While 1 in 3 Americans say their feet hurt often, At FootCare by Nurses we know that feet don’t have to hurt, and the solution to those hurting feet doesn’t have to be expensive. Given that a pair of custom orthotics can cost north of $300, and a good pair of shoes is easily $100, I ask myself, if these are the solution’s, why do people still have foot pain.
I think there are two ways to solve a problem. One is to fix it when it breaks, the other is to prevent it from happening in the first place. The medical model is the “fix it” when it is “broken” model. For example, you might overstretch your foot tendons from a day of walking around New York City. A gorgeous and wonderful day, but now your feet hurt. The next day you get out of bed and you notice that they still hurt. What to do now. You go to the internet and discover that you may have plantar fasciitis. So you follow the exercises, and the recommendations and you may even pick up some special insert that promises the moon. If that doesn’t work then, eventually, you end up at the doctor’s office, where you get a diagnosis and a referral to PT. They work with you, maybe recommend those orthotics and after several sessions, if you are lucky, you are pain-free.
So now look at the prevention model. You are excited to go for a walk in New York. You know the streets are hard concrete so, much as you would like to be fashionable, you also don’t want your feet to hurt from all the walking. You choose socks that wick moisture away and fit well, to protect your skin, and you lace on your good walking shoes, making sure your heel is secured into the counter of the shoe. You might even pack an umbrella and some snacks, and now you are ready to take on the beauty of the city. At the end of the day, your legs may ache from all that walking, but your feet won’t hurt in the morning and you won’t have to spend time and money trying to fix something that you didn’t break.
At FootCare by Nurses, we would like to think that by sharing the “why and how” knowledge, that you will be empowered to make decisions that are more about prevention. We can even teach you how to pick a pair of fashionable shoes that fit well and protect your feet.
Shoe fitting has become a lost art in our society, but properly fitting shoes are so important to our overall functionality. Feet are dynamic, they need to move and flex. Shoes are supposed to protect feet, but often they end up hurting feet, for example, ingrown nails are more often than not associated with improper shoe fit.
If you want to avoid problems the shoe should fit the function and the pattern of a shoe needs to fit your foot pattern. You also need to know how to secure your shoes to your feet, to prevent your shoes from causing harm. It’s really just that simple.