Ready for Summer – How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

Ready for Summer – How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

Blog, Sports Care

Ready for Summer - How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

Ready for Summer - How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

It’s that time of year where we look to putting away the winter Woolies and start pulling out the T-shirt’s and shorts. For many of us summer means trips to the beach a pool or somewhere else that requires us to bare more than we normally would hide away in winter.

This often means we also start getting back to fitness. Diving into exercise sometimes we are less prepared than we should be and we end up with foot or leg pain. Ouchie Mumma!

At a step ahead foot & ankle care If you were to ask our team of Professional foot doctors all qualified Podiatrists where people go wrong they will tell you it’s two primary areas.

Wrong shoes for the job

That’s right you decide that your jumping into activity so you rush down to buy new kicks based on ..... umm lots of you get things really wrong from here. You choose your new shoes for training based on;

  • Colour - really because you like blue?
  • Based on a brand you saw your favourite marque football or tennis star wears. - They are Professional mostly because they don’t get injured much and have awesome mechanics. Both of which you may lack!
  • You choose them because a fancy advertisement told you they were awesome. Ask yourself have you ever witnessed an advert that say “buy this, they are sort of ok”.
  • You choose them because your friend has some and they say they are awesome! Great idea if it’s a burger joint not so great when it comes to health advice.

How you should really choose a shoe

 

Generally your shoe should not only fit your foot but also your activity. Feet like both shoes and activity are all different! This means you should base your decision on more than the above. Particularly colour please not colour!

Here are tips that will help:

  • Flat feet generally go better with firm supportive runners. So if they say “super soft” and have nasty big air bags hanging off the sole these probably aren’t for you!
  • High arched feet like cushioning but not too much. Think moderation, look for shoes described as for under pronators or high arches.
  • Buy running shoes for running activities. Sounds simple but there are a lot of fashion shoes that are “runner” inspired. ASICS for example have separate fashion style shoes. Of you’ve decided to take up tennis with friends head out and get great TENNIS shoes!
  • Ensure they fit! There should be a fingers width between the end of your longest toe and the end of the shoe, when standing up. Your toes should NEVER touch the end of the shoe.

So that’s the first things as Podiatrist our team are going to tell you! As you read above this is two areas that people get a tad wrong. The other is getting into activity to fast and getting injuries that stop their activity. We will chat about that next week. So see you then.

Oh if you need help with your feet ankle or leg pain or problems the team at A step ahead foot & Ankle care would be more than happy to help you.

Our team is lead by Dr Brenden Brown who is a Podiatrist with over 20 years experience in that time serving as President of the Australian Podiatry Association. You may know Dr Brenden from his regular appearances as a medical expert on foot and lower limb problems in Magazines, television shows such as The Today Show, A Current affair or The project. He’s also been a regular on radio including ABC Sydney where he is well known as Dr Foot!

If you haven't booked your appointment time for your gap-free heel pain assessment yet, please call our friendly reception team on (02) 9673 2987 to secure your appointment today.

Have you tried our Heel Pain Calculator? https://heelpaindr.com.au/

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podiatristsydney

Want more information? That's fantastic. There's stacks of videos that we've made. Look down below. There's most likely a link there, or check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all the normal socials because we've got stacks of educational videos on heel pain and all the other conditions that we look after. Thanks and stay happy, healthy and active.

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

Best shoes for Heel Pain Dr Brenden shows you what to look for!

Best shoes for Heel Pain Dr Brenden shows you what to look for!

Blog, Sports Care

Best shoes for Heel Pain Dr Brenden shows you what to look for

When I'm looking for a shoe for heel pain and recommending it to my patients, I'm looking for a more structured shoe.

What does that mean? In the back of the heel, this area is called a heel counter. It should never press in. It needs to be firm to hold your heel. I believe that the middle of the shoe should never bend.

Your foot doesn't bend in the middle and nor should your shoe. Really firm. However, the shoe should always bend at the Toe. Grab it at either end. It's great. It's bending there really easily. You should never wring or twist out.

See how it just can't do that? And finally, make sure that you're doing the laces up Firmly. Make that shoe feels like a glove. These are my tips for shoes when you've got problematic heel pain. It's my one tip that helps most people get out of pain reasonably quickly.

If you haven't booked your appointment time for your gap-free heel pain assessment yet, please call our friendly reception team on (02) 9673 2987 to secure your appointment today.

Have you tried our Heel Pain Calculator? https://heelpaindr.com.au/

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podiatristsydney

Want more information? That's fantastic. There's stacks of videos that we've made. Look down below. There's most likely a link there, or check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all the normal socials because we've got stacks of educational videos on heel pain and all the other conditions that we look after. Thanks and stay happy, healthy and active.

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

Ready for Summer – How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

Ready for Summer – How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

Blog, Sports Care

Ready for Summer - How to choose awesome shoes for your fitness kick!

It’s that time of year where we look to putting away the winter Woolies and start pulling out the T-shirt’s and shorts. For many of us summer means trips to the beach a pool or somewhere else that requires us to bare more than we normally would hide away in winter.

This often means we also start getting back to fitness. Diving into exercise sometimes we are less prepared than we should be and we end up with foot or leg pain. Ouchie Mumma!

At a step ahead foot & ankle care If you were to ask our team of Professional foot doctors all qualified Podiatrists where people go wrong they will tell you it’s two primary areas.

Wrong shoes for the job

That’s right you decide that your jumping into activity so you rush down to buy new kicks based on ..... umm lots of you get things really wrong from here. You choose your new shoes for training based on;

  • Colour - really because you like blue?
  • Based on a brand you saw your favourite marque football or tennis star wears. - They are Professional mostly because they don’t get injured much and have awesome mechanics. Both of which you may lack!
  • You choose them because a fancy advertisement told you they were awesome. Ask yourself have you ever witnessed an advert that say “buy this, they are sort of ok”.
  • You choose them because your friend has some and they say they are awesome! Great idea if it’s a burger joint not so great when it comes to health advice.

How you should really choose a shoe

 

Generally your shoe should not only fit your foot but also your activity. Feet like both shoes and activity are all different! This means you should base your decision on more than the above. Particularly colour please not colour!

Here are tips that will help:

  • Flat feet generally go better with firm supportive runners. So if they say “super soft” and have nasty big air bags hanging off the sole these probably aren’t for you!
  • High arched feet like cushioning but not too much. Think moderation, look for shoes described as for under pronators or high arches.
  • Buy running shoes for running activities. Sounds simple but there are a lot of fashion shoes that are “runner” inspired. ASICS for example have separate fashion style shoes. Of you’ve decided to take up tennis with friends head out and get great TENNIS shoes!
  • Ensure they fit! There should be a fingers width between the end of your longest toe and the end of the shoe, when standing up. Your toes should NEVER touch the end of the shoe.

So that’s the first things as Podiatrist our team are going to tell you! As you read above this is two areas that people get a tad wrong. The other is getting into activity to fast and getting injuries that stop their activity. We will chat about that next week. So see you then.

Oh if you need help with your feet ankle or leg pain or problems the team at A step ahead foot & Ankle care would be more than happy to help you.

Our team is lead by Dr Brenden Brown who is a Podiatrist with over 20 years experience in that time serving as President of the Australian Podiatry Association. You may know Dr Brenden from his regular appearances as a medical expert on foot and lower limb problems in Magazines, television shows such as The Today Show, A Current affair or The project. He’s also been a regular on radio including ABC Sydney where he is well known as Dr Foot!

If you haven't booked your appointment time for your gap-free heel pain assessment yet, please call our friendly reception team on (02) 9673 2987 to secure your appointment today.

Have you tried our Heel Pain Calculator? https://heelpaindr.com.au/

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/podiatristsydney

Want more information? That's fantastic. There's stacks of videos that we've made. Look down below. There's most likely a link there, or check us out on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all the normal socials because we've got stacks of educational videos on heel pain and all the other conditions that we look after. Thanks and stay happy, healthy and active.

ABOUT DR BRENDEN BROWN

Founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care in Sydney, and former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Dr Brenden Brown (A.K.A Dr Foot) is a wealth of knowledge on how to take care of your feet, including how to find the best shoes.

Follow him on social media:
 instagram.com/askdrfoot
 facebook.com/podiatristsydney
 twitter.com/AStepAheadFAC

* No medical treatment can guarantee 100% success. Registered medical and health professions in Australia are by law not allowed to guarantee success. This comes as a result of all human bodies reacting differently to treatments. Patients should thoroughly consider all treatment options available to them.

Summer footcare for kids

Summer footcare for kids

Blog

Summer footcare for kids - 1

Summer footcare for kids

Beach season often means bare feet for littlies, but without the protection of sandals or trainers the result can be splinters, sunburned feet, blisters and grazed toes—not to mention a fungal infection. So before your kids rush out to play with nothing on their precious feet, make sure they know the potential dangers that could cause them some serious foot pain.

No shoes, no play

“Going bare foot means kids need to navigate their way across griddle-hot pavements, avoid sharp stones, stray glass and objects they could stub their toes on,” says Dr Brenden.

Yet the reality is most kids aren’t great at avoiding foot hazards—so caring for kids’ feet starts with enforcing the rule ‘no shoes, no play!’

Forget thongs

Thongs are commonly the go-to shoes for summers down under, but while they have their place (by the poolside, in public showers and at the beach), they’re not ideal for the health of our feet.

Dr Brenden explains, “Constant thong wearing can result in arch and heel strain, blisters and cracked feet. If possible, choose a pair of lightweight runners or sandals that are easy to put on and take off but will also provide your child with the foot support they need for their growing feet.”

Beat blisters

Blisters are commonplace in summer, due to the hot, humid weather. Thongs, in particular, can cause blisters between the toes and across the tops of the feet where the plastic strap rubs the skin. Likewise, trainers can also cause blisters at the back of the heel and between the toes.

To protect your child from blisters, ensure they wear clean socks with their trainers and apply foot balm or Vaseline to culprit areas to help stop the chaffing.

If a blister does develop, don’t pop it. Use a special blister plaster as this protects the blister and helps to remove some of the pressure.

Say no to splinters

Splinters can be really painful and uncomfortable for children, especially if they’re on the soles of the foot. If you’re lucky and the splinter is sticking out far enough you might be able to pull it out wit tweezers. If not, soak the foot in warm water for a few minutes until the skin softens. Use sterilized tweezers to grasp the object at the site where it emerges from the skin and pull it out.

If using tweezers fails, take a sterilized needle and carefully slit the skin above the splinter. Then use the tweezers to remove the object from the foot.

Wash the area with warm, soapy water, dry thoroughly and apply some antiseptic to safeguard against infection.

Stop infection

Protecting against cuts and grazes is one thing, but keeping any existing foot injuries covered to avoid infection is essential too. If you’re sick of Band-Aids falling off, try a silicone gel.

Banish the burn

There are a number of areas of the body that are prone to sunburn—simply because these are the spots we all tend to forget to apply sunscreen to. One such area is the top of the feet. So when applying sunscreen, don’t stop at your kid’s ankles, make sure you spread sunscreen over their feet and toes too.

Teaching kids the importance of optimal foot care will not only help to protect their feet during summer, it will help promote a lifetime of foot health.

Summer footcare for kids - 2

Dr Brenden’s top tips for taking care of children’s feet in summer

  • Trim toenails and keep them short
  • Limit time spent wearing thongs
  • Wash feet daily with warm, soapy water and dry thoroughly
  • Ensure your kids wear clean socks
  • After wearing trainers leave them in the sun to dry
  • Don’t forget to apply sunscreen to their feet
  • Encourage kids to wear lightweight summer shoes to prevent splinters, grazes and stubbed toes.

Want to know more about taking care of kids’ feet? Visit: mykidsfootdoctor.com.au or check out these related articles:

When should I bring my child to see a podiatrist?

Do you need to get your kids’ feet checked out?

Are your child’s feet healthy?

A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years. With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.