Foot ache is more common than you might suspect.
But when you think about it, there are so many lines of work that require us to be on our feet: hospitality, healthcare, events and more. Couple that with arguably poor information about proper footcare given to people and the fact that cheap but low quality footwear is widely available, it’s perhaps unsurprising that sore feet are a common complaint.
Your feet are complex…
The feet are made up of 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles each. Keeping all of those individual parts working together, in unison, and without issue is like keeping a machine well-oiled.
So, how can something as simple as walking or standing on your feet cause so much pain? It’s supposed to be basic human stuff, right? Well, there are many different factors that can contribute to, worsen, or prevent the pain from easing, so we’ve listed below some of the most common contributing factors to hopefully help you make better choices for your feet.
Common Causes of Foot Ache
There are many common causes of foot ache, but a lot of them can be unrecognised. The following factors can all contribute to your achy feet.
Poorly fitting shoes
As of 2017, nearly half the women in the UK are wearing shoes that are the wrong sizes, and a study from 2016 stated that 80% of men were wearing the wrong size shoe. Insane, right?! If you want to know the correct way to measure your shoe size at home, take a look at this:
How to Find Your True Shoe Size (Source: Daily Mail)
Obesity
As much as we don’t like talking about it, obesity can put huge strain on your feet, resulting in pain throughout your ligaments, muscles and joints. Clearly, weight loss can help ease the strain on your feet
Pregnancy
Just in case you weren’t already having a bad enough time with all the hormones of being pregnant, your feet want you to be in even more pain. Hormones released during pregnancy can cause the ligaments used to stabilise your feet to relax, which can affect the form of your foot when exercising. This can put excess strain on your feet and result in pain whenever you walk, or even relax.
Abnormal foot anatomy
Many people have flat feet, high arches and other abnormalities that they don’t know about. It’s always worth even booking just one appointment to a podiatrist to get your feet checked out and treated correctly.
Overusing your feet
Unfortunately, we’re not invincible. Even the healthiest, strongest feet are vulnerable to being overused. If you’re regularly on your feet for extended periods of time, always make sure you take breaks if you ever feel any discomfort in your feet.
How to Keep Your Feet Healthy
It’s all well and good knowing that the above can contribute to sore feet, but how can you keep them healthy and reduce the risk of any further pain? Well, here’s how:
- Stay active and remember to stretch your legs and feet throughout your work day. It’s especially important for those that work in offices and the elderly to move around and keep circulation to your legs and feet.
- Trim your toe nails properly. Trim straight across rather than curving around close to the skin. This helps prevent ingrown toenails. A podiatrist can help give advice on the best way to cut your nails.
- Change your socks daily. Wearing clean, dry socks every day helps reduce the risk of infection and, let’s be honest, stops them from smelling nasty!
- Wear the correct footwear for the activity. I see so many people using very uncomfortable looking shoes in restaurants and bars; people jogging that don’t use trainers; and sometimes even people on work construction sites without proper protective boots. This just screams ‘recipe for disaster’!
- Inspect your feet daily. Checking for any cuts, bruises, or changes in colour or shape can be one action to save you from running into a foot ailment.
- Don’t ignore any foot pain. Any and all pain in the feet has the potential to lead to something serious. If you are feeling discomfort, you should rest your feet and try to address the source of the problem immediately. It’s sometimes necessary to take time off work and activities if it is putting excessive strain on your feet. If you don’t know what the issue is, we strongly advise you to book an appointment with a podiatrist.
Hopefully, you can take something away from this blog that will improve the wellbeing of your feet. The last thing we want is for people to be suffering, and that’s why we’re here to help. If you ever feel discomfort, never be too embarrassed to seek help.
Get in touch and we can arrange a day to check your feet out!
