Posted on February 06, 2017 by Kate Halsall
Picture: https://pixabay.com/en/feet-toes-footprints-black-glossy-150541/#_=_
Is your New Year kick rubbing off in a less than positive way? Are those extra steps you’re taking due to your new wearable technology, or those extra kilometres you’re running training for a freshly entered race, begging the question ‘why do my feet ache ?’ To be fair, it’s not a surprise when anyone tells me their feet hurt, let’s face it, we use them every day – they are the foundation of our movement. We’ve previously blogged at how when we walk we put half of our body weight through those toes of ours, and don’t get me started on how that weight quadruples when we run!
And here’s some more fascinating feet facts:
- 1/4 of the bones in the human body are in your feet
- Each foot contains: 26 bones, 33 joints and over 100 ligaments and muscles
- A pair of feet has 250,000 sweat glands and produces 1/2 pint of sweat daily
Love them or hate them, we need to respect our feet. It doesn’t matter which part of your foot absorbs the brunt of your activity, you need to be wary of over stretching, over use, overloading and over stressing those lovely feet of yours. The NHS has a long list of ailments which cause foot pain, which goes from blisters, sprains and strains up to Plantar Fasciitis (pain in your heel and the arch of your foot), Achilles Tendonitis (pain and stiffness in the back of your heel) to Arthritis.
Obviously we’re not going to encourage you to fear the worst just because your feet have started to ache, but it is important to not only try to prevent injury but to also know how to deal with pain if and when you get it.
Avoid Injury:
Warm Up – Ieuan wrote a great blog for a dynamic lower body warm up, so use this!
Exercise Variation – Injuries can be caused by repetitive actions. Switch your activities during the week – not all exercise needs to be high impact! If you run, ensure you run on a variety of surfaces.
Footwear – The best time to go shoe shopping is at the end of the day when your feet are at their biggest. You need to find shoes that are suitable for the activities that you do, the cushioning and impact absorption that is suitable for your feet – one size does not fit all!
Dealing With Injury:
Rest – If it hurts, there’s no point tormenting yourself and potentially making the pain worse.
P.O.L.I.C.E. No don’t dial 999, read this blog from Ieuan about injury management:
www.m8north.co.uk/blog/acute-injury-management/
See a Professional – If you’ve done the above and there’s still pain or any concern – go and see someone about it.
You don’t have to like your feet but you do need to treat them like you love them! We look after the rest of our body (well, most of the time) so why not treat our feet the same way? Rest, soak and moisturise – because they’re worth it!
https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/4-common-foot-injuries-in-the-athlete
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/foot-pain/pages/introduction.aspx
http://www.foot.com/site/professional/foot-facts
http://mentalfloss.com/article/72021/14-funky-facts-about-feet