It feels like summer has finally arrived in Melbourne today! Today we headed into the Melbourne CBD for a walk around Fitzroy Gardents and some dumplings in Chinatown with the kids. According to my husband’s watch he took 8,083 steps before getting back off the train at West Footscray (and he reckons he was cheated out of some more because he was pushing a pram!). Fortunately we’ve been following the tips below!
Of course, we weren’t the only ones walking, there were lots of families out and about and even some Marathon finishers limping home (if this is you, well done!). A day like today is, in fact, a dream for me because I get to do lots of informal gait analysis and scope out crimes against foot health.
And boy did I see some crimes against foot health being perpetrated around town today! So it got me thinking – I had better take fingers to keyboard and save your feet.
I really wanted to do a post with a video so that I could show you how to pick out a good, supportive pair of shoes. But to do that I need to also show you how to tell if a pair of shoes could be bad for your feet and guess what? None of them in my house! So I’m going to scout out a pair of dodgy shoes this week and then make a quick video so you can be responsibly shod in time for Christmas.
In the meantime, I’ve put together a short list of top tips. So read on below because you owe it to yourself to make sure you step into summer with your best foot forward (sorry!) with these top tips for happy feet:
- Cracked Heels
Cracked heels can be painful to walk on, look very unsightly and potentially kick off an infection, so you really need to get them looked at as soon as you can. There are a few things that can cause thickened skin on our heels.
Number one is simply not wearing shoes: when exposed to the trauma of hard surfaces, our body responds with protective thickening of tissue. Thick skin is less flexible, and cannot stretch to absorb the impact of daily wear and tear. This results in cracking. If you have bony joints or thinned fat pad, the skin will build up (and crack) even faster!
Cracked heels can hurt and become infected
Photo by José Ignacio Pompé on Unsplash
A lot of people treat podiatry care as maintenance and just like visiting your hairdresser, see a clinician every eight weeks. If you’ve got cracking on your heels, come and see us and we’ll have your heels silky smooth in no time. Believe me, your feet will feel fantastic for it.
- Thongs
Unfortunately these breezy institutions of the Australian summer normally have no arch support and make you scrunch your feet up to keep them on, which causes aches. They also expose your feet to the dry and…cause cracked heels!
Thongs are as Aussie as a Kookaburra on a Hills-Hoist, but wearing them too much can hurt your feet.
Photo by Gilles Seguin on Unsplash
If you know your foot shape though, there is some great footwear on the market that will help you look good and feelgood for Melbourne’s hot vaxxed summer.
I love Archie’s thongs, which come in a great range of colours, look convincingly like that hard-to-pronounce well known brand, and have a supportive sole and a well-gripping strap. They’re still thongs, so you Marathon runners should probably stick to your joggers for the big races, but they’re about as good as thongs can get for your feet.
We’re stocking them now (or if you know your foot size and shape you can buy online here), and all of my nieces and nephews will be getting a pair for Christmas!
- The joy of socks
You don’t have to be like my husband and wear them with your Birkenstocks (and he will defend “socks n’ ‘stocks” with his dying breath) but if you wear closed shoes without socks in hot weather, you’re setting yourself up for fungal infections, blisters and – worst of all – smelly feet!
Put a sock on it!
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Don’t have enough socks? I hear they are a great addition to anyone’s stocking.
If you’ve got any questions about your own foot health, the best thing to do is book an appointment with a qualified podiatrist, who can assess you and come up with a treatment plan. We’re taking bookings now, with a $20 discount for all appointments that are booked and take place before 2022.
