{"id":21597,"date":"2018-03-02T12:10:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T20:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/?p=21597"},"modified":"2020-04-16T07:50:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T14:50:33","slug":"footnotes-amazing-feet-keep-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/footnotes-amazing-feet-keep-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Footnotes: Your Amazing Feet and How to Keep Them Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"It\u2019s pretty amazing that we all don\u2019t suffer with achy feet. Leonardo Da Vinci, artist and engineer, said that “the human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art”. According to The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, each foot has approximately 100 working parts including 26 bones and 33 joints. Twenty-five percent of all the bones in your skeleton reside in your feet, and they work hard. One mile of walking places over 60 tons of stress on each foot. The average person walks approximately 1000 miles per year. Serious runners often log 30 miles per week pounding their feet with forces 3 to 5 times body weight, absorbing 110 tons per foot, for each mile they run. It\u2019s no wonder that 20% of all musculoskeletal related office visits involve the foot and ankle area. Foot problems cost the U.S. approximately 3.5 billion dollars a year. Perhaps Leonardo should have also warned us that artistic and durable do not often go together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Interestingly, it\u2019s not just the pounding that gets your feet into trouble — it\u2019s often the shoes. Hard to believe but a significant number of individuals are wearing the wrong size shoes. This is in part because most of us do not realize that your shoe size actually changes as an adult. Even though the bones in your feet stop growing in your teens, your feet still expand with age. Your arch drops, leading to a lengthening of your foot and the ligaments weaken resulting in widening or \u201csplaying\u201d especially in the forefoot area. The overall result is a longer, wider foot and the need for shoes or sneakers one or two sizes bigger and with a wider toe box area. Women are particularly susceptible, and I\u2019m not just talking about Sex and the City\u2019s Carrie and her infamous Manolo\u2019s. Most of their lives, they have jammed their poor feet into tight narrow high heeled shoes, almost the modern versions of foot \u201cbinding\u201d popularized in China where women\u2019s\u2019 feet were tightly wrapped to keep their feet small and aesthetically pleasing. It\u2019s no wonder that over 70% of women complain of foot pain. One study found that women stopped on the street were much more likely to be in a shoe too tight, than their correct size. This leads to many painful foot conditions like bunions, corns, calluses, neuromas (pinched nerve) and more. I recall a sweet older patient who came into my office and when asked how I could help her, she took off her shoes, pointed to her feet and said \u201cthese dogs are barkin\u201d. Of course her shoes were two sizes too small.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fashion is part of the problem, especially with kids who will often sacrifice proper fit to get a pair that is cool. Also, with the rapid growth spurts, even a shoe that fits well one month may not the next. Parents need to check often. Also, for both kids and especially adult shoewear, cost does not always equate with comfort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Marketing drives much of what kids and adults want in terms of shoewear. Nike still wants you to be like Mike (Air Jordans started in 1985 and still going srtong!). And in a 1993 basketball sneaker commercial, Charles Barkley was perhaps the most honest when he said \u201cThese are my new shoes. They\u2019re good shoes. They won\u2019t make you rich like me, they definitely won\u2019t make you handsome like me. They\u2019ll only make you have shoes like me. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The influence starts quite early. I remember when my daughter\u2019s Barbie Doll had such high fashion (i.e. high heeled, too tight) shoes that I hoped for her sake that Ken was studying to be a podiatrist.<\/p>\n

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So how do you keep your feet happy and healthy?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Learn to listen to them. If they are \u201cbarkin\u201d, first be sure you are in the right footwear. Also, follow these tips:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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