LONG before I was five years old, I had heard of Johannesburg and Bulawayo. I dreamt of these cities with their sophisticated lifestyles, their underground mines, the bright city life and the dangers of the white men.
I heard them from my grandfather and his friends as they huddled around the insaka in the village of Chipili just outside Mansa. When the evening chilled and the sun sunk giving an eerie glow to the oncoming darkness, I always shivered, a little overtaken with a sense of the drama that was in the air.
Once a year towards Christmas, my father bundled us up in his car and drove us down to his home village near the Anglican Mission in Chipili.
Grandpa and his friends told many stories of their escapades in the coal mines in Wanki in Northern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and in the gold mines in Johannesburg in South Africa. They warmed to their subject as they sipped from the snout of the insupa which contained the fulminating local brew.
The insupa was passed from one man to the next as each took his turn to recount his experience and their eyes glowed as they described the distances they had walked to get to the coal mines in Zimbabwe, and the gold mines in South Africa.
No doubt the local brew accentuating their experiences and making their contributions magnanimous. It was only later that it dawned on me, having been to these countries myself, that walking these distances, was in its own right an amazing feat.
Only recently has it occurred to me that most of these distances were covered with bare feet, both because shoes were expensive, but also because they were worn sparingly, to ensure they lasted long. Grandpa and his friends must have had amazingly strong feet.
Foot pain has become increasingly common, whether the wearing of shoes has contributed to it, is a question of debate. The feet are designed to bear the weight of the body and distribute it evenly along the foot. This makes walking easy and painless. However, with shoes being designed more and more for fashion, it appears likely that undue stress has being placed on the feet.
1. What are the common causes of pain in the feet?
2. How can these problems be addressed?
3. What can I do to keep my feet healthy and strong?
1. What are the common causes of foot pain?
Many people are involved in professions that require good strong feet, this may not be apparent at first glance.
However, think of football players, who rely on their feet for dexterity and goals. The soldier who spends a good deal of time marching, the politician who spends long hours making speeches, the nurses who spend a good deal of time moving around in a hospital ward dispensing medicines.
In addition, many sports and hobbies will require good healthy feet. Therefore, foot pain is not only common, but has become an occupational health and sporting health risk. Foot pain has become such a common problem that in many parts of the developed world, it has attracted a group of medical specialists who only deal with this problem.
The art of chiropody or the treatment of diseases of the foot has become a specialist area in its own right.
In Zambia where more and more people, are wearing shoes at younger and younger ages, it is a growing problem. There are a least three common causes of foot pain and these are;
1.The foot structure.
2. The foot pressure points.
3. The foot joints and junctions.
The foot has a rather peculiar structure if you examine it. When it rests on the ground, only the hind foot and the fore foot will touch the ground. If you examine your foot, you will find that the mid foot is suspended, it does not, normally, touch the ground.
This is more evident on the inner part of the foot than the outer part of the foot. This area is called the arch of the foot.
The arch allows for the body weight to be distributed evenly between the hindfoot and the forefoot. When this foot structure is lost, then body weight is not evenly distributed and pain will often, result, especially after prolonged walking. A flat foot, is a foot that does not have the mid foot arch. People with a flat foot will often have pain on walking.
There are at least three points on which the foot touches the ground; these points create a triangle of points. These are the heel, the small toe pad and the large toe pads. Pressure in these places can cause swellings in the fluid filled spaces which are cushions or shock absorbers for the foot.
These diseases are called bunions and can be very painful, and make walking difficult. On the upper part of the foot similar contact points with the shoes inner surface will cause thickenings of the skin called corns and callosities.
They may cause pain and irritation on wearing shoes and walking.
The other common site for foot pain are the joints of the foot and flexures or pockets where the toes meet each other.
The joints can have diseases due to arthritis (joint swelling), sports injury or work related injuries (marching injuries).The space between the toes are wet and can get itchy, red and painful. This condition is called athlete’s feet.
Problems around overgrowing or badly placed toe nails, related to shoe wearing or sport, may cause painful toes, called ingrowing toe nails.
2. How can this problem be addressed?
Up to 30 per cent of people will have or have had foot pain. If you have foot pain, as many people do, the first thing you should do is, not to ignore it. Foot pain is an initial warning that something is not right in the foot.
If you ignore it, it will only get worse and may cost much more to correct later, than if you correct it earlier. There are two common sense approaches you can take to foot pain, which are;
1.Point pain identification
2.Foot Pain Grading
When you have pain in the foot it is not always obvious exactly where the pain is coming from. Try to take some trouble to identify preciously the site of your pain. You will get closer to dealing with the cause if you can identify the site. You should also identify the triggers. The thing that gets the pain started.
When the day is coming to an end, and you take off, your shoes or socks, have a look at your feet and touch them in various places. You will soon identify the exact pain site and what pressure or movement triggers the pain. Then you will begin to think whether this is related with a particular shoe, a particular posture, sitting position or spot. You would then stop, correct or change those activities and see the results.
You must also determine the timing or the grade of pain. Four possible timings or grades of pain can be recognised. These are:
1.Pain that occurs during high activity(such as sport)
2.Pain that occurs during low activity (such as walking)
3.Pain that occurs with no activity (at rest)
4.Pain that is present all the time
Increasing pain related to activity may suggest problems with the joints or ligaments of the foot. Pain with the foot at rest may suggest infections or inflammation of the foot surfaces, bones or joints. Pain present always suggests an increasing severity of the foot problem.
You must also take note of whether the pain disappears when the shoes are removed or not. Pain related with shoes may suggest pain from pressure points or ill-fitting inappropriate shoe type.
Choose shoe types and shoe heights that you have used with no problems in the past. Do not choose, as many women do shoes for fashion, rather choose them for the best comfort.
3. What can I do to keep my feet healthy and strong?
Most people are born with good healthy feet. It is the life styles and practices which we pick up over time that make our feet painful and unhealthy. One of the common diseases that affects feet is Diabetes Mellitus or Sugar Disease.
This is a disease mostly of lifestyle. Our eating habits will play an important role in the health of our feet. This is because an unhealthy diet leads to fat accumulating in our blood vessels, and blocking the nutrition or food going to our feet and making them unhealthy.
Eat plenty of vegetables, white meat(fish and chicken), reduce carbohydrates(cakes, scones, fried potatoes etc) and take one aspirin daily(75mg).Some key things that we can do to keep our feet strong and healthy are;
1.Foot Care
2.Shoe Selection
3.Exercise
4.Diet
Many people wear shoes all day long. It is a good idea at the end of the day, to take off your shoes and walk bare. This gives strength to the feet, by exercising all the joints of the feet. Remember that the wearing of shoes is an unnatural act.
The foot was designed to work without the support of shoes. The shoe is a foot accessory designed to rest the foot. However if you rest the foot all the time, some joints will become stiff and painful. The additional use of socks, holds moisture within the foot.
This means that the area between the toes can become a breeding ground for germs, in particular fungi. This leads to the itchy condition called athletes feet.
Therefore a period allowing good aeration of the feet is healthy. Take some time to rub your foot everyday, you may use a massage oil or just ordinary vaseline, you will find this pleasant, relaxing and improves the blood flow to your feet.
Shoe selections is important. Do not wear shoes that fit to tightly. High heeled shoes put stress on the ankle and the fore foot. The uneven distribution of weight on the feet, and will inevitably cause foot pain, corns and callosities. If you have to wear high heeled shoes, try to keep to a low heel with a wide base.
If you have a flat foot, get a shoe support on your instep, this will lift the inner foot and reduce pain on walking. Early wearing of tight shoes in children, can lead to over crowding of the toes, this will cause joint disease and foot pain in later years.
Foot exercise is both healthy and protective of the foot. Do foot stretches everyday, this involves moving with your hands each of the foot joints. Twist the mid foot, turning it in and out.
Try and sit cross-legged once a day and play with your feet. They serve you well all day long, so spare them a few minutes at the end of the day and they will serve you well longer.