The “best medicine” is often said to be laughter; but Hippocrates, the great grandfather of the medical profession (he lived over 2000 years ago) stated that “walking is man’s best medicine”.
This is also the message to come from the Australasian Podiatry Association leading up to National Foot Health Week – it “runs” 11-17 October.
How you walk and what you wear when you’re walking is important too. According to recent articles in the US Baltimore Sun, barefoot running and walking has become popular; but for most of us there would be a real risk of infections and foreign bodies embedded in the foot.
In Australia, thongs are a popular form of footwear. Comfortable? Perhaps, but possibly also a health hazard. Down the beach or around the pool might be reasonable, but for daily wear, with no support, ankle damage is more than likely. Of course, really high heels pose a similar risk, with the added possible problems of back pain too.
However, for most of us with well designed footwear, walking is a pleasant and reasonably easy way to maintain overall physical fitness.
You won’t quite manage to get around the world in 80 days by walking; but, over a lifetime, even the average walker will chalk up about 130,000 km – that’s a circumnavigation of the earth three times! Ideally, each and every one of us should take about 10,000 steps every day.
With this immense responsibility for travel, it’s no wonder that the feet can be described as fairly complicated pieces of machinery. Fifty-two bones, a quarter of all the body’s bones, are in the feet; and on a nice summer’s day the feet produce around 500ml of perspiration by way of the 250,000 sweat glands.
Of course all that perspiration can produce a few problems of its own. The warm, moist environment enclosed within either our joggers or business shoes can lead to some nasty fungal infections – infections that will become more visible now the increase in temperature means the wearing of sandals and open-toed shoes. Athlete’s foot is certainly not exclusive to athletes’ feet. We are all potential sufferers.
Tinea pedis, as athletes foot is more correctly called, can be itchy and irritating. In the more severe cases, pain sometimes becomes a symptom, too.
Fortunately, effective treatments for tinea are now available. But the secret of success is persistence and perseverance. Products such as Clonea, Daktarin, Lamisil or Solveasy – available in various forms: creams, gels, sprays and lotions – need to be used appropriately to get best results and to prevent recurrence of infection.
Fungal infection of the nail, particularly the toe nail, can be somewhat more difficult to eradicate. Onychomycosis is the medical term to describe this condition, but the more colourful description of “nail rot” is sometimes used. If your nails are yellow, cracked or crumbling, then you may be one of the 800,000 or so Australians with a fungal nail infection.
There are a couple of ways to get rid of nail rot; but it does require a commitment. Severe infections may require the prescription-only tablets containing terbinafine, while moderately infected nails usually respond well to topical treatments. Of these, the convenient, once-a-week treatment with Loceryl nail lacquer seems to offer the best results.
If you want to indulge in some carefree and comfortable walking this summer, free from the itch, irritation and ugliness of fungal infections, you can get some good advice from your local Self Care Pharmacy. Log on to the Pharmaceutical Society website www.psa.org.au and click on Self Care Pharmacy Finder; or call the Pharmaceutical Society on 1300 369 772 for the nearest location.
And don’t forget to walk the dog. If walking is man’s best medicine and the dog is man’s best friend, taking the dog for a regular walk should keep six feet happy during every walk.
