Dealing with foot pain and soreness? It’s no wonder as the feet can take a pounding. Every day, you rely on them to carry you around and support the weight of the rest of your body.
Yet, when you look at them, they don’t seem all that different from your hands. Evolution made them out of the same skin and bones, so to speak. So, it is no wonder they get sore from time to time.
Intro to dealing with foot pain and soreness
Our biology has been very innovative in making our feet robust – but it’s not perfect. As this blog entitled Corns vs. Calluses: Symptoms & Treatments points out, people can develop all sorts of problems with their feet, including large patches of dry skin. Often, after a long day, they feel sore and achy.
The good news, though, is that you can fight back against the discomfort. Try these ideas to deal with sore feet and start feeling more comfortable today:
Wear shoes with supportive arches
There should be an arch between the heel of your foot and the ball. Unfortunately, this arch can slowly disappear over time if they wear flats.
The solution is simple: just wear shoes like trainers that have arch support, especially when exercising. It’ll help your feet retain their natural, healthy shape.
Take time to soak when dealing with foot pain
Your feet take more of a pounding than any other part of your body, and yet they are the furthest from your heart. Thus, peripheral tissues are often much more prone to dry skin, scabs, blisters, and corns.
Fortunately, you can counteract this by soaking your feet in hot water. When you do this, the blood vessels in the feet expand, and the dry skin softens.
The combined effect is to restore blood supply to the skin, keeping them healthy. That’s one of many ways to care for your feet after standing all day at work.
Alternate hour shoes
Do you wear the same shoes to work every day? That could be a bad idea. Putting on the same footwear could lead to a buildup of microbes that trigger infection and foot odor.
If you can, keep a calendar of the shoes that you wear when dealing with foot pain. On Mondays, wear your brown pumps. On Tuesdays, wear your platforms and so on.
If you notice that your feet are a bit smelly after you get home after a busy day, try soaking them in some plain vinegar and water. This will soften them and kill any bacteria lurking just below the skin’s surface.
Moisturize your feet
We all know how important it is to moisturize our hands. But relatively few of us attend to our feet with the same level of care.
Your feet, however, are much more prone to cracking. Are you dealing with foot pain like that? Ouch! That’s something that can cause a lot of discomfort.
Where possible, use essential oils to moisturize your feet. These are natural and contain the same kind of chemicals that the body uses.
You can also try using dollops of coconut oil. Saturated fat is excellent at working its way into the deeper layers of the skin.
Here’s a final tip! When you go swimming, always ensure that you scrub your feet diligently afterward. That way, you won’t pick up verrucas or warts.
My poor mother dearest has painful feet but the problem began with the bones, so her toes overlap now and cause issues (a warning against high heels & pinched toes for years, perhaps!) Moisturising is so important, and yet I often don’t get around to it, especially in winter when my feet stay safely ensconced in socks. I had no idea you could use vinegar on your feet! I swear that stuff seems to have no end of uses 😂 xx