Tips on Examining your Feet

Keeping feet healthy is vital for your overall fitness. It’s hard to keep in shape when you have feet problems. Walking, running, and exercising become hard and sometimes painful to do with unhealthy feet. There are six things you should look for to make sure your feet are healthy.

1. Circulation. To check circulation, look at the color of your toenail when you press down on it. It should look like a normal nail color, not red, white, purple or blue.
2. Flexibility. To check flexibility in your toes, I suggest doing the toe exercise that I have mentioned in my earlier blogs. Pick up objects off of the floor with your toes and move them to another pile to see how flexible your toes are. For ankle flexibility, hang your heel off of a stair. Let the heel go below the level of the stair. Stop the test if you feel pain. If your heel goes below the level of the stair without causing strain in your calf, that is a good sign. If there is some strain, this can be improved with flexibility exercises.
3. Balance. Try this test to see how well your balance is. Stand on one foot while your arms are straight out from your side and close your eyes.                      

 Balance Test:

30 yrs old or less: Balance for 15 seconds

30 to 40 yrs old: Balance for 12 seconds

40 to 50 yrs old: Balance for 10 seconds

50 yrs and over: Balance for 7 seconds

      4. Pain. Feet are healthy if they don’t hurt.

      5. Sensation. Take a pencil eraser and lightly run it on the top, bottom, and both sides

          of your feet. The sensation should feel equal in all quadrants. Don’t worry if your

          feet tickle, it is normal.

     6. Skin. Look at your skin for blisters, calluses, or areas of irritation.