Oh My Aching Feet…Foot Pain, Foot Fitness, & Pilates Exercises For Fantastic Feet!

In many instances, patients will have a story regarding how the acquired their hammer toes. Some describe ill fitting shoes as a child while others blame high heels or some trendy shoe craze. While these stories may seem credible, they typically have little to do with the onset of hammer toes. In most cases, hammer toes are caused by the biomechanical properties of your feet and ankles that you inherit from your family. which is basically an extra growth of bone possibly due to your foot structure. As this outgrowth of excessive bone rubs against other toes, there is friction between the toes and a corn forms for your protection. Foot health and shoe comfort are critical factors for a runner. Shoes that curl your toes can cause pain, corns, blisters and calluses. Toe curling can result from anatomical imbalances, muscle or bone weaknesses or shoe deficiencies. Poor-fitting, worn and unsupportive running shoes can exacerbate problems with your feet. To prevent toe curling, wear a shoe that fits properly and provides space for toe movement. Size of Shoes To help prevent hammertoe, wear roomy, low-heeled shoes that allow plenty of width and length for the toes. The Mayo Clinic recommends wearing shoes that have at least 1/2 inch of space between the shoe and the longest toe. Expert Insight All shoes should be placed on the underside of insole can help pain relief. If you have a toe bone pain or wear high heels to stand a long time, it should be placed on the metatarsal silicone insoles. This looks like a flat tree insole gel pad, provide a good buffer to absorb the shock of foot to face the impact. Thicker heel is to obtain a better balance; body weight in the foot by dispersing the pressure on the distribution of pressure is more balanced. Alternating high heels of different heights can help reduce the pain caused by Achilles tendon problems. The diabetic population worldwide is increasing. Severe foot complications that arise as a result of diabetes may often be debilitating for the patient (i.e. in the event of amputation). However, it is important to note that these conditions are highly preventable through multi-disciplinary treatments in specialized foot clinics. In fact, studies have shown that these treatments have brought down the amputation rate from 85% to 49%. We only have 1 pair of feet to last a lifetime. In spite of this, care for our feet is often neglected and ignored. In-Grown Toe Nails – When nails grow inside the skin, the area can become very painful and lead to infection. Hammertoe, claw toe and mallet toe are all types of malformed toes. Typically it is the second toe, next to the largest toe, that is curled under. This is sometimes a result of the toe being too long or secondary to a bunion, a painful growth of bone on the outside of the first toe. Many things can be done to relieve the pain of hammertoe before surgery is necessary. Change of Shoes Photo Caption Narrow toe boxes cause an increase in symptoms. Photo Credit shoes image by AGphotographer from Fotolia.com Changes in shoewear. Avoid shoes with pointed toes, shoes that are too short, or shoes with high heels – conditions that can force your toe against the front of the shoe. Instead, choose comfortable shoes with a deep, roomy toe box and heels no higher than two inches. It is possible that a patient may require other procedures, as well – especially when the hammertoe condition is severe. Some of these procedures include skin wedging (the removal of wedges of skin), tendon / muscle rebalancing or lengthening, small tendon transfers, or relocation of surrounding joints.