In the lexicon of healthy habits, feet tend to fall by the wayside.
Even yourbig toesalone are key to propelling you forward in space and helping you maintain your balance.
Its the reason you may want to pay a little more attention to the burden your feet are bearing.
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You regularly go barefoot or walk around in flimsy footwear.
As for what you mightve heard about strengthening your feet by going barefoot?
You wear running shoes that are worn out or dont quite fit.
Like most things in life, running shoes do not last forever.
Jogging around in the same shoes year after year also increases the chance that they no longer fit you.
And its important to have a goldilocks fitnot too tight or too bigwhen it comes to running sneaks.
You dig out your own ingrown toenails.
Performing garage surgery, as Dr. Ward puts it, will just make you more vulnerable to an infection.
In the meantime, if youre looking for some instant relief, Dr. Ward suggests a warmEpsom salt soak.
You skip socks when exercising (or wear poorly designed ones).
As Dr. Ward notes, fungus likes warm, moist, dark places.
(Some experts even suggestgiving your toes a quick blow-dryfor this reason.)
You vape, smoke, or pop any oral form of nicotine.
But theres a lesser-known common denominator among all these addictive items: circulation issues.
(If you already have Raynauds,researchalso suggests smoking can trigger or worsen your symptoms.)
You have a go at ignore or push through foot pain or injuries.
According to Dr. DeLott, people commonly put off dealing with foot issues for a bunch of different reasons.
Theres the fact that feet are a weight-bearing body part that you likely use daily.
Which, to be clear, is not true at all.
The problem with powering through is that foot issues usually get worse.
But even with lesser niggles, aches, ornail issues, you dont want to let them linger.
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