Dr. Wendi Johnson - Wednesday, September 15, 2021 

What’s on your feet?

Sign up for the WWAD Challenge Balance exercises: heel toe, rock the boat and chair. Let’s talk about feet. From ankle to toes you have 26 bones: talus, calcaneus, tarsal navicular, medial middle and lateral cuneiforms, cuboid, metatarsals, and phalanges. You have muscles and tendons and ligaments; veins, arteries and nerves. Your foot has several planes of movement: dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion and eversion at the ankle, toe wiggling. With all these structures and movements, a lot can go wrong! There is also the fact that your feet hold you up, feel the force of your body weight maybe 10,000 times a day (if you meet that step goal). If you run or jump, they feel the force of more than your body weight (because force = mass times acceleration [change in speed or direction]). Who here has ever had foot pain? Who has seen a doctor for it? A survey determined 77% of adults reported pain but only 1/3 went in for it. So, if you have never had foot pain or don’t think you need to see a doctor for it, how do you take care of your feet? Sit down more often? Massage? Cushiony shoes or insoles? Pay attention to what you put on your feet! If they tend to get sweaty or stinky or you get rashes like athletes’ foot, invest in good socks that wick the moisture away from the skin. Wool socks are not just for winter, they make lightweight wool athletic socks that your feet will love! If you are asking your feet to hold you up all day, meaning you stand or walk or run every day, then invest in the best supportive shoe you can afford and replace them every 300-500 miles. Yes, you need to replace your shoes way more often than your car tires. They lose their shock absorption especially in extremes of heat and cold. If you have a routine, you can estimate how long it takes you to reach that mile marker and plan to replace your shoes or use a fitness tracker that keeps track of your shoe mileage. Your feet will thank you!

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