When we talk about feet, it’s often to complain: “my feet hurt”, “I’ve got a corn on my toe”, “I’ve got a callus”, or a blister… In fact we often think about our feet only when they hurt, as if our feet were required to serve us without having any kind of right to complain and without deserving any special treatment.. Moreover, we think that our feet, just like other parts of our body ‘are there to do our bidding’ and that, without requiring any specific attention, or preventative care, they will stoically put up with all the tests that life brings.
However, we do pay a great deal of attention to what we covers our feet, our shoes: for women, shoes must be beautiful, often with elegant and shapely, high heels in order to show off our figure at its best. And yet, these shoes are often terribly uncomfortable: hurting, compressing and crushing the toes, cutting off the blood flow and sometimes causing backache.
But when you think about it, our feet our possibly the most important part of our body: how would you move without feet? On your hands? By crawling, like a worm? Our feet deserve better: our feet, your feet deserve your attention.
Here is my advice for taking care of your feet in preparation for walking:
- Treat yourself to a pedicure to remove all the hard skin from your heels and toes and ensure that your toenails are not too long.
- Every evening (or every other evening) massage your feet with shea butter or one of those many creams, which boast ‘anti-rubbing’ properties. This could become part of a regular ritual or in preparation (1 or 2 months in advance) for long distance walks.
- Before a walk, some feet appreciate a dusting with talcum powder while others like to be rubbed with oil. Yes, really! - with arnica oil (or any other appropriate oil-based preparation). Whatever you choose, make sure you put it in your backpack.
- On your walks, take several pairs of socks with you, to make sure your feet stay dry.
- As soon as you feel the slightest hint of pain or rubbing, stop and investigate the problem.
- Bring something with you to cope with any potential blisters: the choice of treatment will depend on the size and the place where the blister occurs, as well as where you are, and what you are going to be doing the next day: walking or resting.
- Some people prefer to pop them, others think that’s the last thing to do,and instead apply special blister plasters: make your own mind up, after testing both methods. Personally, when it comes to large painful blisters, I prefer the first method. I prick them with a disinfected needle and thread (I leave the thread in the blister): this allows the liquid to drain from the blister straight away and then, when it closes up, it will drain again when you pull on the thread. Purists use syringes to extract the liquid and then inject a product such as Betadine to dry it out.
- Finally, If your feet hurt: stop and massage them: believe me, they will love it!
There you go! That’s all I wanted to say!
