet in hot water for about 5 minutes to soften the skin and help easily remove it. Use lotion or cream generously to help remove the dead skin. Then rinse off the residue.
• After removing the dry skin, soak your feet again for about 10 minutes in warm water. Add some mineral salts or palm sea salts, along with a few drops of scented oils that will relieve the aches and reduce the swelling.
• Dry your feet well, especially between your toes.
• Trim your toenails, cutting straight across the tip and shape gently with an emery board.
• Use a rich foot skin cream and massage in well. Cup your hands on either side of your foot and with your thumbs firmly press the upper part of your foot while pushing your thumbs outwards.
• Wait a while before wearing your shoes. read more

Ingrown Toenails

This very painful condition known to doctors as onychocryptosis, is a fairly common foot problem. When you wear shoes that don’t fit well, the shoes pressing down on the sides of the nail, they curl into the skin on one or both sides of a nail. The skin grows over the edges of the nail and the nail grows into the skin. If you cut your nails too short, you are inviting the nail corner to grow into the skin. It is the natural tendency, when the edge of the nail starts to grow in, to cut down at an angle at the nail edge, to relieve the pain. This does relieve the pain temporarily, but it also can start a downward spiral, training the nail to become more and more ingrown.
Ingrown toenails develop for many reasons. In some cases the condition is congenital, such as toenails that simply are too large. People, who have diseases like arthritis, are prone to ingrown toenails. Sometimes stubbing your toe or having your toe stepped on can cause a piece of the nail to be jammed into the skin. However, the most common cause is cutting your toenails incorrectly, causing them to re-grow into the skin.
When it first starts to occur, you may just need to soak your foot in warm, soapy water for several times each day. Pull back the skin from the nail gently to allow the nail to grow out unimpeded. If your skin around the nail is red, painful or swollen an infection may be present. Untreated, the nail can go under the skin, causing a more severe infection. In either case, the infection needs to be cured with sterile instruments and antibiotics.
If you suspect infection, consult your doctor. Often the doctor can trim or remove the infected nail with a minor in-office surgical procedure. He or she can remove the offending portion of the nail or overgrown skin with a scalpel and treat the infection. Unless, the problem is congenital, the best way to prevent ingrown toenails is to protect the feet from trauma and wear shoes with adequate room for the toes. read more

Foot Odor

Offensive odor can be caused by bacteria on your skin and clothing. Soaking your feet in antibacterial soap several times a day for a week, followed by washing well with the soap daily may help.
Before putting on your socks and shoes, apply a foot powder. It is also important to keep your feet dry during the day.
In a more scientific explanation, sweaty feet (hyperhydrosis) and smelly feet (bromohydrosis) are conditions of the feet. While some cases of excessive smelling or sweating of the feet are systemic (throughout the whole body) in nature, such as anemia (low blood count) or hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), these conditions are usually of a local cause. There are many foot care products available in your local pharmacy or grocery store. read more

High Heels…is the Pain Worth the Gain?

“To minimize foot problems, just wear high heels for special occasions.” We have probably heard that before.
You love shoes. Shopping for them, trying them on and — most of all — buying them. Most professional women use high heels as part of their image. But what if your feet don’t feel so good, and they look even worse? Forced too often into the tight confines of the narrow toe box of your high heels, your toes bend into an unnatural positions. As a result, bumps and areas of thickened skin rub painfully against your shoes.
Are your beloved high heels the source of your foot problems? Yes, they probably are. High heels are one of the biggest factors leading to foot problems in women. The other is age. Frequently wearing high heels can set the stage for many common foot problems including blisters, calluses, corns, foot odor, hammer heel and others.
So, bottom line, wear them occasionally but consider other options for everyday. read more

Aging Feet, What to Expect

Over time, your feet become wider and longer and the natural padding under your heel and forefoot thins. Years of standing and walking flatten your arches and stiffen your feet and ankles.
If you wear high heels — shoes with a heel 2 inches or higher — your feet slide forward in your shoe, redistributing your weight, creating unnatural pressure points and throwing your body’s natural alignment out of whack. Over a number of years this can cause serious problems with the hips and back.
As with all anti-aging advice, keeping your body fit always comes first. Standing on one foot for as long as possible and then switching to the other foot and repeating is a best single exercise which improves motor coordination and can be done at any time and without any special equipment. This exercise works the muscles and tendons in the foot and keeps them working longer. read more

Shoe Shopping Tips to Minimize Foot Problems

The next time you’re shoe shopping, keep these tips in mind:
Choose sensible heels, an inch and a half or less, with a wide heel base. Narrow, stiletto-type heels don’t give good support.
Recheck your shoe size occasionally, they can get longer and wider as you age.
Don’t rely on shoe size alone, try them on.
Compare the width of the shoe with the width of your foot. Stand next to the shoe in your bare feet. Which is wider — your foot or the shoe? Avoid shoes that are too narrow for your feet, no matter how much you like them.
Try on both shoes for comfort. Fit the larger of your two feet, many people have slight differences between their feet.
Make sure you have at least a finger’s width between your longest toe and the end of your shoe.
Fit the shoes to your feet late in the afternoon or in the evening because your feet may swell up as the day goes on.
Shoes should feel comfortable from the beginning. They are not going to fit better after you have worn them.
Select materials that breathe and allow flexibility, such as leather or nylon mesh.
Stay away from shoes with seams across the toe box, which can rub. read more

Thickening Toenails

Thickening of the toenails is fairly common. Physical damage to your toenail, fungal infection and Psoriasis may be the root cause. Old people also often have thickened, hard toenails, probably because of the damage they have sustained over the years, and because their nails grow more slowly, it takes longer to repair the damage.
For treatment to be successful, above all you must be patient. You will have to use the treatment for at least 3 months, and some treatments take even longer to work. Your nails grow from the base to the tip and it can take 18 months for a nail to be replaced completely by a new one.
General care of your feet can help avoid thickening nails.
Give your feet plenty of air, because warmth and sweat encourage the fungal growth. When you are at home, go barefoot whenever possible.
Choose shoes that give your toes plenty of room.
It is tempting to use nail polish to disguise the nail, but nails need to breathe so use it for short periods only, removing it as soon as possible.
Treat athlete’s foot promptly. If you develop athlete’s foot, treat it quickly so it does not spread to the nails. read more

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