What Can You Do About Foot Pain?

The first step in dealing with foot pain, especially heel pain, is to care for your feet. Your feet are the hardest working part of your body. They carry you wherever you need to go, whenever you need to go there and they do it for years and years. In fact, during your lifetime you will have traveled on your feet the equivalent of three trips around the entire world. You take, on average, 15,000 steps a day and walk or run well over 75,000 miles in your lifetime. Caring for your precious feet is the best step to avoid pain and is a critical component in eliminating it as well.

Some steps you can take to keep your feet healthy and functioning:

First and foremost: do not ignore pain in your feet and ankles. Healthy feet don't have persistent pain or skin that looks unusual. If your pain doesn't subside quickly, please contact our office right away. The sooner we can see you and examine your feet, the quicker we can begin to make the corrections needed to get your feet healthy again. So often we see people who have waited a very long time and suffered needlessly- sometimes for years.

Try to develop a habit of always checking your feet. A great time to do this is right after a shower or during a bath. If you start a habit of carefully drying your feet after bathing (pay special attention to the skin between your toes) you can quickly check your feet to see if you notice any changes. If you see nails that look unusual you might be seeing a potential fungus developing. If your skin is broken, cracked or an unusual color you are noticing abnormalities. Finally, if your foot is changing shape or you observe new growth you should make an appointment to see us so we can treat these conditions before they progress and become worse.

If you have diabetes, it is especially important to check your feet very regularly and often. In fact, we recommend that you have someone else help you check your feet, because you may not be able to see or, most importantly, feel problems. Early detection and treatment may avoid potentially serious complications later.

See a podiatrist if you have a problem with your feet. Treating yourself can often cause problems or exacerbate existing problems. If you are diabetic you are at greater risk for foot problems so be sure to make an appointment to see us at least once a year. We'd love to see you. We are here to help!