The Pains of Walkingby Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 18 Dec 2006 03:03 PM Walking is a great, safe, easy, and gentle form of exercise. But walking injuries that seem innocent or unimportant can end up sidelining you! And if you can't walk, you're not doing much for your health. Once you get out of a regular fitness routine, it can be very hard to get back in. Feeling sore or tender on the bottom of your foot? You may be suffering from plantar fasciitis. The band of tissue that pads your foot is known as the plantar fascia. Walking in hard shoes or on hard surfaces like concrete can cause small tears in the plantar fascia. Your body stiffens the tissue as a protective response. Prevent plantar fasciitis by wearing shoes with a supportive, contoured footbed at all times. Roll your foot on a golf ball, tennis ball, or water bottle to ease the stiffness. Stick to flat, giving paths (like dirt roads) until the pain goes away. Experiencing tender toes? Pain or swelling on the sides of your toes could be a sign of ingrown toenails. Ingrown toenails develop when the corners or sides of your nails grow sideways instead of forward. This puts pressure on the skin around your toes. Check your shoes -- tight shoes can make ingrown toenails more likely. Make sure you've got some wiggle room for your ten little piggies. Are your heels and calves aching? You might have tendinitis in your Achilles tendon, the one that connects your calf to your heel. Walking up and down steep hills can cause strain; too much walking if you haven't been building up to it can also be trouble for your Achilles tendon. Start by cutting back on your distance and avoid walking uphill. You can prevent a lot of foot problems with a pair of good walking shoes!
Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevanthealth tags User Comments jonpaul (203) 19 Dec 2006 01:31 PMWalking is possibly one of the best forms of exercise available - it is free, it requires no training, it can be done anywhere at anytime. The key is not only proper footwear, but also suitable socks, trousers, and if wet, good quality waterproofs. Hiking sticks are wirth considering too, especially if you plan to go hill walking / mountaineering, as on the descent your knees take a lot of the pressure and even the fittest of people can suffer after a long day's hiking. To make walking a more sociable hobby, consider joining a walking club, as trips can be organised by experience walkers and map readers, which can increase the enjoyment you have from walking. Community Tags foot pain, ingrown toenails, leg pain, walking Discuss this article
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