From The Ground Up: Healthy Feet = Healthy You

By Dr. Trina Ting

Our feet: we often overlook them, but they are an amazing part of our body that are biomechanical marvels. These relatively small appendages of our body have to support our entire spine, keep us balanced with gravity, and propel us through the world. If you don’t have functioning feet, you simply cannot get through this world easily.

Your feet have to carry the entire weight of your body, with each foot designed to take on approximately half of your body weight. The tendons, ligaments, muscles and bones cannot take on much more weight than what your body is designed to carry, and so any extra weight can cause extra stress to these structures, resulting in pain and inflammation. One extra pound of weight adds an extra 6 pounds of pressure to your feet! Walking and running adds even more pressure to your feet as the speed combined with gravity forces compounds to add mechanical stress.

Additionally, our toes, just like our fingers, have a remarkable amount of sensors to detect pain, touch, and balance out the proprioceptive messages required to keep us upright. Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense where it’s position in space is. If we have damage in our feet, the ability to sense position can be diminished, and it can result in an inability to walk well or even stand in place properly.

How can we take better care of our feet? Follow these simple tips and read about why they can help.

Wearing the Right Shoe: The right shoe looks different for everyone, but in general, a good shoe will provide the following:

Proper Sole Support – A sole or arch that gently molds to the arches of the feet but not so soft that it can easily collapse on weight bearing, and not so rigid that it does not bend at all when walking. Good quality leather, rubber and even cork soles can provide the correct support and cushioning.

Materials that Accommodate Your Foot – Real leather and some quality fabrics like those in higher end running shoes can stretch to the foot, while still providing the structure your foot needs. A shoe shouldn’t need breaking in to feel good, but if you did buy a very stiff leather shoe, leather will eventually stretch with wear. You can also ask a shoe cobbler to help with this process. Natural materials like leather will also breathe and allow for better circulation. Quality running shoes with synthetic materials will have ventilation and breathability designed into the shoe.

Lighten the Load - The shoe should not be heavy: a lighter shoe is easier on the body to move and carry all day.

Wearing the right shoe makes a big difference in how one walks and feels. If you’ve ever worn painful shoes, you know how miserable it can make you. Comfortable shoes can literally make you happier!

Take A Look Down:

We don’t often look at our feet, but nail and skin care for these areas are important. The nail quality of our toes can tell us a lot about our health, as well as the skin colour and circulation. The legs are prone to varicose veins as we age, resulting in poor circulation, as our legs are constantly working against gravity to push up blood from the limb to the heart. Discoloured toe nails can be a sign of poor circulation, nerve damage, or even fungal infections that can go undetected. Skin in the feet and legs that are unusually dry or even shiny can indicate chronic venous insufficiency or more serious issues such as peripheral arterial disease. Those with diabetes have to be especially diligent, as poor circulation and nerve damage to the feet are very common due to the increased blood sugar levels.

Have Any Lumps and Bumps Examined: Our feet can get various lumps and bumps on them. These can arise from the bone, nerve, tendons, or muscles. The infamous bunion is a deformation and enlargement of the big toe joint, typically caused by arthritis of the joint. You can get small cysts on the tendons and nerves that run between the bones of the feet. The muscles in our feet are also susceptible to strain, inflammation and swelling. Plantar fasciitis is a swelling of the plantar fascia, the tissue that runs underneath the sole of the foot. Chiropractors can take a look at these bumps and determine what they are.

Elevate Your Feet: One easy way to take the pressure of gravity off your feet is to elevate them. Even using a foot stool when working at a desk minimizes the full effect of gravity and lessens the pooling of blood. Take the time to elevate your feet to heart level when you are watching TV: lying down in a recliner, or lying on a yoga mat on the floor while stretching are some easy ways to rest your feet

Treat Your Feet: Did you know you can go to places that are foot spas? Different countries all over the world have used such places for hundreds of years, one example being Japan. Japan had foot spas called ashiyu which were used for healing and socializing, utilizing natural hot springs and therapeutic foot massage techniques. Modern reflexology, the practice of touch to pressure points in the feet for overall health, stems from these practices.

At our clinic, you can request your regular RMT to work on your legs and feet on your next visit. Massage therapy is particularly effective to work out muscle tension that we build up in those areas. Our chiropractors can also apply the ProAdjuster to sore feet and it may help to reduce any pain and align the bones in the feet. We can also design custom orthotics to support your feet in your shoes, and it will assist with proper balancing of gravitational and weight forces.

ProAdjuster protocol to treat plantar fasciitis

ProAdjuster protocol to treat ankle sprains / bones in the feet

ProAdjuster protocol to treat Achilles tendon strain

Those are some easy ways to take care of your feet. Don’t overlook these amazing parts of our body! Take good care of them, and you will be surprised how much better you will feel.