Health Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 146, 10 September 1927, Page 10

Health Notes

CARE OF THE FEET PREVENTION OF DEFORMITIES (Contributed by the Department of Health.) The foot is a complicated piece of machinery provided with perfect mechanism in the normal state. Its functions are to support the body and to provide a means of locomotion. In supporting the body the heel, with its tough skin and cushion pad, does most of the work, and the rest is done by the ball of the foot and the outer border. These latter are supported by the tense contractions of the larger muscles supplying the foot.. There are two arches in the foot, the longitudinal running along the inner sides, and the transverse at the base of the toes. These arches are not primarily intended to take the weight of the body, but to preserve the muscles, nerves and blood-vessels from injury. When, however, the muscles give way and the arches are forced to take the strain the arches are liable to give way and produce marked weakening of the foot. With regard to locomotion, the act of walking is essentially a series of alternate rising to tip-toe of either foot, so as to take the weight of the body alternately on each, and in that position propel the body onwards. CHILDREN’S FEET

During infancy and childhood the necessity for attention to proper foot hygiene is important if defects are to be prevented later in life. Many children are permitted to go through childhood handicapped by weak feet which in the majority of instances wculd respond to very simple corrective measures. Normal children when left to themselves usually begin to creep during the seventh and eighth months. This should by all means be encouraged, as it means the natural requirements and trains the bones, joints and muscles to bear weight. After this creeping period comes a more trying period, that of walking. The transition from the former to the latter should be a natural one. When children are taught to stand on their feet too early, the untrained muscles, bones and ligaments yield to the overweight; deformities of the foot are produced that may lead to the marked degree of deformity which we see in weak feet. The shoes for children should have broad toes and be roomy enough to permit of free action of the small muscles of the feet. It is very important to wear stockings that fit well. Stockings which are too tight or too small will cramp the foot, and in that way interfere with the proper action of the muscles of the foot, thereby predisposing the child to weak feet. The gait of children who have weak feet is awkward. They walk upon the entire sole of the foot. The toes turn out and the soles and heels of the shoes are worn out in the inner borders. Many of the ills of the feet are due to the poor fit of a well-constructed shoe, nmny to the construction of the shoe itself. In order to be in style, the average person, otherwise intelligent, will heroically bear the pain of ill-fitting pointed shoes. Shoes or boots should conform to the normal foot lines, and should be sufficiently long and broad to permit toe-spread and forward drive. COMMON FOOT TROUBLES Corns can be accounted 'for by nothing else than badly-fitting boots. Remove the cause for the corns and the corns themselves will disappear with a speed and sureness equal to the claims of any “corn cure” advertisement. Renew the cause and the corns will also reappear. A minor

inconvenience definitely arising from too tight boots is the ingrowing toe nail, whose origin is easily perceived and needs no subtle explanation by the special fashion in which the toenails are cut, though it is probably safest to cut the nail square across at the top and not to round it off at the angles. Where tight boots are partly responsible these must, of course, be remedied. Bunions are among the commonest of the evils induced by pointed shoes. Where the narrowness across the toes is excessive, the foot may in its desperate attempts to lessen its bulk cause the great toe to become pushed under the second—a tendency which, if the boot is short as well as narrow, will result in the second toe doubling upon itself in an upward direction, with the formation of what is known as “hammer” or “trigger” toe. Callouses are produced on the sole under the ball of the foot due to the forcing of the foot forward by high heels and the weakening of the transverse ai*ch by interference with the functions of the small toes. Another condition induced by misuse of the feet is that of “flatfoot” and along with it a frequent accompanying state of rigid toe known as “Hallux Rigidus.” The rigid great toe readily arises from flatfoot since in the latter the foot lengthens from behind forward by the collapsing of the arch; the great toe driven forward correspondingly meets usually the rigid leather of a too short boot, and since it cannot double back as in hammer toe, the joint beneath the ball of the foot becomes pressed upon, irritated, and as a result finally ankylosed.