Take Care of Those Toes!

As the weather gets warmer outside, it’s time to check in with our feet. After all, warm weather means swimming pools and flip-flops and feeling the grass between our toes as we walk around barefoot, right? So in honor of International Foot Health Awareness Month, as well as the upcoming summer, we’d better go into the warm weather prepared!

For some general information about foot health, check out this page from the National Library of Medicine, and this one from the American Podiatric Medical Association. The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons has a lot of great information too, on everything from tips on going barefoot to treating your feet right on your summer vacation. The ACFAS even has info separated into categories for men, women, and diabetics, all of whom have separate issues related to their feet. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society also has a great page to help you with an initial evaluation of your feet, to determine how healthy they are or aren't.

For women in particular, warm weather may mean a trip to the salon for a pedicure. The American Academy of Dermatology offers up this page of tips for the perfect (and perfectly safe) pedicure; another good pedicure resource is this printable tip sheet from the American Podiatric Medical Association. And if your nails just look funky, don't just throw some polish on there! You could inadvertently be compounding a fungus or infection. Check out this page from the National Library of Medicine to find out what might be going on.