Why It Is Important To Take Good Care Of Your Feet

The health of your feet is important, more important than many of us realize until it is too late. Your feet are hugely important, after all. They get you where you need to go on a a daily basis. Even just moving around your home – or even just your bedroom – is far easier when you have the full use of your feet. Having full use of your feet makes life so much easier, but foot problems can make this difficult, Problems with your feet can be hugely detrimental to your health, as well as to your overall quality of life. Your health is, of course, as many of us know, hugely important. But what some of us forget is how vital our feet our to our overall health.

With the average person taking as many as six thousand steps in just one single day and traveling – by foot – as many as seventy thousand miles just by the age of fifty, our feet gets lots of use. Sometimes, they are so frequently used that pain problems can develop because of this. For instance, we have all had blisters that developed when we were in the process of breaking in a new pair of shoes, or blisters that scabbed over and became irritated every time we walked for long periods of time. Blisters are common, and they are somewhat unavoidable. If you engage in rigorous activity such as hiking – or even just walking long distances – it is more than likely that you will experience at least one blister at some point. Though blisters can cause foot pain, they are not particularly detrimental to your overall foot health, as they are relatively short lived and typically do not create any serious or long lasting complications.

However, there are foot problems far more severe, such as bunions. While bunions are not life threatening, they can cause a significant amount of pain on a daily basis, impeding the function of the bunion sufferer. And bunions are far too common throughout all parts of the United States, with at least twenty five percent of all adults who are living in the country experiencing some degree of a bunion deformity, though this is likely to vary in severity from case to case. It has been found that bunions and bunion pain are more likely to occur in adult women for a number of reasons and factors.

For one, the genetic predisposition for developing at least one bunion is simply higher in women than it is in men. But this is not the only cause of bunions. Bunions can also form through the repeated use of shoes that are too small for the wearer’s feet. This is a far more common occurrence in women than in men, as women have been found to be hugely likely to wear too small shoes – nearly ninety percent of all women have reported regularly wearing a shoe that was too small at some point in their lives. Of this population of women, more than half have developed bunions to some extent and severity.

Bunions can also be caused by the length of the legs, as legs that are not equal can lead to bunions as well as a number of other foot problems and pain conditions. Again, though bunions are not life threatening, they can have a negative impact on your health as they can cause a great deal of pain as well as limit your overall mobility. A limiting of mobility can be hugely detrimental to the health of many, as it prevents the activity and exercise that we all need in order to adequately maintain our overall health and wellness.

If you suspect a foot problem is impacting your health, it is important to see a podiatrist as soon as possible. A podiatrist may recommend medication, therapies, or even foot surgery is the problem is severe enough, such as in the case of bunions. Feet problems are certainly not uncommon in the United States, but an experienced podiatrist will most likely know how to help your problem.