Heels, Yeah!

Extracted from Shape Magazine November 2013

After one hour and six minutes of wearing heels, most women are in pain, a new U.K. survey found. Still, more than 40% say they're willing to suffer for fashion. Sound familiar? Lessen the hurt with these tips from heel-wearing podiatrists in New York City:

1. Find the Right Fit: Narrow feet can slip around in shoes, so choose a heel with an ankle strap for added stability, Krista Archer suggests. If you have wide feet, your best bet is a wedge with a rounded toe box, which is more forgiving on joints than pointy-toed stilettos.
2. Be a Pencil Pusher: "Slip off your shoes under your desk at work, put your feet together and try to pick up a pencil with your toes to activate the 38 muscles in each foot and strengthen your arches," Suzanne Levine advises.
3. Stretch It Out: "Over time, wearing heels of the same height will cause your Achilles tendons to tighten and shrink, which can lead to pain," Jacqueline Sutera says. Do a few downward dog stretches each night to release tension in the back of your legs. 

foot with narrow flats on

foot without shoes on

If you notice deformities developing (hammertoes, bunions, taylor's bunion) or pain from your current deformities, don't hesitate to give us a call. There are plenty of conservative and surgical treatments available!

Fall Foot Blues

Do your feet hurt more than ever since summer has ended? If so, you are not alone. We see a lot of patients like you each fall. When it comes time to put the summer shoes away, these people get the shoe blues. 

In summer, sandals provide the freedom which allows your feet to feel comfortable. If you start wearing closed shoes again in autumn, the shoes can rub against bunions and hammertoes and cause you pain. Sometimes the friction of shoe against skin can cause painful corns and calluses to build up. Your first line of defense is to wear comfortable, well-fitting shoes. Pick footwear with a toe box wide enough so that your toes aren’t crowded together. If you wear shoes with heels, keep the heel height to two inches or less to avoid putting pressure on bunions. Wear socks to reduce the friction of shoes against your feet. You may also want to take your shoes to a shoe repair shop and get them stretched in the areas that are bothering you. Using the pads to shield the corns may help, but avoid medicated pads, which contain acid that can be harmful. 

If you try our tips to no avail, contact our office. There are several types of conservative treatments we can offer before we suggest surgery including:

• Trimming corns and calluses professionally- don’t attempt this yourself because you run the risk of injury or infection.
  
• Providing custom shoe inserts
  
• Injecting corticosteroids, which ease pain and inflammation or prescribing pain medication

If conservative measures like these don’t give you results, surgery may be your next alternative.

Don’t let painful feet and toes keep you from enjoying all that fall has to offer, visit our www.ShenandoahPodiatry.com!

Exercise Those Toes!

Many people underestimate the importance of keeping their toes physically fit. Toes take a lot of abuse from the hours we spend on our feet each day. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society recommends doing the following simple exercises to strengthen your toes and prevent foot discomfort.

• Toe raise, toe point, toe curl: Hold each position for five seconds and repeat 10 times. This especially recommended for people with hammertoes or toe cramps.
• Toe squeeze: Place cigarette filters or small corks between your toes and hold a squeeze for five seconds. Do this 10 times. Recommended for people with hammertoes and toe cramps.
• Big toe pulls: Place a thick rubber band around the big toes and pull them away from each other and toward the small toes. Hold for five seconds and repeat 10 times. Recommended for people with bunions or toe cramps.
• Toe pulls: Put a thick rubber band around all of your toes and spread them. Hold this position for five seconds and repeat 10 times. This is especially good for people with bunions, hammertoes or toe cramps.
• Golf ball roll: Roll a golf ball under the ball of your foot for two minutes. This is a great massage for the bottom of the foot and is recommended for people with plantar fasciitis (heel pain), arch strain or foot cramps. Towel curls: Place a small towel on the floor and curl it toward you, using only your toes. You can increase the resistance by putting a weight on the end of the towel. Relax and repeat this exercise five times. Recommended for people with hammertoes, toe cramps and pain in the ball of the foot.

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• Marble pick-up: Place 20 marbles on the floor. Pick up one marble at a time and put it in a small bowl. Do this exercise until you have picked up all 20 marbles. Recommended for people with pain in the ball of the foot, hammertoes and toe cramps.
• Sand walking: Take off your shoes and walk in the sand at the beach. This not only massages your feet, but also strengthens your toes and is good for general foot conditioning.

From Flats to Stilettos, it's Agony of the Feet



I went to visit my boyfriend's grandparents the other week and his grandpa cut out this article from the Richmond Times for me!

The article describes how women will wear 5 inch stilettos to work throughout the week then will switch to flats or flip flops over the weekend. (Around these parts, however, with all the students it's more of wearing flats throughout the week and growing 5 inches taller on the weekend!) 

When conducting a study on the feet, it was found that "women who wore so-called 'high risk' shoes that lacked sound structure and support, including high heels, sandals and slippers, were more likely to complain about foot pain later in life."

Listed are some common problems associated with wearing heels (or frequently switching from heels to flats to heels):

• Bunions- Experts say bunions, when the big toe points toward the second toe causing a bump to appear on the outside edge of your toe, are partly genetic. Wearing pointy-toe high heels can make the problem worse.
• Hammertoes- Shoes that crowd the toes together can cause the second, third, fourth and fifth toes to become bent, like a claw.
• Corns- Thickened skin on the top or side of the toe.
• Neuromas- Pinched nerves that cause a burning sensation, tingling or numbness between the toes and in the ball of the foot.
• Heel pain- Plantar fasciitis commonly causes inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot, which leads to pain in the bottom of the heel.

What it comes down to is if height is important to you, wear wedges instead of platform or high heels. I personally recommend Danskos (I wear them everyday!) however, they are an investment, but they will give you the height and the support you need.

Also, make sure to stretch, yes it may sound silly to stretch after removing your heels for the day, but it will help in the long run with pain, swelling and discomfort!
Here are some quick stretching exercises we recommend: Plantar Fasciitis stretches and Heel Pain stretches

Dancers Starting Pointe Earlier and Earlier

Yesterday I went to Dance-Tech in Blacksburg, VA to talk to the owner about Shenandoah Podiatry, she was so relieved to find out we are located just around the corner! She started talking to me about how so many of the young girls want to start Pointe classes earlier and earlier in age. The owner herself started at the young age of 8 and now shows the girls just what starting so young can do to your feet.

I think this is definitely a positive preventative measure to try to hold the girls off a couple more years, however, more than likely it goes in one ear and out the other!

After talking with the owner yesterday, I did a little research on common foot and ankle injuries dancers’ experience.

•  Dancer’s Fracture (5^th metatarsal fracture)- results in landing awkwardly on the outside  portion of the foot or twisting the ankle
• Ankle Sprain- occurs by stretching or tearing one or more ligaments on either or both sides of the ankle.
• Bunions- are caused by your big toe joints becoming incorrectly aligned. This causes the one bone on your big toe to slant outward and the second bone then angles towards your other toes.
• Stress Fractures- results from too much repetitive activity of the foot which causes the bones to weaken
• Ankle Impingement Syndrome- results on the front or back of the ankle and is related to bone structures that pinch the soft tissue when the ankle is pointed in one direction or the other
• Turf Toe- a sprain caused by overuse or hyperextension
• Heel Pain, Achilles Tendonitis, Sesamoiditis and Hallux Rigidus are all related to overuse and repetitive trauma

As much as we don’t mean to scare you with all of these common injuries, any daily activity can result in an injury so this is no announcement to stop your daily activities.

Shenandoah Podiatry is here to aid in foot and ankle health; if you hear any scary noises after a fall don’t do the “I’ll wait a couple days to see if the pain is still there.” The sooner you make an appointment the sooner you’ll be back on your feet!