Tag Archives: foot

Health and Fitness

How to deal with corns on the feet?

Corns can be a common disorder of the foot that may be painful and difficult to treat. They are due to a lot of pressure on an area of skin. They are part of a normal mechanism that has gone wrong. Whenever there is excessive pressure on the skin, that area of skin will thicken up to protect itself. When the pressure goes on over a extended period of time, it becomes so thick that it is painful. This can be the same as the mechanism that happens when, for instance, cutting up wood. Doing this, you ultimately make a callus on your palm. A similar thing takes place on the foot with pressure from the ground or pressure on a toe from footwear. When you stop chopping wood, the thicker skin on the palms subside. The issue in the foot is that you keep putting on shoes and you continue walking, so the pressure continues and the thicker skin forms into a corn and will become painful.

Getting rid of corns is fairly easy and a skilful podiatrist can certainly take them out. That's the easy part. The difficult bit is stopping them returning. It can be one thing to take them off, however unless you take away that cause (the greater pressures on the region), chances are they will just keep coming back eventually. Corns do not possess roots that they can re-grow from. They come back because the cause remains. Getting rid of a corn is a lot like treating the symptom. They are going to come back unless the cause is taken away. That's where the ability of a podiatrist is needed to identify the correct cause. A full assessment is necessary of the function, footwear, foot shape and activities to sort out just what it is that is bringing about the higher pressure. Once that reason has been identified, then different treatments can be used to reduce that pressure. This might vary from simple shoe suggestions to foot orthotic to surgical treatment

Health and Fitness

Is overpronation a problem for runners?

Something you find in the running community is lots of myths and misconceptions concerning training, overuse injury and also athletic shoes. This produces a substantial amount of poor suggestions getting given by individuals not qualified to provide it as well as the taking on of this recommendations by those runners who are not necessarily in a position to judge should the advice is good or otherwise. One of these fallacies could be the concept of “overpronation” and what that has to do with running injury and running footwear. You can read in certain areas that overpronation is evil and it is an enemy to the athlete and ought to be got rid of at all cost. On the flip side, you may also read that it is a non-event and absolutely nothing to worry about.

Pronation is mostly a normal healthy motion whereby once the foot hits the floor the rearfoot rolls inwards and also the mid-foot ( arch ) lowers. There's nothing incorrect with this movement and it is how the feet absorbs impact and also adapts to the floor. Overpronation is actually when there is an excessive amount of this motion. The first issue with that is there's absolutely no classification or agreement as to what is too much, so that is a problem. Overpronation is thought being a risk factor for a great deal of overuse injuries that athletes have due to the biomechanical problems that it is supposed to result in. However , lots who overpronate don't get any disorders, others do get problems, so this is considered a concern. Foot orthotics as well as other various kinds of treatments were designed to deal with the problems. As this was viewed as a big problem, then a entire category of running footwear, the motion control athletic shoes have design functions that are imagined to help deal with the overpronation action of the foot and stop these kinds of injury. The evidence that this is what actually takes place is not very great. For that reason, this leads to a lot of argument.

Throughout the perspective of these conundrums one must always have a look at what the systematic reviews of all of the research are showing. The most up-to-date meta-analyses do concur that overpronation is a problem, nonetheless, it is simply a small issue, yet this is still statistically important. Because of this there are many additional factors mixed up in overuse injury in athletes than simply the overpronation.

One other problem with the matter can be that everybody thinks they can be an expert about it and each of them is able to fix it. There are numerous causes of overpronation and because of that there is not really just one solution which can fix it. Lots of pseudo-experts like to propose that strengthening the hip joint and those muscles there would be the choice. That will just help if that's the location where the problem is. In the event the concern is due to tight calf muscles, then next to nothing you are doing with the hip will remedy it. Foot supports will not likely work for them either. The only thing that may help them is heel lifts in the short term and stretching out in the long term. When you have overpronation and it needs to be taken care of, overlook the junk online and go and see somebody who in fact knows what they're doing.

Health and Fitness

How to deal with foot corns and calluses?

Corns and calluses are areas of thickened skin that develop to guard that area from pressure and irritation. They will occur when something like a shoe puts pressure against the foot continuously or causes excessive pressure against part of the foot. It is known as a callus typically if the thickening of skin happens on the bottom of the foot. If thickening happens on the top of the feet or toe it's usually called a corn. Having said that, there is a great deal of overlap between a corn and a callus. They're not contagious but could grow to be painful when they become too thick. In people with diabetes this may lead to more serious foot conditions, so they really have to be taken seriously.

Corns typically happen where a toe rubs on inside of the footwear or there is a toe deformity. Excessive pressure on the balls of the foot, that is common in females who often wear high heels could cause calluses to develop under the balls of the foot. Those with particular deformities of the foot, for example hammer toes, claw toes, or hallux valgus are prone to corns and calluses. Corns and calluses usually have a rough dull looking appearance. They are often raised or circular and without correct analysis, they could be difficult to distinguish from plantar warts. Should you have a corn or callus that is causing pain and discomfort or interfering with your everyday living then it is perhaps best if you see a podiatrist. This is certainly a lot more crucial for those who have diabetes or poor circulation. The podiatrist is going to conduct a thorough check-up of the feet and your footwear and look at the way you walk to find out exactly why you have got the corns and callus. For minor corns or calluses they could suggest changing your shoes and use padding in your shoes. If they are more substantial, then the podiatrist may reduce them with a scalpel to cautiously and skilfully shave away the thickened skin. Additional treatments may be required if the corn or callus come back.

Health and Fitness

Overpronation of the foot in runners

The way in which the foot functions or works will have a significant impact on the rest of the body. The foot is widely considered as the foundation of the body and just like the tall building analogy, if that foundation isn't correct, then something can go wrong higher up. There are numerous types of dysfunctional conditions that will affect that platform and how the feet interact with the ground. That interaction will have different affects higher up the body.

Among the issues that may go wrong is something that is commonly called “overpronation”. This phrase is frequently used and misused, so should probably be avoided. The term refers to the foot rolling inwards at the rearfoot and the arch of the foot flattening. This is actually quite a normal movement and is only a problem if there to an excessive amount of it. The reason why the term is such a problem is that there is no consensus about what is too much and what is actually normal. This leads to lots of confusion in research and in clinical practice, particularly when choices have to be made if the overpronation ought to be taken care of or not.

The impact that overpronation can have on the body are believed to vary from bunions and heel spurs in the feet to lower leg and knee joint problems in runners. There are several ways to treat overpronation, again with a lot of disagreement between medical experts as to the best way to manage it. Rationally the treatment of the overpronation ought to be directed at the cause and there isn't any such thing as a one size fits all. When the problem is due to tight calf muscles, then stretching out of those tight muscles would be the logical method. When the issue is the control of muscles at the hip, then the therapy should be geared towards that. If the condition is as a result of weak foot muscles, then that's the best place to begin the rehabilitation with exercises. If the concern is because of a bony alignment issue in the foot, then foot supports are often prescribed.