Your feet are the foundation of your body, so keeping them healthy is vital to your overall health. Foot care should be a year round effort.
Washing your feet, thoroughly drying (especially in between your toes) and regular moisturising will aid in softening the skin.
It's beneficial to alternate between shoes, which will allow each pair adequate time to air out. This can prevent fungus and bacteria from invading your shoes, which can cause athletes foot. Wearing shoes that fit well can also help you to maintain good foot health. Not only does it make walking easier it enables you to carry out daily activities without the stress of ill fitting shoes. Wearing clean socks with closed shoes is important to ensure that sweat and bacteria do not build up in the shoe. Clean socks help to prevent athletes foot, fungus problems, smelly feet and can absorb sweat. Look out for our 'Fungal nail' blog coming soon if you think you may already have fungal nails or want to know how to prevent it from happening.
Why is foot care in the elderly so important?
There are several reasons why elderly people can be more prone to various foot conditions. Common foot conditions that older people may suffer from can consist of bunions, corns, calluses, athletes foot and fungal nails to name a few. Some elderly people are unable to cut their own toe nails, either due to the nails becoming thickened thus making it too difficult but also due to poor mobility. If you have an elderly friend or loved one please ask to check their feet regularly for them. Many relatives understandably forget to do this and many of our elderly clients don't like to ask for help! If someone already has difficulty walking, and their toe nails become very long and uncomfortable this can lead to falls and injury. It's so important for elderly people in particular to look after their feet and to have regular foot care treatments. If you are concerned about a loved ones feet then please get in touch.
