Why are my feet hurting now?

“I have never had a problem with my feet before. Why are they hurting now?” I have heard on so many occasions patients ask this question. I must admit, this is really a very good question! Why do your feet hurt now?

The easiest way I can get across to explain this phenomenon is that, unlike our teeth, which we make sure to brush several times a day, we completely and utterly seem to abuse our feet taking them completely for granted! We expect them to go on and on like the Energizer Bunny and never give out. Sure, we may moisturize them and pedicure them and soak them thinking this is how we are to care for them (and some of us do not even do that!). This does make them look on the outside and to a certain extent feel good. We also spend our years walking on them barefoot, without as much as a slipper for cushioning. We women strap strappy sandals and heels that force our feet to walk in no way God intended. Even if you don’t wear heels or strappy sandals, we too often put them into shoes with confined spaces and so very much UNlike the actual shape of our feet. This brand of torture does a whole lot of damage to the insides of our feet and ankles.

Now think about this. In our life time, we have walked around the earth several times!! That is a lot of mileage! Add the above mentioned abuse to our feet and Voila! Foot pain! I tell people we do more to take care of the tires on our cars than our own “tires”! No wonder at some point in our lives, we will all experience some form of foot pain! And when we do, oh, we will long for the days when we were able to walk without limping!

A reminder to all: Do not take your feet (or your podiatrist) for granted!! We will do all we can to get you dancing again. We only ask that you take our advice to help you take better care of those feet! You have so many more miles to go!!