With most of us worried about our heart, liver, kidneys, brain and other essential organs, we can sometimes become neglectful of our feet.
But taking care of your feet is incredibly important especially as you age. If you are not careful, the daily stress and wear your feet experience can cause serious mobility problems when you are older. In this article, we explain why taking care of your feet is important and a quick guide on how to go about it.
Table of Contents
5 Reasons Why You Should Take Care of Your Feet
1. It Helps You Maintain Your Mobility into Old Age
One of the most common issues for seniors is poor mobility. Feet simply get too weak to support the body. Conditions like arthritis can also reduce mobility.
It’s hard to imagine not being able to walk or stand when you are young, but your feet work a lot harder than you think.
Every time you stand, each step you take and whenever you move, your feet have to handle a lot of physical stress. If you are active, your feet experience even more stress. All that running and jumping is not easy on your feet.
Over the years, tendons and muscles in the feet begin to wear and tear. This is a normal process of ageing and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
But you can slow it down enough to ensure you still maintain a decent amount of mobility in your old age. That’s why it is so important to start taking care of your feet as early as possible. Don’t wait until you are already experiencing foot problems to take action.
Prevention is always better than treatment.
2. It Can Prevent Foot Conditions
Many of us are careful about our lifestyle to avoid diabetes, heart disease and other health problems. We should be just as vigilant when it comes to foot health.
The truth is that most foot problems can be easily prevented with good and consistent foot care.
For example, something as simple as wearing well fitting shoes can prevent a host of foot problems such as plantar fasciitis, tendonitis and bunions. Exfoliating and moisturising your feet can prevent cracks and serious infections.
Avoiding all these problems not only keeps your feet healthy right now, it also protects your feet as you age as we’ve explained above.
3. It Maintains Your Balance and Posture
The strength and health of your feet affects your balance and stability, which in turn affect your mobility. If you have poor balance, you are more likely to fall or get injured when moving or playing. Movements like squatting, hiking, or climbing stairs become more difficult and dangerous.
Injury risks get higher as you grow older. Poor foot stability is also one of the main causes of falls and injuries among seniors.
Your foot health also affects your body posture. This matters a great deal when you are walking, running, standing and sitting. This is where you get problems like pronation and supination.
These can lead to pain, shin splits, calluses and plantar fasciitis. Poor foot posture also often causes problems and pain in other parts of the body such as the ankles, knees, hips and back.
There are plenty of reasons why you could develop poor foot balance and stability. One of the most common is inactivity. Your foot muscles and tendons are simply not strong enough to support you.
On the other extreme end, overuse and too much stress on feet (e.g. by overexercising or wearing shoes with poor support) can also cause balance and posture problems.
4. It Helps You Stay Active
You don’t realise how good it feels to go on a jog or play a game of tennis until you have a foot injury that forces you to slow down for weeks or months.
The inactivity not only deprives you of your favourite hobbies, it can also lead to weight gain, depression, stress and other health problems.
Taking care of your feet is not just about your feet and being able to move around; it’s about your entire health. With healthy and pain-free feet, you can enjoy an active lifestyle that protects you from a wide range of lifestyle diseases.
An active lifestyle is also great for your mental health.
5. Your Feet Will Look & Feel Great
If a bit of vanity is what makes you get serious about taking care of your feet, that’s great. Afterall, no one wants to be caught with ashy, cracked or flaky feet.
A simple daily routine that includes washing, scrubbing and moisturising your feet can do wonders. It produces soft, supple and smooth feet.
Proper foot care also prevents conditions and deformities that can cause your feet to look unsightly such as bunions, hammer toe and blisters.
If for no other reason, at least take care of your feet to ensure they look amazing. You then won’t have to worry about taking off your shoes when there are other people around.
A Simple Guide to Taking Care of Your Feet
The good news is that taking care of your feet doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. You don’t have to buy expensive equipment or visit a podiatrist every week.
Here are some helpful tips.
Have A Daily/Regular Foot Care Routine
A regular foot care routine is the best thing you can do for your feet. Just a bit of TLC daily or regularly and your feet will thank you.
First, wash your feet daily to get rid of dead skin, sweat and dirt. This reduces the risk of infections, keeps your feet soft and can reduce or prevent foot odour.
The next step is exfoliation. Use a pumice stone, foot file or homemade scrub to exfoliate your feet once or twice a week. This keeps your feet soft and smooth.
Moisturisation is also very important. Apply a moisturising lotion, cream or oil on your feet daily after you wash them. This will prevent dry feet, flaking, cracks and other problems.
Watch What You Wear
You may not feel it at that particular moment, but wearing the wrong shoes can mess up your foot health over time.
The most common source of trouble is undersized shoes. As they pinch, squeeze and rub your feet, you risk problems like chronic foot pain, nerve damage leading to neuropathy, blisters, bunions, hammer toes and a ton of other issues.
Make sure you know your shoe size. Also, get the right shoe width. If you have wider than average feet, get shoes with a wide fit.
Oversize shoes can be a problem as well. The chaffing and lack of support can lead to serious foot pain, metatarsalgia, corns and calluses, and poor posture.
Whichever shoes you buy — trainers, heels, Oxfords, boots etc. — make sure they are the right size, they support your feet and have adequate cushioning.
Be Vigilant if Your Have Diabetes
If you are diabetic, your risk of foot problems drastically goes up. The combination of nerve damage and poor blood circulation can cause injuries that lead to serious infection.
You need to be even more vigilant with your foot care routine. In addition to washing, moisturising and exfoliating your feet, check them daily for even small injuries.
Be very careful what shoes you wear and definitely don’t walk around barefoot.
Watch Your Weight
Being obese or overweight is one of the most common risk factors behind a wide range of foot problems. The extra wait places more stress on the tendons, muscles and joints in the feet, causing them to weaken and wear out faster.
Overweight individuals are at a high risk of fallen arches, foot pain, and inflammation. Too much body weight also increases the risk of developing arthritis.
Reducing body weight or maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best ways of taking care of your feet. Work with your doctor or dietician to help you find a healthy way to lose weight.
Foot Exercises
Much like your abs and arms, your feet also need exercise. Foot exercises improve strength, stability, balance and posture.
Targeted foot exercises make mobility easier, they improve performance in sports like running and football, and they greatly reduce your risk of injuries.
Here are some simple foot strengthening exercises you can do at home.
Pamper Your Feet
Taking care of your feet doesn’t always have to be a task. It can also be fun and enjoyable.
A foot massage is a good example. It feels great and helps you relax. It also improves blood circulation in your feet, helps with foot neuropathy, reduces swelling and helps manage foot pain.
A foot soak is another great way to pamper your feet while also taking care of them. It can reduce pain, help with swelling, soften calluses and corns for easier removal and reduce inflammation.
So don’t feel bad about your frequent visits to the spa or spending money on a home foot spa or massager.
