Articles

 School Shoe Shopping Its that time of year again when the shoe shops are filled with parents and kids getting uniforms and shoes in preparation for the new school year. “Do they feel too tight? Where’s your toe in them?” Parents doing their utmost to ensure they don’t pay for shoes which the child will claim hurt them inside 20 minutes of wearing them. Shoe shop assistants helping and measuring feet. The surprise at the till when 3 pairs come to pretty much what you paid for your first car. It can be a stressful time. What matters? Fit, support [...]

Balance What do our feet do? Why are our feet such complex structures, so many bones, muscles and ligaments?  It all comes down to balance. Its a tough ask to get a structure the size and weight of a human to balance on something the size of feet, let alone move without falling over, just ask any engineer. It has taken years of the finest engineering minds and enormous corporate budgets to make clumsy robots that fall on rough ground.  Our feet are a wonder, in their ability to hold us up on pretty much any terrain, and allow us [...]

Cracked heels can make for a miserable summer for many, but why do they make an appearance in the summer months? The skin on the soles of our feet has a much harder job than anywhere else on our body. Skin has to allow perspiration, be waterproof, house nerve endings, protect deeper structures. The skin on our feet has to do this whilst taking our full body weight for thousands of steps each day. Skin needs to be supple so that it may stretch and deform according to the demands placed on it, and any changes in hydration of the [...]

Inspired to Run Great sporting events leave a bit of their magic with many of us. I’m sure we can all remember a sporting event from our childhood that put a fire in our belly, if even for just a little while. The roads are currently littered with people on bikes, inspired by Le Tour coming to the UK. Are you inspired to run? This week, the Commonwealth Games will be dominating the sporting media, and lets hope it brings some inspiration with it. Being inspired to run might just change your life, running can offer enormous health [...]

A week in the life of a work experience student…. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am a 15 year old girl who lives in the neighbouring village. I go to school in the local area and I was given the opportunity to take work experience on the last week of the term before the summer holidays instead of normal lessons: we were given the option whether to take up the chance and a choice of where we would like to go. For years, I have had the ambition of becoming a physiotherapist, so given the chance I [...]

One of the most common conditions a podiatrist treats, corns don’t attract much sympathy from non sufferers but they can make a persons life miserable. The smile on a patients face when a painful corn is removed is one of the most rewarding experiences, but the greatest reward lies in preventing them in the first place. Corns can form anywhere on the foot, they can affect young and old, men and women, active and inactive. The only common factor is pressure. Pressure causes a response from the skin which leads to a change in the structure of the skin, and [...]

A day in the life of a Chiropodist ….  “So you had to go to University for 3 years to learn to cut toenails?” It won’t be the last time I get asked this :) , but for a lot of my patients, this is exactly what they come to me for. They can’t reach their toes, or can’t see their toes, or perhaps want someone else to take the responsibility. So much more happens in my room though, I thought it may be nice to do a “day in the life of a chiropodist” for those that wonder. [...]

Will physiotherapy help me? The word physiotherapy conjures up different images to different people. For some, who have never had treatment from a physio before, they might not know just how accessible, quick and effective their treatments may be. Seeing a private physio does not have to be the reserve of the elite athlete. You get one body, make sure it gets the maintenance and care it needs. Physiotherapists are experts in using physical treatments for the prevention and rehabilitation of conditions affecting muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, nerves and more. They have a variety of treatment modalities at their disposal. [...]

How do you choose your shoes? Shoes have worn out, trip to shoe shop, size 10 and a half, black, rounded toe brogue, try one on, feels good, “I’ll take these please” Wandering around the shops, see a pair that call me by name, I need to have them, I just have to have them, beautiful shoes, so elegant, don’t care how much they cost. I need new running shoes, I need a stability shoe, with quite an aggressive grip and a narrow last. We all have a different agenda when we buy our shoes, we all have our own [...]