Bunions – Should they go or stay?
Bunions create as much comment and discussion as they do pain for their ‘owners’. Let’s assume that your bunions are bony lumps. First ask yourself are they getting bigger and more painful? Being disappointed with the look of your feet is not reason enough for surgery. Possibly you have some underlying arthritis and the joint is painful at every movement and it is seriously affecting your quality of life. Rheuma-surgery,as it is known is becoming more appropriate nowadays. Another cause for concern is if the big toe is deviating away towards the smaller toes so much that your foot is beginning to look like a tennis racquet.
Whatever the nature of your problem, if you do decide to undergo surgery I believe there are some basic truths to come to terms with. Perhaps the most basic is the most obvious – make sure your surgeon is a specialist foot surgeon – not one who includes foot surgery with the rest of his/her practice.
Then you have to fully understand and accept the conditions surrounding the surgery. This usually includes at least six weeks of careful rest, individualised treatment and immobilisation, plus the general life disruption. It’s my opinion that most “disappointing” surgical outcomes are the result of patients being unable or unwilling to fully comply with the post-operative care requirements.
So what to do about your bunions? Try every conservative measure that you can to preserve your feet. if your life has become interrupted and painful because of your bunions then DISCUSS with your surgeon all about the procedure and after care before you go ahead. Or maybe don’t!
Fitting Children’s Shoes – Again!
Fitting children with shoes can be really difficult and is often unpleasant for all involved. That includes brothers, sisters and fathers hanging around nearby! This means that the responsibility for getting the correct usually lies with Mum. The trauma increases due to the fact that in South Africa, there are virtually no shops who know how to measure children’s feet and fit the correct size of shoe.
Some stores have had measuring boards available in the shoe section for some years, but using it was left to the customer. At the same time there was no guarantee that the size system on the board matched the size system of the shoes. Anyone who has bought sports shoes/trainers recently will know that they have three or four different size numbers on the tongue of the shoe. This is because the shoes are made in Asia for sale all over the world where the basic unit of measurement differs – including different centimetre units.
In an attempt to bring some order and science into the art of shoe fitting, the South African Podiatry Association (SAPA) has been working with various manufacturers and retailers to establish standards for footwear in this country. There is a committee of experts headed by a podiatrist who has done ground-breaking original research into the feet of South African women. This committee assesses lasts(the plastic shape around which a shoe is built) and footwear design, against a checklist based on this scientific research.
One retailer is Woolworths and if you buy your child’s shoes there – although you will have to fit them yourself – you will see certain styles have the SAPA approval logo on the green tag. Look out for other large retailers getting involved in 2008.