foot care
When you say to your partner, "let's sit this one out, your feet are killing me" that's a dance joke. But when your feet scream, "you are killing me" then that's mobile murder. Just walking around the office or the house each day gives your feet a sledge-hammer pounding, so you can image how many tons of jolts dancing offers your feet.

Did you know that the head is the heaviest part of a dancer's body...? and our poor, delicate feet have to schlepp it around at incredible speeds, and while they are doing that, the rest of our mass enjoys a free ride. No wonder a dancer's footsies go on strike or frequently rebel, or look disfigured early on in life. Almost like rugby players and their cabbage ears.

I am sure there are hordes of dancers out there with many miracle cures for your feet problem, but using your feet to dance or walk a shoe in, is definitely not a good idea - that's called feet abuse. Your left and your right foot must snug softly and neatly in to the shoe from the moment you slip them on, and don't believe the salesman who says they stretch to size, and don't let the style cajole you in to buying those misfit, fashion feet killers - think comfort, think happy feet, think blissful dancing.

Let's get technical. The foot is constructed of an astonishing number of parts, a fact which accounts for its resiliency. A quarter of all the body's bones are in the feet. Each foot contains twenty-six bones, cunningly linked through thirty-three joints and lashed together with ligaments. The biggest bone, one of the seven tarsals, is the heel. It sits solidly on the ground with six chunky dovetailed tarsals arching in front of it. These bones meet the five long metatarsals whose heads form the ball of the foot.

The heel bone and the metatarsal heads are the weight bearers. The five toes serve as a launching pad. When you walk, the body weight strikes the ground through the heel and travels swiftly along the outside of the foot to the ball, across the metatarsal heads to the first metatarsal, where it is transferred to the big toe, which sets you in motion.

In dancing, the onslaught is tons heavier; with the toes and the ball of the foot bearing all the brunt most of the time. When the pressure of the weight of the body is constantly pushed off the ball of the feet, at varying angles and speeds, and the shoes give no release, that's when the many delicate bones of a dancer's feet begin to churn, and damage is done. Aching or burning feet are the alarm bells that tell your brain that someone is, by unnatural strangulation, trying to murder the cute, sensitive little bones of your feet, and you are the sole perpetrator.

The description below is taken from my dancer's dictionary on the web.

FOOT CARE: 90% of us are born with perfect feet. Yet, according to a recent survey, 8% have developed troubles at one year, 41% at five years, and 80% at twenty. We limp into adulthood on corns, calluses, bunions, ingrown toenails, hammer toes, plantar warts and dozens more groan-getters all caused by the wrong shoes we wear. The incidence of foot defects among barefoot peoples is only 7%, caused mainly by thorns and broken bottles.

Because it takes ten years to grow the foot bones, and twenty years before the heel is fully finished, pre-school children need larger-size shoes every two months or oftener. Six- to ten-year-olds need larger shoes every two to three months; ten- to twelve-year-olds every three to four months; twelve- to fifteen-year-olds every four to five months; fifteen- to twenty-year-olds every six months. Yet how often do growing feet get the larger size that they demand?

The incidence of foot defects among dancers is 200%. Dancers place tremendous stress on their feet through hours and hours of training and performance, making them especially prone to injury. Therefore, for anyone taking part in dance classes or performance, proper foot care is imperative.

Metatarsalgia is a general term used to denote a painful foot condition in the metatarsal region of the foot (the area just before the toes, more commonly referred to as the ball-of-the-foot). This common foot disorder affects the bones and joints at the ball-of-the-foot. The first step in treating metatarsalgia is to determine what is causing the pain. If improper fitting dance shoes or other footwear is the cause, the footwear must be changed.

Your aim should be to unload pressure on the ball-of-foot to allow your condition to heal. When not dancing, you should wear shoes with a high, wide toe box that allows your foot to spread out. Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation caused by excessive stretching of the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is a broad band of fibrous tissue that runs along the bottom surface of the foot, attaching at the bottom of the heel bone and extending to the forefoot. Excessive stretching of the plantar fascia causes Plantar Fasciitis, which can also lead to heel pain, arch pain, and heel spurs.

The key for the proper treatment of Plantar Fasciitis is determining what is causing the excessive stretching of the plantar fascia. When the cause is over-pronation (flat feet), an orthotic with rearfoot posting and longitudinal arch support can effectively reduce the over-pronation and allow the condition to heal. If orthotics cannot be worn while dancing, they should be worn in everyday shoes.

Achilles Tendonitis causes inflammation and degeneration of the achilles tendon. The disorder can cause shooting, burning, or even an extremely piercing pain. Achilles tendonitis should not be left untreated, as there is a danger that the tendon can become weak and ruptured. If this or any foot problem persists, Dr. Belyea recommends that you consult your foot doctor. For more information on these or other foot conditions, visit foot care

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