Feet are fundamental to our well-being and yet we only notice them when they stop doing their job properly.
I’ve been taking my feet for granted all my life, always knowing I can walk anywhere I want to, reserving the right to learn to dance one of these days when I get around to it, expecting them to hold me uncomplainingly when I stand cooking in the kitchen for hours when we have a festival, demanding their services day in day out.
It’s only now that one of them is complaining that I’ve stopped to think how much I rely on them. One of my lateral arches gave me trouble a few years ago. The physio gave me exercises. I stopped buying cheapo shoes and bought my shoes from Green and Cross from then on. I waved farewell to even the occasional wearing of heels and stopped imagining that one day I’d wear those black suede stilettos from my twenties again. (I still haven't thrown those stilettos away, but keep them for the sake of nostalgia and let the girls trip around in them occasionally)
My foot gradually improved and I forgot about the problem again; took my feet for granted once more, even though I now only bought them the best supportive footwear. Occasional reminders kept me on the straight and narrow; back on a visit to England, I found I couldn’t wear wellies to walk the dog and had to buy proper walking boots, and walking barefoot on hard surfaces was no longer the best idea, but my feet worked again.
And now the same one is twingeing again. Suddenly walking the dogs around the farm seems too much to ask , so I’m missing out on the latest family routine of all of us walking round the circle road before supper. I don’t want to go belly dancing tonight in case I make the twinge worse. When we went out for lunch on the weekend we couldn’t just park and casually saunter around the streets window shopping before lunch as I was worrying how long my feet would last out. I can feel that I’m walking oddly, putting my foot down too carefully and probably tensing somewhere else in my leg or back to compensate.
Having something wrong with a foot makes you question your abilities. It underlines all the things that you can’t do easily, if you’re not physically healthy. I feel tentative about everything I do. Whereas I usually leap up to get something or do something a million times a day, now it is suddenly an effort. This little physical insecurity extends into feeling unsure about everything.
And this is something little, a painful twinge in the arch but no more than that. I can't imagine how it would be if it were a serious injury or one that was unfixable. So I’m off to the physio tomorrow and maybe a reflexologist. I want somebody to fix it so that I can have the luxury of taking my feet for granted again; so that I can have a blithe confidence in being able to walk up a mountain, go dancing or just wander anywhere anytime without thinking about it. I want my foundation solid again.
Your feet, my back. I finally caved and am paying for massage treatments. Sometimes we just have to put everything aside and dedicate ourselves to healing where we need to be healed. Or in your case, heeled? (That was a truly terrible pun and I apologize profusely).
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your visit to the physio! Hope you're belly-dancing again soon.
ReplyDeleteGet better soon! I'm currently envisioning the day you post a video of yourself bellydancing. You have to have goals, you know?
ReplyDeleteIt's miserably grey here today, and I'm sore from six hours of extreme pruning yesterday, and I'm trying to force myself to go to the grocery store because we have NOTHING in the house. Not even toothpaste.
Ugh.
sorry to hear you're in pain... i completely understand the notion of not appreciating what you've got while everything is working as it should. i went into town a few weeks ago, wearing reasonably comfortable shoes, but rushing to uni and back in an unreasonable amount of time i got home with bleeding blisters and for the next few days could not wear any shoes except my running trainers... which is exactly what i am wearing when i go into town now, i don't care if people look at me (actually, in london, you could be wearing barrels of sauerkraut for shoes and nobody, except maybe tourists, would even blink!)
ReplyDeleteOh dear... Poor you! Foot problems truly are humbling and debilitating & I go to great lengths to keep my feet as happy as possible! No stilettoes in my closet, I'm afraid...
ReplyDeleteBut yo uare lucky to have Green Cross - a whole store of rather nice looking shoes that are good for you! I have some lovely strappy wedges from them that are as comfy as anything. Here in the UK it can be a struggle to find health shoes that don't look like all hell - and when you look at the state of people's feet in the Tubes when they step out of pointy courts and into strappy sandals, you can see the havoc that fashionable shoes wreak!
I also find Aerosoles are great, if you can find them - pretty but comfy.
I love Green Cross. Aerosoles looks great, but no stockists listed for SA, none for UK either strangely...
ReplyDeleteI did get a couple of pairs in Clarks when I was in England last. They seemed to be making some not too hideous ones!
Feet are definitely better now after a visit to the physio and doing the exercises.