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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 4 (July 1, 1939)

Health Notes. — Physical Fitness. — Feet

Health Notes.
Physical Fitness.

Feet.

In the march towards physical fitness, the feet are a contributing factor to the success of the journey, and the feet of the women are really no less important than those of the men. Men, however, are particularly fortunate in that they do not feel the urge to encase their feet in shoes too small for them. Their feet have a freedom which is denied to the feet belonging to women.

Most of the foot ills of adult life are produced through ill-fitting shoes in childhood. It is therefore of fundamental importance that children's feet be given every attention and not treated as a secondary consideration. The tissues of a child's foot are soft, and thus they can be easily cramped in an incorrectly fitting shoe. The child utters no complaint and the feet may be weakened and crippled in a way which makes life a burden later on. This, of course, applies more to the girl than to the boy, as the girl will suffer silently for the pleasure of wearing the shoe which appealed to her at the moment of purchase. On the other hand, could you imagine a boy suffering silently from pain caused by wearing shoes which pinched his feet? Therefore, the fitting of children's shoes deserves close and vigilant attention. The shoes must not be too small, but loose-fitting shoes are just about as harmful as too tight-fitting.

Hammer toes are mainly the result of tight footwear—a case of making the foot fit the shoe instead of making the shoe fit the foot. The foot can never shrink to fit the shoe, and so the shoe is compelled to expand to fit the foot, thus causing friction in the way of corns and bunions.

Some women always have the idea that they must “break in” new shoes. They do not realise that during the process they are injuring their feet—perhaps permanently.

In shoe fitting it is imperative that the shoes should be sufficiently long and that they should provide ample room for the toes to have free movement within the shoe. The shoe should fit accurately and comfortably round the ankle and instep and from the heel to the big toe joint.

Too tightly confined toes inevitably lead to corns, hammer toes and arch troubles, while a too widely fitting shoes allows the foot to spread and tends to cause a flattening of the arch.

Bunions, corns, hammer toes, etc., are, therefore, the product of tight and ill-fitting shoes. High heels are another factor in the destruction of normal feet.

Our aim is to have the “foot of the tramper,” so away with faulty footwear for children and adults.

Slimming.

Drastic slimming brings in its train major and minor disasters.

The body loses its power of resistance to illness, and breaks down under any additional strain. As the body is under-nourished, it usually takes a long time to fight the disease. Drastic slimming is therefore responsible for much suffering.