By Senior Massage Therapist, Tim Harman
How much do you care for your feet?
Do you just take for granted that they’ll do whatever you ask of them? They are, after all, your connection with the ground, so every step you take they keep you upright, stabilise you, absorb impact and help propel you to the next step. If you’re an active person, in any way, the forces on your feet are even greater.
Your feet really are a marvel of engineering and design so we thought we’d take a look at them:
- The average Australian takes 5000-7000 steps per day but there’s a huge range in this. For example, an office worker would be at the bottom end of the range but a waiter can take up to 22,000 steps (not to mention a Physio or Massage Therapist continually moving around on their feet treating around the table)!
- Each foot has 26 bones (almost a quarter of the human body total), 33 joints,19 muscles, 10 tendons and 107 ligaments.
- Your big toe is especially important as it plays a critical role in balance and weight bearing, especially in runners
- The foot and ankle are designed with arches which act as natural shock absorbers
- Feet have around 25,000 sweat glands each, so they sweat a lot. Eeeewwww!! Keeping them dry is definitely a good idea!
- In 1977 the run shoe revolution began when an aerospace engineer took the idea of an air cavity in the heel of a sports shoe to shoe manufacturers. From there Nike ‘ran’ with the ’Tailwind’, which took off like wildfire and the rest is history
Now, here are some great home maintenance tips to keep your feet Healthy & Happy:
• Try some hot/cold Therapy for you aching feet: use a cold bucket to hot bucket of water, back and forth a few times. This will do wonders for how your feet feel & replicates the hot/cold therapy our elite athletes do to help their bodies feel better from training.
• Keep your feet clean and dry, moisturise weekly, socks should be worn once only before washing.
• Do regular movement. Like everything, they do better when they’re moved in moderation.
• If you are having foot pain or blisters, we recommend seeing a podiatrist at least once to get recommendations on what run or exercise shoe best suits your foot.
• Bare feet are great for airing and strengthening and REALLY enhances your proprioception (stimulation of yoru receptors that tell your brain where you are in space). So don’t be addicted to having shoes on all the time. Going bare-foot helps keep connective tissue in the ankle and foot strong. Some gym exercises like box jumps are great bare footed also.
• Socks that are breathable are great because they move sweat away from the skin. Sweat that sits on the skin of your foot can lead to unspeakable conditions & GROWTHS!
Some Tips for Runners in particular… (including sports that run!)
• Your feet have a flow on effect to the ankles, knees and hips- so start loving them. They absorb more force than any other part of the body. In fact, apart from knees, they are the most common body part that gets injured.
• Your shoes have a life span that will be a little different for each shoe and each body and sport. This includes shoes you just wear to the gym as they lose absorptive quality. And if you’re a heavyweight, wear times are even faster. Many foot and ankle injuries we see could be prevented by regular renewal of shoes. A great tip is to write the date of purchase of your shoes on the outside sole so you can keep track of just how old they are
• There are hundreds of good foot massaging tools out there (we sell some of them inc clinics). It’s a really simple and effective habit to get into to self massage
AND Finally…
Ask your massage therapist to massage your feet. I firmly believe, having massaged for 20 years, that a deep release of the tissue in feet and ankles is not only good for the feet but can influence the chain of tissue that connects from the feet and overlaps muscles all the way up the back of your legs as far as the lower back.
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