An often-forgotten important part of any lower limb rehabilitation plan (generally, day to day for foot and lower limb health) is using casual, work and dress footwear to your advantage.
Our Sports and Spinal Podiatrists will be able to work with you to establish which are the best options for you as well as where the best footwear stores are to have you fitted properly.
Below are five important considerations that you can implement straight away.
- Avoid flats/traditional thongs/bare feet – especially given we spend most of the day on hard surfaces that are not natural for our bodies
- Ideally an elevated heel – helps deload the plantar fascia, Achilles and calf muscles
- Some level of cushioning – dampen impact forces, most important in those occupations who are on their feet for long periods e.g. nurses, construction workers
- Some kind of strapping system – to hold whole feet into shoes so as not to interfere with walking gait
- Stiff to bend and twist – helps deload joints in the feet – further protection from effects of hard surfaces
Sports & Spinal Podiatrist Aleks Baruksopulo is the Author of The Runner’s Foot Guide: Shoes, Feet, Myths and Tips. For more valuable Podiatry running advice and great tips, you can purchase Aleks’ book at Amazon here.
Aleks is also available for Sports, Running and Exercise consultations on the Gold Coast. Bookings can be made here.