Herbal Treatments for Healthy Feet

What Are the Professsionals Saying?

As the American Podiatric Medical Association states, “Foot ailments are among the most common of our health problems. Although some can be traced to heredity, many stem from the cumulative impact of a lifetime of abuse and neglect. Studies show that 75 percent of Americans experience foot problems of a greater or lesser degree of seriousness at some time in their lives; nowhere near that many seek medical treatment, apparently because they mistakenly believe that discomfort and pain are normal and expectable.”

Happy feet are healthy feet! If your feet are giving you trouble, locate your problem(s) in the following pages and try the recommended natural remedies to help put your feet back on the path to comfort and wellness. If your tootsies need professional care, then consult with a podiatrist or orthopaedist for advice. To find further foot-health information, contact the American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine, the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society, or the American Podiatric Medical Association and ask for their informative foot-health brochures.

Living with Arthritis

Technically, arthritis is the inflammation of a joint, usually accompanied by pain, an increase in fluid in the joint, and changes in the joint’s structure and function. Approximately forty million Americans are afflicted with arthritis. It can be a very painful and crippling disease, especially when it manifests itself in the feet. The small joints in your feet are particularly vulnerable because of the load they must carry daily

Osteoarthritis, or degenerative arthritis, is the most common form of the disease. It is caused by years of joint stress, injury, and everyday wear and tear, which cause degeneration of the cartilage in the joints and minor inflammation. Symptoms include stiffness and pain in the joints after heavy exercise, during damp or cold weather, or after rising in the morning. Osteoarthritis affects individual joints and is not systemic, unlike rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis affects the entire body. It is a chronic inflammatory condition that destroys the cartilage and tissues in and around the joints and sometimes causes the joints to fuse together, resulting in disfigurement and the inability to walk normally. Symptoms can include fatigue, weight loss, extended periods of pain and stiffness, swelling, and redness and warmth of the joint. Women are more likely than men to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis is not completely understood and is thought to be caused by bacterial infection, heredity, suppressed immune system, stress, allergy, or improper nutrition.

Beating Athlete’s Foot

Athlete’s foot is so named because this infection is most commonly seen on the feet of athletes, who spend time around swimming pools, steam baths, locker rooms, and showers following exercise. These places are a breeding ground for fungus — and so are your shoes, because the environment inside is dark, warm, and moist. As interest in fitness and exercise has increased, athlete’s foot has become more commonplace and not restricted to athletes.

Athlete’s foot is a fungal skin disease caused by dermatophytes (tiny parasitic fungi) called Tinea pedis. This fungus thrives in warm, moist places and usually occurs between the toes and on the soles of the feet.

The symptoms can appear rather quickly and can include scaling, flaking, and peeling of the skin between the toes; intense itching, heat, redness, cracking, dryness; and, finally, if the disease is allowed to progress without treatment, the appearance of blisters. The blisters can break and allow the fungus to enter below the skin’s surface, which makes the disease even more difficult to treat. Athlete’s foot symptoms tend to recur quite often once you’ve been infected.

Treatment of Athlete’s Foot

A cure for this miserable skin affliction can sometimes be quite elusive because the pesky fungi can penetrate beneath the skin’s surface and can be difficult to reach with topical treatments. Because they don’t penetrate deeply enough to reach the bloodstream, oral medications can have a tough time as well. All treatments for athlete’s foot should be taken or applied continuously over a period of several weeks to several months until the condition is cured.