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How your feet work and three steps to keeping them healthy, from the Harvard Health Letter

We ask a lot of our feet. They provide a steady base when we stand, serve as shock absorbers when we move, and help propel us forward—and sometimes backward—when we walk or run. It's no wonder that so many people develop foot-related problems.

A special four-page section in the August 2009 Harvard Health Letter focuses on the feet and their common ailments. Dr. James Ioli, chief of podiatry at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, served as guest editor.

In the special section, Dr. Ioli and the editors of the Harvard Health Letter cover these topics and questions:

  • Three steps to healthier feet
  • Causes and treatments of four common foot problems: bunions, metatarsalgia, plantar fasciitis, and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction. An animation of these conditions is available at www.health.harvard.edu/4foot
  • Products for the agonies of the feet: Do toe exercisers restore foot health, as they claim? How should you choose an orthotic? Do detoxifying foot pads do anything? And more.
  • How bad are flip-flops? (Short answer: very bad when worn often.)
  • Should I get a second bunion operation?
  • Why would switching from heels to flats cause pain?
Read a section from this special issue: “How your feet work—and three steps for keeping them healthy”

Also in this issue of the Harvard Health Letter

  • Editor's note
  • Coming out of its shell
  • Overdoing acetaminophen
  • Special section: Feet: How your feet work - and three steps for keeping them healthy
  • Special section: Feet: Agonies of the feet: Four common foot problems
  • Special section: Feet: A guided tour down the foot aisle
  • By the way, doctor: Flip-flops - how bad are they?
  • By the way, doctor: A second bunion operation?
  • By the way, doctor: Switching from heels to flats
  • Selected nutrients in selected seafood
  • Update on acetaminophen

Because of your interest in this article, you might find the following information helpful:

Foot Care Basics: Preventing and treating common foot conditions

Got gout? Or bursitis? Do your arches ache or your heels hurt? If so, you are among the three out of four Americans who will suffer some kind of foot ailment in their lifetimes. This Special Health Report covers the foot problems that affect most people and helps you prevent and treat them. Learn more »

More Harvard Health News »

About Harvard Health Publications

Harvard Health Publications publishes five monthly newsletters--Harvard Health Letter, Harvard Women's Health Watch, Harvard Men's Health Watch, Harvard Mental Health Letter, and Harvard Heart Letter--as well as more than 50 special health reports and books drawing on the expertise of the 8,000 faculty physicians at Harvard Medical School and its world-famous affiliated hospitals.