When do you think about your feet? At the end of a long day, when those shoes that looked so fabulous in the shop are killing you, when walking or standing become difficult or when an old injury rears its ugly head again. Basically, most of us ignore our feet and foot health unless there is something wrong.
The Australian Podiatry Association (APODA) would like you to think about your feet all the time, and in particular during Foot Health Week. Taking place last week (12 to 18 October), the focus this year was on “Get back on Track – Fit feet for a better YOU”. In response to the impact of the COVID19 global pandemic on Australians, the podiatry community is promoting foot health as a way of encouraging better overall health outcomes for all Australians.
Foot facts
An average person will walk over 150,000 km in a lifetime or close to 4 times around our planet! Our feet contain 25 per cent of the bones in our body. Each foot is made up of 26 bones, 33 joint, 19 muscles, 10 tendons, 107 ligaments and 200,000 nerve endings.
Your feet have two basic functions – keep you supported and allow you to move. When functioning correctly your feet provide a great foundation, able to carry and cushion the entire weight of your body.
If you have you ever wondered why feet are so ticklish, you may be surprised to learn that they are most nerve rich part of the body. The intense nerve communication capability or proprioception helps us to quickly adapt to our surroundings as we walk or run by effortlessly adjusting our gait and foot position.
Working correctly, your feet are your best protection from fall and injury regardless of your age.
Foot health problems
Despite the fact that feet are a marvel of engineering, there are a number of factors that can impact them where we have little control. Becoming pregnant, ageing and a love of certain sports can result in a range of changes to our feet such as arches dropping, loss of flexibility and injuries that last a lifetime. There are also a range of foot related problems that affect the general population.
Faulty or badly aligned feet can be the result of muscle weakness. This is commonly described as fallen arches which occurs when the connective tissue or plantar fascia drops. This causes the foot to flatten and to lose its great shock absorbing capability. It can also cause the foot to roll inwards (over-pronation) with a resulting change in muscle tension that can have negative effects on ankle, knee, hip and pelvic function leading to pain or in the worse cases an injury.
Feet that are stiff or inflexible are unable make the constant adjustments required to adapt to different surfaces. They may overtime lose the ability to roll inwards (pronate) to act as shock absorbers when we walk or run on a variety of surfaces and in particular hard surfaces.
If you want to refresh your knowledge of the foot and reward yourself with a foot massage, try Eric Franklin’s guided foot massage. It is a great initiation or refresher on the complex structure of your foot.[1]
Foot awareness and Pilates
As Pilates instructors we have all seen our fair share of problem feet and the impact they can have on body alignment. Any misalignment of the feet when standing still or moving, can impact on posture and result in compensations all the way up the kinetic chain.[2]
Joseph Pilates considered the feet so important that he focused a great deal of his efforts on developing exercises and apparatus especially for the feet, inventing apparatus such as the Foot Corrector and Toe Corrector. He worked with professional dancers who all needed a strong core and strong feet.[3]
Most clients will have stiff and weak feet as a result of our modern sedentary lifestyle and rigid or badly fitting footwear. They will often not be aware that they have neglected their feet until that niggling foot pain becomes a permanent feature or they are diagnosed with an injury such as plantar fasciitis.
The benefits of Pilates on foot health is well understood in the Pilates community. Positive changes in gait and balance can be achieved through as little as an 8-week supervised Pilates program.[4] We have a range of exercises and equipment that can strengthen and rehabilitate foot function such as footwork on the Reformer and a wide variety of exercises that can address every link of the kinetic chain. See the references below for examples.
We are well placed to help improve the foot health of our clients, including working with allied health professionals such as podiatrists.
How actively are you discussing foot health with your clients? Is foot health part of your client screening and programming? Can you take better care of your client’s feet? Do you have a relationship with your local podiatrist?
Foot Health Week
According to APODA, your feet are mirrors of your health. Foot issues are warning signs of underlying health conditions and many foot problems can be prevented if noticed early. This includes vascular disease, diabetes, arthritis and balance issues.
Here are some top tips on foot care:
- Maintain healthy nails – add a drop of tree tea oil to your foot moisturiser to reduce the risk of fungal infection.
- Wear correctly fitting shoes – think about comfort rather than your favourite colour. Clearly this was written by a man.
- Do not ignore foot and lower limb pain – can be a sign of muscle fatigue due to muscle imbalance.
APODA is dedicated to educating Australians about the importance of foot health, raising awareness of foot health issues, and connecting Australians to podiatrists for lower limb care. The APODA website is a treasure trove of foot fact sheets, videos and where to find a Podiatrist.
If you are seeing signs of foot problems in your clients, APODA strongly recommends that you refer them to a podiatrist. By building a relationship with your local podiatrist, there may also be some foot traffic back to you.
Ditta Zizi, PAA Member
References
[1] Franklin Eric, Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery, 2012 (pg 230)
[2] Isacowitz Rael, Pilates, Second Edition, 2014 (pg 30)
[3] van Aswegen Claudia, Feet First into Pilates, February 2013. https://basipilates.co.za/sites/default/files/documents/57910095925__Feet%20first%20into%20Pilates.pdf
[4] Newell, Shead, Sloane, Changes in gait and balance parameters in elderly subjects attending an 8-week supervised Pilates programme. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2012.02.002
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