General Foot Conditions and Treatment

As our feet spend a lot of time in shoes throughout the day; a warm, dark, humid place is created for the bacteria and fungus to grow and hence fungal and bacterial conditions occur. Fungal and bacterial conditions can cause dry skin, redness, blisters, itching, and peeling. If not treated right away, an infection may be hard to cure. If not treated properly, the infection may reoccur. To prevent infections, keep your feet - especially the area between your toes - dirt free and dry. Change your shoes and socks or stockings often to help keep your feet dry. Try dusting your feet daily with foot powder. If your foot condition does not get better within two or three weeks, consult the doctor.

• Dry skin can cause itching and burning feet. Use mild soap in small amounts and a moisturizing cream or lotion on your legs and feet every day. Be careful about adding oils to bath water since they can make your feet and bathtub very slippery.

• Hard skin is caused by friction and pressure when the bony parts of your feet rub against your shoes. If you have corns or calluses, see your doctor. Sometimes wearing shoes that fit better or using special pads solves the problem. Treating corns and calluses condition by yourself may be harmful, especially if you have diabetes or poor circulation. Over-the-counter medicines contain acids that destroy the tissue but do not treat the cause. Sometimes these medicines reduce the need for surgery, but check with your doctor before using them.

• Foot lump or warts is skin growth caused by viruses. They are sometimes painful and, if untreated, may spread. Since over-the-counter preparations rarely cure warts, see your doctor. A doctor can apply medicines, burn or freeze the wart off, or take the wart off with surgery.

• Bunions are the foot conditions that develop when the joints in your big toe no longer fit together as they should and become swollen and tender. Bunions tend to run in families. If a bunion condition is not severe, wearing shoes cut wide at the instep and toes, taping the foot, or wearing pads that cushion the bunion may help the pain.

• Ingrown toenails are the foot condition that occurs when a piece of the nail breaks the skin - which can happen if you don't cut your nails properly. Ingrown toenails are very common in the large toes. A doctor can remove the part of the nail that is cutting into the skin. This allows the area to heal. Ingrown toenails can often be avoided by cutting the toenail straight across and level with the top of the toe.

• Spurs are calcium growths that develop on bones of your feet. They are caused by muscle strain in the feet. Standing for long periods of time, wearing badly fitting shoes, or being overweight can make spurs worse. Sometimes spurs are completely painless - at other times they can be very painful. Treatments for spurs include using foot supports, heel pads, and heel cups. Sometimes surgery is needed.

• Burning foot: Burning foot is a common foot condition among many groups of people, most generally in the older group feet. This symptom is most common in diabetics who present with a symptom of mixed neuropathy with loss of sensation on the bottom of the feet.

• Diabetes: this condition is almost certainly the most harmful disease that a patient can encounter with regards to their feet. Diabetes can be controlled with medications, diet and exercises. But a serious condition occurs if the sugars are out of control and a lesion (sore or ulcer) develops on the plantar (bottom) of the foot. The goal and treatment of diabetics with foot ulcers is to relieve the pressure, prevent infection and ultimately ensure the patient does not lose their limb. It is important that a patient with a foot ulcer consult their podiatrist, vascular surgeon, orthopedist or family doctor.

• Flat Feet: Flat feet of themselves are not essentially a problem. But people with a flat foot or the opposite condition, a highly arched foot, that are painful, are certainly in need of treatment. Flat feet and high arches that are associated with ankle, knee or low back pain are also in need of treatment.

• Moist Feet: Moist feet and stinking feet are two very common, bothersome conditions of the feet. While some cases of excessive smelling or sweating of the feet are systemic (throughout the whole body) in nature, such as anemia (low blood count) or hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), these conditions are usually of a local cause.

• Shin Splints: A shin splint is technically the tearing away of the anterior tibial muscle from the bone. Shin splints, or tenosynovitis of the anterior tibial muscle (the muscle that runs from the mid portion of the foot up the front of the leg, just below the knee, on the inside front of the calf) is usually caused by over-use. Beginning runners or others, who engage in sport activities who have not sufficiently allowed their muscle tone to build up over a proper conditioning program, or whose conditioning program is too rigorous in the beginning, develop shin splints.

• Painful feet can affect our ability to enjoy the most basic activities in our daily lives. Thankfully, many foot conditions can be easily prevented or treated by wearing properly fitting footwear or using the right over-the-counter foot care products. Given below are some of common foot conditions. Achilles Pain, Athletes Foot, Ankle Sprains, Arch Pain, Bunion Pain, Burning Feet, Cracked Heels, Dry Skin, Fungus Nails, Heel Spurs Flat Feet Care Foot Blisters Heel Pain High Arch Hammer Toes Hard Skin In growing Nails Metatarsalgia Care etc.

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