Shoes & Foot Health: Tips to keep your healthy with proper footware
It is very important to buy the right shoes for the feet because they move the distance equivalent to 4 times the earth during our lifetime. So, it is very essential that they are treated and shod properly. Here are a few important tips to buy the right shoes for your feet and some handy home care tips to keep them fit and healthy.
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Home foot care tips for men and women: how to keep feet healthy
For putting our "best foot forward," we need to pay special attention to our feet. Foot problems may range from aching, tired or swollen feet to corns and calluses, fungal infections, itching, and more.
It is indeed hard to ignore shoes that do not fit. They keep reminding you of their presence by rubbing against your skin, or by tightness, or worse, in the form of blisters, calluses or corns. Shoes worn by us are often too narrow, too short, or both, which leads to discomfort.
Neglect of the shoes may lead to, apart from foot ache, other related health problems, including a lower backache and problems with the knee and hip. It also affects our posture.
Massage feet every night before retiring with a good lotion. Work out a routine of flexing and strengthening exercises which is a pleasantly therapeutic practice before going to bed. Do a few simple feet exercises any time during the day to keep your feet supple. Try this to revive your feet: clench your feet like a fist, hold for 5 seconds and gently let go. Do this 20 times a day. It is useful to relieve strain on the feet.
A soothing pedicure is often an easy and excellent way to treat tired and aching feet . If you do not have the time to go for a professional pedicure, you can always do it at home. Another quick way of reviving tired feet is to dip them alternately in hot and cold water.
Take a foot-bath at home
A grandmother's recipe for a foot-bath is one tablespoon of sea salt or household soda to a basin of warm water; which can be substituted with 1 teaspoon of mustard powder in winter. Cucumber juice can be applied in summer to cool aching feet. Wear open sandals in summer.
Propping up our feet on a chair for 15 minutes daily is a good idea to give them some rest. Change socks and tights daily and wash your feet every night. A brisk rub with a rough towel will stimulate circulation. Finish off gently by massaging foot cream.
Sweating feet habitually encased in synthetic socks can lead to athlete's foot. Avoid synthetic socks and shoes lined with synthetics. Insist upon socks which contain a high percentage of cotton and wear leather or canvas shoes. While washing socks, make sure all traces of detergent are washed away.
A fragrant remedy for smelly feet is to have a foot bath in which you have added the essential oil of lavender or sunflower oil. Half a teaspoon of powdered alum to 300 ml of warm water effectively reduces sweating and deodorizes. Dust the feet with alum powder to ward off bad smells.
Home remedy for corns and calluses
If you have chronic corns, calluses, bunions or in growing toe-nails, do not attempt to treat them yourself. Go to a qualified chiropodist for proper professional advice. Both corns and calluses are the result of persistent rubbing and pressure on the skin and ill-fitting footwear is often the culprit.
Athlete's foot is a fungus infection which creates nasty, spongy little patches between the toes, which become irritated and sore. The simplest remedy is to ensure that the feet are always washed and dried well after any activity which causes damp or perspiration and that the area between the toes is dusted with an unscented talcum powder or a mixture of talcum and borax. Massaging the feet daily with castor oil acts as a preventive as well as a cure for corns and calluses. An old-fashioned remedy was to have a footbath in water to which vinegar has been added.
Toe-nails should be clipped straight across and smoothed with an emery board. Round corners can lead to ingrown toe-nails. After washing our feet, we should be careful to dry between the toes, otherwise fungal infection may creep in, leading to painful and embarrassing conditions.
Pregnancy often causes a lot of strain on the feet due to the increased body weight. It is a good idea to put one's legs up on a pillow at night or on a stool while sitting. To prevent varicose veins, do not stand still for long periods of time, but do plenty of gentle walking. Massage legs with olive or sunflower oil, upwards from the ankle.