Health Notes

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23381, 24 June 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Health Notes

Look After Your Feet

Well-fitting Shoes are the First Necessity

yOCT can always tell a woman who suffers from her feet by hor face. There are little line 3 and creases of strain written clearly upon it, which, incidentally, are not going to bo eas.v to eradicate. The worst of it is that so many women in this country suffer from foot troubles of various kinds. Fallen arches, enlarged toe-joints, bumps on the heels, corns and so forth; and nearly all these troubles are due to wearing the wrong shoes. Even strong, normal feet got tired if their owner has to stand on them all day long, and if they aro put into bad shoes on top of this they won't stay normal long. What's more, if you are forced, for some reason, to overwork your feet regularly, they definitely need support from the shoes just as much as feet with fallen arches—not the heavy encumbrances people used to slip inside their shoes, but the up-to-date supports that are' built into the shoe itself, and that arc so small and light you would hardly know they were there. America >vas responsible for first produeing this particular type of shoe. Nowadays the lasts are imported into New Zealand and the shoes are made by our own manufacturers. This makes it, possible to obtain them at reasonable prices. They are guaranteed to fit any kind of foot because they are made with several different heel fittings to each toe fitting in the American way. It is very difficult to persuade women that good.' well-fitting shoes which give proper support to the foot are a real necessity, because until you've worn a pair you simply don't realise what a difference they make bo everyday life. Another frequent cause of' bunions and fallen arches is the wearing of shoes i

that are definitely 100 short in the vamp. They may he the right size, but tho last is long, the too too short. Your shoes must not merely be long enough to stand in, hut also long enough to walk in—that is, there must be enough room for the play of the foot when in motion. 'A, good exercise for weak arches is to practise walking round and round tlvb room on the outer edge of the soles as it were-. Another is to rotate and fhyc the foot round arid round hv a circular motion-from the ankle. It is also a splendid exercise for the feet to walk round and round the room on tip-too. "'T! • i