What You Should Do If You Have Foot Pain

Your feet support your whole body when you stand and do your daily tasks on your feet. Due to this, you are bound to experience foot pain once in a while. Foot pain refers to discomfort that you experience in any part of your foot. The pain may be originating from your toes, heels, soles, or arches. It can range from mild to severe and may last for a short while, or it can be a chronic issue – in which case, you should seek medical care from a podiatrist.

Here are some things you can do if you are experiencing foot pain.

Apply Ice

Applying an ice pack can ease pain by numbing the area and lessen the chances of the area getting swollen by reducing blood flow to the foot. Apply a cloth-covered ice pack on your feet to ease discomfort. This tip is especially useful after a long day on your feet.

Take Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers

If you experience minor to moderate foot pain, taking pain relievers can reduce or eliminate symptoms. This is especially true if you had a physically demanding day, such as a day at a theme park. Over-the-counter pain relievers are a temporary fix and should not be relied upon for daily use. Talk to a doctor if you have to take over-the-counter pain relievers more than once a week for foot pain.

Use Custom Orthotics

Using custom orthotics, which are inserted in your shoes, protect and support your feet. This helps solve a host of pain-causing problems, such as alignment issues, plantar fasciitis, and unsupportive footwear.

Elevate Your Feet After a Long Day

When you have a particularly long day that required you to be on your feet for many hours, it is common to feel soreness and pain in your feet. If this is the case, you should elevate your feet above your heart level by using pillows. A few hours of this can alleviate pain and pressure brought on by a day of being on your feet. It can also reduce the chances of swelling in the lower legs and feet.

Wear Comfortable and Supportive Footwear

Wearing comfortable footwear is crucial to the protection and function of your feet. Our bodies are not designed to stand, walk, and run barefoot for hours at a time. Unfortunately, a lot of footwear available on the market today does not offer protection or arch support. This results in stylish, but ineffective footwear that causes podiatric issues instead of alleviating them.

If you are experiencing foot pain, your footwear may be to the blame. Talk to a podiatrist to get recommendations on what type of footwear you should be wearing to support and protect your feet – and keep pain at bay.

Stretch and Warm Up Before Exercise

Warming up and stretching before any physical activity is important. Your feet have muscles and tissues that are much more efficient when they are warmed up. If you begin exercising or sports play without warming up and stretching these structures, you put yourself at risk of overstraining and injuring yourself, which can lead to a lot of pain.

Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Care in St. Peters and O’Fallon, Missouri

The highly-skilled podiatrists at Advanced Bone & Joint are happy to diagnose and treat any foot or ankle issue you may have that’s causing pain.

We can perform a comprehensive evaluation of your feet and ankles, and carefully assess your symptoms. We will then craft a highly customized treatment plan that will fix the injury or condition you have.

To request an appointment with the top podiatrists in Missouri, call Advanced Bone & Joint at (636) 229-4222 or submit an appointment request now. Our friendly staff looks forward to serving you soon!