Article: Wear comfortable and supportive shoes for daily activities, proper sports footwear for activities and exercise, and avoid heels over 1.5 inches (four cm) for daily use. Proper footwear is especially important during exercise because the wrong shoe can lead to injuries and sprains. Avoid wearing flip flops too often in the warmer months, as they don’t provide any support and can cause foot pain. The instruments used for manicures and pedicures can harbor and spread bacteria if they aren’t sterilized properly. Instead, practice proper foot hygiene on a daily basis and treat yourself to a weekly or semimonthly self-pedicure.  If you do go for a pedicure, bring your own tools whenever possible. Never share pedicure instruments with others, especially emery boards. They are porous and cannot be sterilized properly, meaning they can trap and spread bacterial and fungi. Because diabetes can restrict circulation, it can cause health problems with the extremities, especially the hands and feet. Diabetes can cause neuropathy, or nerve damage, making it harder to detect injuries on your feet. The disease can also prevent your body from healing as quickly as it should, which increases the risk of infection.  Diabetics should examine their feet every day for injuries like blisters, calluses, scaly skin patches, cracking skin, and cuts and wounds. Treat wounds immediately, and make sure your doctor looks at your feet at every visit. There are several bacterial, viral, and fungal problems that can adversely affect the health and appearance of your feet, including athlete’s foot, warts, and nail fungus.  When using public swimming pools or showers (such as at hotels or gyms), wear water shoes or flip flops to protect your feet from possibly contaminated water. Symptoms of athlete’s foot include burning, itching, redness, and peeling.  Warts are rough, grainy growths on the skin that may have black pinpoints scattered throughout. Nail fungus, which can enter the toenail through a crack or break, can cause nails to become brittle, thick, and discolored. Chronic foot pain is never normal, and should always be addressed with a medical practitioner. It can be a sign of plantar fasciitis, a stabbing pain and inflammation down the bottom center of the foot, which needs to be treated with therapy, orthotics, or possibly surgery. Aging, extreme cold, and joint pain can also cause foot pain, but if you frequently experience pain in your feet, talk to your doctor. There are many common medical problems that can cause foot pain and irritation, or make you embarrassed about the look of your feet. Sometimes there is nothing you can do about these conditions, but many can be treated with a little attention, orthotics, or perhaps medical attention. Some of the most common conditions involving the feet include:  A bunion, which is a protruding bone that sticks out from the side of your foot where the big toe meets the foot. Bunions can cause pain, but unless the pain is severe, shoe inserts and cushions are usually favored over surgery. Hammertoes, which occur when the toes begin to bend downward at the middle joint because of out-of-balance muscles. This condition can be treated with proper footwear, foot supports, or possibly surgery. Having flat feet, when the entire sole of your foot makes contact with the ground. It is treated with strengthening exercises, arch supporting inserts, or orthotics. Calluses and corns, which are patches of thick, hard skin caused by constant pressure and rubbing. They can be trimmed or removed medically, treated with medicated pads and patches, or softened with soaking and gentle scrubbing with pumice. Gout, which is characterized by swelling, stiffness, pain, and redness of the joints in the feet, especially the big toe, as well as the ankles and knees. Gout is a form of arthritis and is treated with anti-inflammatory drugs.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Wear the right shoes. Avoid pedicures. Understand the connection between your feet and diabetes. Prevent communicable diseases and infections. Address foot pain. Recognize common problems.