Your feet are a complex part of your body that accounts for 25% of all the bones present in your body. With muscles and joints, they can adapt and work their way around any surface they encounter. Over time, the impact of daily wear and tear they go through takes its toll on your feet.
So, it’s really important to have a foot care routine. But what is considered routine footcare? Well, it’s the routine treatment of your feet to keep them in great shape. Routine foot care may include trimming nails, removing calluses and corns, cleaning and soaking your feet, etc.
Here in this article, we’ll explain why it is important to have routine foot care and what you should include in your footcare routine.
What You Should Include in Your Routine Footcare
So, we’ve established that routine foot care is in fact very important to ensure proper foot health. Here’s what you need to do during your routine foot care.
1. Keep Your Feet Clean
You should always begin your foot care routine by cleaning your feet. A thorough foot cleaning means more than cleaning your feet using regular soap. If you are using toenail paint, begin your routine by removing it. Don’t use acetone-based paint removers as they are known to make your nails thinner.
Soak your feet in lukewarm water for 10 to 15 minutes then begin scrubbing them. Use a good quality scrubber and soak your feet and the scrubber often. This process exfoliates dead skin cells from your feet and removes the hardened layer of dirt and skin buildup on your heels.
Pro Tip: For removing those corns and calluses, use a pumice stone to scrub over them.
2. Cut Your Toenails
Use a good quality stainless steel nail clipper to cut your toenails. Remember not to hurt your cuticles (the white skin at the base of your finger or toenails) while clipping your toenails, as this can lead to bleeding and infection.
To avoid ingrown nails later on, don’t leave any sharp edges on your toenail while clipping. Always cut them into rounded edges. If there’s dirt buildup underneath your toenails even after clipping, use a brush to scrub under those toenails.
3. Moisturize Your Feet
You can only exfoliate so much when there are regular buildups of dust and dry skin on your feet. To remedy the situation, you need to moisturize your feet regularly. The ideal time to moisturize though is right after you are done exfoliating.
Use a natural moisturizer instead of an alcohol-based one, as they will often worsen the dry feet situation. Rub your entire feet, including the palm, heel, and between the toe fingers, preferably with any aloe or plant-based moisturizer.
4. Preventive Measures
Apart from your regular foot care, you can do the following preventive measures to keep your feet in good shape.
- Use a moisturizer on your feet and wear socks when going to bed. This helps lock in that moisturizer and helps your feet from getting dry all day long. Remember to wash your feet clean in the morning, to get rid of that excess moisturizer.
- Always wear shoes that fit your feet perfectly. A tight or loose-fitted pair of shoes is bound to give your feet problems.
- Always pat your feet dry after taking a shower and remember not to wear your shoes when your feet are wet. This will lead to fungal infection.
- When you have to wear shoes for a prolonged period of time, take them off as often as you can to prevent athlete’s foot.
- Messaging your feet after routine foot care is known to increase blood circulation and is beneficial for your feet’ health.
Why It is Important to Have a Footcare Routine
Given their complex nature and the wear and tear, we put them through, it’s only natural that there’s a wide range of problems that our feet will encounter during their lifetime. So, having a proper foot care routine is important, otherwise, your feet might encounter the following problems.
1. Dry Skin
Humidity and heat can draw moisture from your skin. That leads to dried-up and thickened skin on your feet, which eventually cracks up. Using too much soap or body wash can lead to this as well. This dried-up and cracked skin usually appear on the sides of the feet, the hells, and sometimes between the toes.
2. Fungal Infections
The same type of fungi that causes ringworm and jock itch, can cause athlete’s foot as well. these fungi can thrive in dark and warm environments, which are present inside your shoes. Most commonly, they appear between your toes. The main reason for an athlete’s foot is having your shoes on for too long.
3. Calluses and Corns
Corns and calluses appear when your feet rub too much against your shoes. Corns mostly appear on your toes and when they appear on the soles of your feet, they are called calluses. Again, having your shoes on for a prolonged period of time is the main cause of corns and calluses. Improper fitting of your shoes too can be responsible for this, since it will lead to too much rubbing of your feet against the shoes.
4. Ingrown Toenails
When a growing toenail pierces your skin, it can be very painful, to say the least. What’s even worse is that this condition can be chronic, meaning it can continue happening. The most common cause of ingrown toenails is a hereditary cause, meaning you’ve acquired it from your parents. Cutting your toenails too short can cause this too.
5. Warts
Warts are caused when your feet get infected with the human papilloma virus. This virus is responsible for secreting excess keratin. Excessive keratin is responsible for forming the hard outer skin layer. Depending on its position on your feet, a wart can be either harmless or very painful.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Is ingrown toenail considered routine foot care?
Routine foot care to a professional or hospital may include ingrown toenails. However, if you require surgery for your ingrown toenail, it may not be included in your routine foot care.
How can I make my feet beautiful?
Smooth your feet out. Keep your feet free from infection and use moisturizer often. Using baby foot peel and oatmeal scrub can help you keep your feet beautiful.
End Notes
However trivial it may sound; your well-being depends a lot on the well-being of your feet. Routinely taking care of your feet thus, a step in the right direction. With proper planning and spending a few minutes every day, you can keep your feet in good shape all year long. An added benefit of routine foot care is that you get increased confidence and self-esteem. Thanks for reading.
