Historical January 1979 health column by Christine Smith. Anatomical, footwear and treatment statements are archival text, not current medical recommendations.
To most people feet are the things at the ends of the legs … or what you GO on …. or what, if they hurt, make you hurt all over. They are mostly prosaic, somewhat indelicate.
We invite you to consider them, however, another of nature’s miracles good friends and dutiful servants. Especially so, in a neighborhood of joggers, kids and elders, to whom feet are more than a fact, but a necessity!
Miracle? Well, the nearest organ we have is our hands, and the apes in the Zoo (we have one nearby, go check us out) have hands and feet much alike But, if we were to walk all day on our hands (if some acrobatic type had the inclination) .. those hands would probably look like boxing gloves: feet are made for carrying our weight, and have a special fibrous membrane down there to help cushion the repeated impact. Not to speak of the wondrous (if fallible) series of arches and tendons and such — multiple bones and tendons and muscles, working intricately together — that not only bear our weight, but transmit its muscular force, innumerable times daily. (A marching man does 140-180 paces per minute: calculate that over a working day of eight hours, then divide by half for us sedentary types, and you still have a work load of some 75,000 weight transfers a day, more if you play after your eight-hour work day.)
With the coming of colder weather, one might look at feet in yet another way: extremities. They’re way out (down) there … in the cold. Heat loss is higher in extremities than in the center of the body: they act like radiators — giving off heat to heat up the already-cold outdoors. That’s why it makes sense to keep your feet warm and dry in cold weather: warm because it implies good insulation, and less heat loss to your central body; and dry because by definition, wet loses more heat than dry (as anyone using a wet cloth to cool a fevered brow knows.) There’s truth in the axiom that warm and dry feet in cold weather are the makings of a warm person, and fuzzy boots over your disco-sandals might be a good idea in the cold!
Back to basics, feet in people were meant for walking on soft grass and sandy shores: those of us who went barefoot (or in soft moccasins, the social equivalent) on city streets learned: barefoot in the park, OK; barefoot on concrete or asphalt; PAIN! While the soles of the active aborigine build up callus, and pathologists can tell at autopsy if the person had Walked by the callus-of-use, feet just aren’t meant to go bare on concrete and asphalt. Their arches and tendons are good, but they need HELP! Such surfaces are, first of all. unyielding; the foot needs support. Secondly. they have all sorts of cutting things abounding. So, the foot needs a shoe: it must help the arch and tendon, and protect it from cutters (like broken bottles and gravel….) At the same time, since feet sweat, the shoe should allow the foot to breathe and dry out after its exertions. For your special needs, see your specialist, for jogging shoes or mountain climbing shoes (and VERY dissimilar are the two!). But, in general, shoes should feel good (“pinch” for fashion, never!), fit at heel and “ball,” allow toes to move (positively WIGGLE for kids) and feel as if they’re going to STAY ON … (ever seen a woman lose a sandal, or a worker slip a shoe off under cover? … that’s what we mean about staying on). If you’re planning hard work (from a postal route to dancing all night), the least a shoe should do is support your arch and protect your sole! If it looks good, better yet!
For those with corns and bunions, sadly, you’ve missed the boat. The best cure is prevention: properly fitted — and non-pressuring — shoes. But, properly fitted shoes can give comfort and limit the progression of the problem. For those which chronic diseases such as diabetes or poor circulation in the legs, the cost of services of a podiatrist to trim calluses and corns may well offset the cost of medical treatment that may need follow unskilled paring as a result of infection.
And a simple remedy for all of us with puffy ankles and sore feet following a hard day’s shopping: try a contrast bath: Find two vessels (basins, wastebaskets, whatever, so long as they hold BOTH FEET at one time) plus a kettle of hot water and a few ice cubes. Then: fill one with cool (not iced) water, the other with comfortably hot (not real-hot) water. Put your feet in cool: leave for five minutes; switch to the warm; use the ice cubes to re-cool and the hot water to re-heat when your feet are OUT of the bath! A couple of switches will encourage the circulation to your legs and feet, diminish the puffiness, and let you sit down in great circumstance and ritual! If, after the last “warm” soak, you can go directly to bed, leaving spouse or roommate to empty, etc., you will have achieved not only comfort but one-up-manship and you’ll REALLY feel better when facing the day tomorrow. But if you can’t, at least you’ll have better feeling what we were talking about … FEET!
Christine Smith.
Originally published in The Paper, January 1979.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1979_01.pdf, printed page(s) 6; PDF page(s) 6.
