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THE HEALTH OF BARKING
simple test to an important matter, so I would strive to find some simple way by which
the public can decide whether their boots or shoes are sufficiently free and comfortable.
This I have not been able to do up to the present and the best advice I am able
to offer is that people should be able when wearing their shoes to use their toes as
though they were able to type with them.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the public are becoming foot-conscious and
appreciate this essential service, but in these days, when there is such a heavy demand
on our women folk, who are by far the greater sufferers, it is very difficult for them
to stand up to the strain put upon their feet.
Space will not allow me to go into this matter in detail, but I should like the
public to realize that the treatment given at the clinic is palliative and not curative:
the cure depends entirely upon the progressive improvement of the condition,
which in turn depends entirely upon the patient giving care and attention to the feet
in the interval between treatments.
I have always found the public most anxious to assist, if only they know what
to do.
One very common complaint is callosity and pain in the ball of the foot from
which so many people suffer—again chiropodial treatment is only palliative
consisting of paring and applying a felt pad. The provision of a metatarsal bar to
the footwear redistributes weight, relieves pressure and obviates the disability.
Another factor of which we must not lose sight is that although many women
are just as heavy as men and are on their feet quite as much, if not more, yet the
soles of their shoes are very much thinner and their stockings are very flimsy, so that
they have less protection between the ground and the foot and between the shoe and
the skin. This causes them to suffer more severely than men.
The wearing of a thick soft socklet would benefit many foot sufferers, provided
they bought their shoes while the socklet was on the foot.
We must remember that women are naturally softer than men in muscle texture
and therefore weaker. Splay or spread foot is very common to young women; this
is a weak foot condition and is the predecessor of the other many complaints due to
the foot working with a concertina-like action inside the shoe. Constitutional
conditions are often the cause of a weak foot: putting weight on the feet too soon
after an illness, long standing when tired or unwell or putting on weight suddenly,
are sometimes responsible and again a few words of advice to the public would
prevent much suffering.
Male foot sufferers are, compared with women, few and far between, and in
the case of men usually there is a natural abnormality, deformity or trauma connected
with the complaint.
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