Foot | Shoe Fetish

What you don’t know about those shoes can wreck your feet!

Yes your new high heels are super sexy and they make your calves look amazing but are they healthy? Very few women equate the word “healthy” with what they put on their feet but it is an important question to ask. Are there any consequences to oh-so-high high heels?

Sexy calves that don’t work so well

High heels lack the support and structure feet need putting excess pressure on the balls of the feet. High heels also push the heel upwards for long periods of time which causes the muscles to lock and become stiff. Once high heels are removed the tendons are then stretched causing pain.

woman in high heels

Ugly Feet

Due to a tendancy for high heels to squeeze the toes together, bunions and hammertoes are some of the ugly consequences of regular use. It’s ironic that something designed to make feet look beautiful can actually cause unsightly damage over time.

Pain

It is said that “beauty is pain” but young women who live in high heels may regret putting their body through bottom of the foot (ball) and ankle pain, not to mention the damage to the Achilles tendon that can make the simplest task unbearable. 70% of older women visit a doctor due to foot pain undoubtedly caused by past poor choices in footwear.

Even though tennis shoes are the healthiest option for feet few women will throw away their stilettos. If you must wear high heels save them for special occasions and even then, limit the number of hours of wear. Inserting gel cushions and can help to offset pain, discomfort and future damage.

Filed Under: General, Shoes Tagged With: Foot, Health, High-heeled footwear

Exercises to Strengthen Fallen Arches

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If you have fallen arches then you are well aware of what a struggle buying shoes can be. Having fallen arches means that a person’s foot over pronates when they walk, causing the foot to roll too far inward when stepping down and thus stretching out the muscle in the arch of the foot. This cause it to look like there is no arch (or very little arch) when the person’s foot is flat on the ground.

Unfortunately fallen arches are permanent, and no amount of exercising will give you arches. There are however exercises that will help to strengthen the muscle. For those with fallen arches this is beneficial as they can get quite painful sometimes. Strengthening the muscle that runs along the bottom of the foot may relieve such pain and prevent it. If left untreated, fallen arches can get quite painful and can lead to other foot problems such as joint problems.

The following exercises can help to strengthen the arch of your foot.

Practice grabbing something with your toes, this will give your foot a work out and to help build strength
Practice placing more of your body weight on the outer area of your foot. Those with fallen arches tend to place more weight on the inner foot, which can help cause the arch to fall.
Building the strength in your calf muscle could help fallen arches. Simply stand with your tip toes on the edge of a stair with your heel hanging over and lift your body up and down with your toes. This will help to strengthen your ankles as well as your feet.

Filed Under: Fashion, Shoes Tagged With: Foot, Pain, Physical exercise

Shoes Built to Hurt

Some shoes are just not made for any woman to wear. They crush your toes together or set your feet at an unreal angle or provide no arch support.

Pointy toes boots, heels or shoes tend to come to a point at the toe and the problem comes when the shoe tries to do this too quickly and pushes your other toes into your foot. Your toes, all of them, need to be able to move around and breathe in your shoes. Shove them against each other and you have the potential for pain and discomfort.

Stiletto high heels can look awesome on women but the small heel print of the stiletto on the ground makes for danger waiting to happen. One moment of not paying attention to the ground around her and she can place her heel in the wrong location and the heel will slip sideways and pop goes the ankle. Doctors have warned against stiletto high heels for years and women continue to be injured.

The shoe that hurts the most women’s feet is the simple flip-flop. It was designed for short trips to the beach or the pool and still works well that those purposes. The problem is that women like to wear them everywhere and they give no support and no protection to the feet.

Do not wear flip-flops to run or jump. They offer no protection and often come off, thus throwing off the stride of the wearer. Shoes without backs, like Crocs, also fall into this category.

For your health, wear shoes that allow your feet to breathe and have some kind of strap across the back to keep them on as you race to catch that train.

Filed Under: Shoes Tagged With: Flip-flops, Foot, Shoe

Happy, Healthy Feet

Most people wear shoes for 8 to 15 hours a day. Ask yourself: when was the last time I had my feet measured? Our feet change shape and size as we age, just like the rest of our body. Is your waist the same as it was five years ago? It is very likely that your feet have changed as well.

Improper fitting shoes can cause many problems like your heels constantly in pain, deformed toes from being squished together, bunions and nerve damage. The feet are excellent gages of your health. Congestive heart failure can have an early warning signal sent by your swollen ankles. Diabetes can be indicated by feet that are insensitive to pain and to changing temperatures. A chronic respiratory disease can be indicated if you have clubbed toe nails.

Often knee problems are related to problems with shoes that are improperly worn. Purchase shoes that are the right size. Often one foot is larger than the other. Buy for the larger foot as most stores will not allow you to buy two different sized shoes.

Go shoe shopping later in the day when your feet are likely to be more swollen. Allow 3/8” to 1/2” from the end of your toes to the tip of the shoe when you are standing up. Expecting a pair of shoes to stretch to fit your feet is asking for pain. Would you hit your feet with a hammer every day? Of course not, so don’t force your feet into a tight environment.

Purchasing the right shoes for your feet can help you to feel great in many ways. So kick up your heels and enjoy life in the right shoes for you.

Filed Under: General, Shoes Tagged With: Bunion, Foot, Shoe

Arched without pain

Shoes, we love them and we hate them. They protect our feet but often they do not fit us correctly. Approaching the purchase of shoes with a knowledge of our own foot type can help us to buy shoes that will help our feet to feel good.

What type of an arch do you have? Grab a paper grocery bag and put it on the floor. Step in a pan that has a little water in the bottom and then step on the paper bag. After removing your foot you will then have an imprint of your foot.

There are three basic types of foot imprints which show how your arch works. With high arched feet the front of the foot and the heel do not touch or touch just a little in the imprint. These people have under-pronated feet and they need cushioning in their shoes to cushion the shock transmission to the lower legs.

Normal arched feet get skinny between the ball and heel of the foot but are thicker than a half inch. Smaller are high arched. These shoe wearers experience the least problems and can wear virtually any shoe. A simple structured cushion in the shoe will help with shock.

Flat footed people have an imprint where the arch is the same width as the heel or wider. These feet have over-pronated feet and they need maximum support to protect against shock transmission.

Read the packages carefully of the shoes or inserts that you will use for your shoes. Look for the keywords for your foot type: high arched or under-pronated, normal arch, and flat footed or over-pronated. Buying the correct insert for your feet will go a long way towards helping your feet and legs not to hurt and give you the satisfaction of being able to walk, run, or jog where you want, when you want, without pain.

Filed Under: Shoes Tagged With: Foot, Foot type, Shoe

Shoes, Designed to Compensate For Bad Foot Design

The shoe has been designed for decades to compensate for perceived problems that we have with our feet. When people walk it sometimes hurts the heel so we compensated for this by adding padding to the heel. Many people have flat feet or fallen arches so we provide them arch supports that are built into the shoe or we apply inserts to accomplish the same thing.

Look at a shoe as it sits on the ground. The toe often points up just a little bit. This helps the wearer to take the next step. Your toes naturally do not point up this way because the whole foot can move semi-independently as you walk through a stride. Because the shoe is a solid structure it cannot move this way and the toe spring is added to not have to drag the toe constantly as you walk.

High heels cause the tendons to shorten for the women who wear them. Often during the spring women who have been wearing high heeled winter boots and then switch to flip-flops experience pain in their tendons as the tendons attempt to stretch back out for the flip-flops.

All this cushioning of the feet and the heels appears now to be all wrong! Chicago’s Rush Medical College did a study comparing impact on the knees between barefoot people and people wearing padded shoes. The surprise was that there was 12 percent less impact on the knee when these people were barefoot!

We still need to wear shoes to be socially acceptable in our society, but take your shoes off at home and walk around barefoot. It will give your feet a chance to breathe and to recuperate from the stresses placed on it by your shoes. If you can take your shoes off at work, then do so.

Maybe it will become acceptable to be barefoot again, maybe not. Nevertheless give your feet a chance at health, take your shoes off.

Filed Under: Latest Trends, Shoes Tagged With: Foot, High-heeled footwear, Shoe

Stop Shoe Stink Now!

You have worn your shoes all day and then you take them off when you get home at night. Whew! They stink really badly.

You have bacteria on your feet which thrive in dark, damp places. Sweaty shoes are wonderful places for them, especially if you do not wear socks. The bacteria eat the dead skin and oil from your feet. Luckily only about 10% to 15% of people have feet that smell bad.

Here are some steps to try and help stop the stink. You might not be able to completely stop the smell but even reducing it can be a great help.
1)    Wash your feet every day. If you have a hand held shower sprayer give your feet a good spraying every day. Make sure your feet are dry before putting your sock on.
2)    Wear cotton, wool or athletic knit socks made to absorb sweat. These socks allow the feet to breath. If your feet get damp, change socks. Wear a fresh pair every day.
3)    Feet sweat more in tight spaces so make sure you have plenty of room in your shoes for your feet to breath.
4)    You might need more shoes than the rest of the population. Your shoes need to be fully dry before you wear them. Putting 24 to 48 hours between each wearing can really help the smell.
5)    Washing your feet with antibacterial soap, putting a disinfectant spray into your shoes or setting the shoes in the sun are other options.
6)    Washing your shoes or insoles will also help for awhile.
7)    Do not wear plastic shoes.
8)    Allow your feet to breathe by going barefoot, especially at night.

Filed Under: Latest Trends, Shoes Tagged With: Foot, Shoe, Sock

Keep the Shoes While Avoiding the Blisters

It’s a problem that is all too common: you find a great pair of shoes that seem to go with every clothing item you own, but when you wear them, your feet form painful blisters. So what do you do? Well, if you’re like most people, you either tough it out, either because the shoes just look too good or were too expensive, or you give up on the shoes.

However, both of these options are wrong. Instead, you should be concentrating on getting rid of the blisters. Here are some of the best strategies for keeping blisters at bay while keeping your shoe rack stocked and in style.

Use Lotion

Hit blisters at the source by using lotion to keep your feet a little slippery. The root cause of blisters is the friction created by your shoes and socks grinding against your feet. With lotion or any kind of lubricate you can alleviate the rubbing sensation.

Dry Your Feet

Walking is sure to cause your feet to perspire, and when your skin is wet it is easier to tear and subsequently form blisters. If possible take time to remove your shoes and air them out periodically, or dry them off quickly with paper towel in a bathroom. Using cornstarch on your socks works well as an antiperspirant, and try wearing socks made of a lighter fabric than cotton or wool.

Insert Padding

A lot of blisters are formed because the shoes are just a little too big for the feet. This problem can be resolved simply by adding to the areas most susceptible to blisters. Padding can be anything from foam to rubber strips to household bath tissue.

Pad the Blister

If a blister has already formed, buffer it from more damage so that it can heal. Use medical bandages or even tape if it isn’t too serious.

Change Insoles

Inserting new insoles could be the solution as they help make shoes better conform to your feet.

Remember, it’s the blisters that need to go not the shoes, so get rid of the problem without sacrificing the shoes.

Filed Under: Shoes Tagged With: Blister, Foot, Shoe

Shoes – An Inevitable Part Of Dressing

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When clothes and dress fashion developed through the years, foot wear also was an important part of common dressing. Clothes helped in protecting the body and skin of human, whereas shoe has the role of protecting our foot from sharp stones, thorns, cold and heat. It forms a barrier between the soft skin under our feet and the rough surface of the earth. Men have always progressed by observing the surroundings, learning from the different experiences in life, be it good or bad.

The most common material used for making shoes is leather. But now, with the innovation of new types of footwear that suits several occasions like fashion wear, sports and during adventures like hiking, trekking, etc. other materials started coming into foot wear manufacture like plastics, rubber and synthetic cloth. It is an interesting fact that due to the extensive use of shoes that fit our feet, the shape and size of bones of human toe started varying. Actually, tight foot wear led to toes becoming long and pointed, sometimes to absurd proportions.

The types and styles of shoes that is worn, differed with place, climate, gender, social status, profession or activity, just like clothes. Along with fashion of cloth, designing of new shoes also gained grandness. A shoe has a sole (insole, midsole and outsole), which is the lower part where our whole feet rests, a heel which is lower part that gives support to the heel of our foot, vamp- the upper part that helps in holding our feet to the shoes.

Earlier, most of the population around the world did not use shoes mainly because they could not afford it. And now it is not an irony when we say everyone uses at least a sandal even at home, starting from a one year old who just started walking!

Filed Under: Shoes Tagged With: Clothing, Foot, Footwear

Get Clothing That Fits You Properly and You’ll Feel More Comfortable

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When it comes to finding the right clothing, you don’t want something that looks pretty but doesn’t fit well. It’s much better to find clothing that’s designed to fit you – instead of the other way around. With Apple Bottoms, that’s what you’ll get. They have great jeans, but they also have boots and shoes that are comfortable and classy. If you haven’t seen their clothing lines, it’s time that you took a good look at what they have to offer. It’s no fun to cram yourself into clothes that don’t fit you well and that you won’t care for. When you want to look good, you should also be able to feel good. Finding clothes that give you both is great.

Especially if you walk around all day or you have a job where you’re on your feet a lot, it’s important that you purchase the kind of shoes and boots that are going to fit your feet and their natural curves and contours. Too many shoe makers produce things that women are expected to stuff themselves into, instead of offering them options that they can enjoy and be comfortable in. What good are great looking shoes if they make your feet hurt after just a few minutes? You can’t look your best and have a great time if it hurts to walk around. Don’t sit things out when others are having fun.

Also, keep in mind that it’s not just footwear that should feel good. If the clothing that you’re putting on your body doesn’t fit your curves, you should find some that does. That’s part of the reason that Apple Bottoms are so popular – they fit you, instead of you having to try to fit into them. Enjoy the comfort that they give you, and now that you can look good and feel good at the same time. It’s hard to get more from clothing than that.

Filed Under: Fashion, Shoes Tagged With: Apple Bottoms, Clothing, Foot, Shoe