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64
FOOT HEALTH.
11,184 children have had their feet inspected this
year by the Foot Health Nurse, and 297 have been seen
together with their parents by the Medical Officer in
charge of the special foot clinic.
In addition the Health Visitors and Clinic Nurses
have visited each school every term and carried out foot
hygiene inspections. The incidence of verrucae (plantar
warts) was .8% and tinea (athlete's foot) was 1,5%.
Children with verrucae are asked to see their General
Practitioner for treatment or to attend one of the two
chiropodists employed by the School Health Service The
treatment is painless and thorough. The children are
asked to keep the verrucae covered with plaster from the
time that they are diagnosed and to refrain from swimming
until the wart is eradicated, so as to minimise the chance
of spreading the infection to other children.
The two school chiropodists treated 635 children this
year.
The Medical Officer and Foot Health Nurse at the Foot
Clinics are constantly asked to recommend suitable shoes
for children, and it is of course, necessary to know what
shoes and what standard of fitting are available in the
shoe shops of the Area, A survey of all the shops selling
children's shoes in Ealing was made and the results have
been published in the British Medical Journal A questionnaire
was used in each of the 39 shops selling children's
shoes, but because of some inaccuracies in completion,
the final analysis was made on 25 shops.
All 25 shops studied were found to stock a well
designed shoe, rounded toe and straight inner border in a
lace-up or bar style- but only 11 shops had the necessary
range of three width fittings or more, which is essential
to fit the majority of children's feet. For children of
3-11 years the stocks were good, but poor for the age of
11-15 years, particularly for girls. Stocks of larger
shoes, of size 7 and over, were also limited. Shoes out
of stock were usually obtained in one week, which seems
unnecessarily long, yet all the shops stocked the inferior
girls shoe known as the "casual". The worst type of casual
shoe with pointed toe, and low cut sides and front was
found in 17 shops. These shoes have to be "short fitted"
in length, narrow in width and use the toes as a "digital
wedge" in order to stay on the foot. These shoes are very
popular and sell well to the fashion conscious girl.