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Foot Comfort.

Unless your feet are comfortable your walk and poise will be faulty, and you will have a tired and worried expression.

Shoes should be a really good fit, and suitable for the occasion for which they are worn. If there is any peculiarity about the feet, special care should be taken to have the right fittings in shoes.

Tender, swollen or aching feet should be bathed in hot water to which some salt or washing soda has been added. Then rub with a pad of cotton wool dipped in methylated spirits or eau de cologne and massage for a few minutes. Powder with a good talcum powder or fuller's earth, especially between the toes.

Where corns or calloused skin show a tendency to become troublesome, a visit to a good chiropodist helps wonderfully in the matter of foot comfort.

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If you have a tendency to fallen arches or flat feet, you will be inclined to walk with the toes pointing outwards. This condition may be overcome in the early stages by judicious exercise. Practise walking with the feet parallel and persist in the following simple exercises:

Try to walk up and down the room with a springiness to your gait. Keep the toes well turned in and commence to walk. After some practice it will become quite easy.

Another good exercise for strengthening the muscles and joints of the foot, is to claw the toes, raise the heels, turn the ankles outwards until the weight is resting on the outside toes, then turn the ankles in and lower the heels.

Still another good exercise is to march up and down the room with the knees stiff, heels raised, toes clawed, and walking on the outside of the foot.

It is necessary that the exercises should be done systematically, but they should never be carried out beyond the point of fatigue.

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