Most people are unaware that footwear is the only aspect of clothing which can potentially damage your health. In fact, our feet are one of the most important but most abused parts of the body.
At Fitright Footwear we are committed to changing the way people think about footwear and encourage you to put your feet first. We know that by looking after our feet and wearing comfortable, correctly fitting footwear it goes a long way to keeping our feet healthy, and improving our mobility.
Invest in your health – throughout our lifetime we walk, on average, half the distance to the moon, which is approximately 110,000 miles. That’s a lot of pressure on our feet. Not many people realise that as we get older our feet change. As a whole our feet get longer, flatter and wider, which is generally due to wear and tear and falling arches but can also include hereditary conditions such as bunions or arthritis. These changes are not ones that happen overnight but occur gradually over a period of time, until we reach a point where we start to realise that we may have a problem.
The aches and pains stop coming and going and become an everyday painful reality. Our shoes suddenly stop feeling as comfortable as they used to. Correctly fitting shoes will help to prevent and ease painful bunions, arthritis, hammer toes and corns. Of course, what we don’t often realise, is that problems with our feet can also lead to issues with other parts of our bodies such as knees, hips, back and neck which can then affect our posture.
The problem is that once our feet start to hurt, walking becomes painful, less enjoyable and hard work, so we often end up being less mobile. This can be potentially problematic to our health because, as we get older, we need to remain mobile, to ensure our muscles stay exercised – (use them or lose them) – and our hearts and bones stay healthy. Osteoporosis – a weakening in our bone structure, is one of the main factors that causes breakages as we get older – affecting more women than men. Having good stable footwear to help prevent falls, plus indulging in regular exercise, is not only great for general fitness but also for bone density. Providing you have comfortable and well-fitting shoes, walking is a convenient and very inexpensive way to exercise.