News Taffy

Today I’d like to discuss one of my least favorite topics as it affects me directly - bunions. This is for all you young women who love your higher-than-skyscrapers heels. I hope you’ll listen, but I realize you probably won’t. High heels are very bad for your feet and ankles. You know that, but fashion calls so what to do?

I have bunions, an extremely painful, abnormal bump that forms on the joint at the base of your big toe. Your foot can become deformed with the big toe turning in towards the others and the joint becoming enlarged and red. Bunions form for different reasons but a common cause is wearing shoes that fit improperly such as pointed toes which crowd your own tootsies or extremely high heels which force the foot into an unnatural position. Bunions can also be caused by natural defects or certain medical conditions such as arthritis. My own feet probably had a predisposition to developing bunions but I didn’t help matters by wearing “fashionable” shoes in my ignorant youth. Now, I am trying to postpone foot surgery by wearing sensible shoes.

Bunions are painful. Sometimes I have shooting pains through my foot when I’m doing absolutely nothing. If it happens when I’m walking, it’s bad enough I have to stop; I can’t walk. The joint is almost always painful to the touch so even the light rub of putting on shoes can hurt. Plus, the worse the toe turns in, the more unattractive your bare feet are. Dr. Hayes, a local podiatrist, tells me that when the pain interferes with daily activities, then we’ll have to do surgery. Meanwhile, I wear lace up shoes with plenty of toe room to give my foot proper support most of the time.

Dr. Hayes also told me not to wear flip flops or slide type shoes very often. He says it’s fine to wear them for a few hours now and then but not all the time. I used to be guilty of that practice. He said that if the sole of the shoe can be bent easily, it doesn’t provide enough support. High heels are fine in moderation but then he wasn’t talking about the extreme high heels we are seeing currently.

Don’t get me wrong. I walk into a shoe store and just die over all the cute shoes out there. But I also get depressed because I can’t wear them; indeed finding any shoe that is truly comfortable has turned into a quest worthy of an Indiana Jones movie.

So what should you do to prevent your feet from becoming the stuff of nightmares? Don’t wear high heels all day every day. If you are going to be walking or on your feet, your heels should be no more than 2 or 2 1/2 inches high. Wear more comfortable shoes during your commute to work. Make sure your shoes fit properly and aren’t too tight, especially across the toe area. Don’t wear slides or flip flops all day as these types of shoes don’t allow your foot to work as designed. Take your feet seriously as nothing is cute about swollen, red, crooked toes and feet. You won’t be having any fun either when it hurts too much to walk.

Until next time,
Lisa