Now that we’re well into the warm weather, here are some of Dr. Waskin’s tips for keeping your feet healthy all spring and summer long. He joined Bill Bevins and Greg McQuade on Virginia This Morning on CBS 6 to talk about it! Here’s a little of what he had to say:
A lot of people have been sedentary over the cold winter months, but as the weather turns warm and we become more active, we may start to notice issues with our feet. If you have a foot problem, it’s important to see your podiatrist. This is especially true if you’re diabetic, along with wearing the right type of shoes so that your activities won’t damage your feet. Staying flexible is also important for everyone. Stretching exercises can help, or you might consider taking a yoga class to help with flexibility, which can help prevent injuries.
The number one problem that we see as people become more active is heel pain, or plantar fasciitis. You’ll know if you have it, if you step out of bed in the morning and your feet hurt so much you can hardly walk. If you have that problem, you’ll want to get it treated — 95 percent of the time we can treat this condition effectively without surgery. Bunions and hammer toes can also cause problems for people. For these types of issues, wearing the right type of shoes or sometimes pads can help, or surgery may take care of the problem.
The great majority of problems we see are functional. The foot is quite complex — more than a quarter of all our bones are in our feet — that’s more than 50 bones in our feet, plus hundreds of ligaments and more than 60 joints. But most problems can be helped by controlling the function. Custom orthotics are one important way we do that. We can provide custom orthotics for many types of shoes, from diabetic athletic shoes to dress pumps. We have a specialist in our clinic who can help patients get fitted with the correct type of shoes and custom orthotics.
If you have a normal foot structure, you can get a basic running shoe with good arch supports and you probably won’t need anything else. But if you have flat feet, high arches or other foot issues then you may need a custom orthotic to insert in your shoes.
The foot is quite complex, but for many foot problems, there are simple solutions — so see your podiatrist to see which solution is best for you. To make an appointment with a podiatrist at The Foot & Ankle Center, please give us a call at 804-320-FOOT or use the link below!
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