Sunday 24 April 2016

How You can Prevent Swollen Feet

Foot swelling can indeed affect your normal life. Suddenly you realize one day your regular shoe size does not fit properly. Also, you feel certain heaviness and pain while walking.

The good news is that, with a little bit of precaution, you can prevent the foot and ankle swelling problem. Discussed below are a few easy-to-adopt measures, which should take care of your puffy foot.

Don’t stand or sit for hours at a stretch

Most jobs today demand sitting or standing for long hours. After work, you find walking quite uncomfortable and sometimes painful too. The simple solution suggested is to interrupt your sitting or standing work schedule, and take a break after every one or two hours.

You may take a few steps up and down, or elevate your feet and do some stretching exercise for a couple of minutes in your own office, to relax your taut foot muscles.

Do regular exercises

Swelling of foot or ankle happens often due to poor blood circulation and fluid distribution. Weight gain is another reason which causes excess pressure on your muscles and joints.

An effective solution for you is to draw a regular exercise schedule, and stick to it religiously. To start with, do the exercise under expert supervision, before continuing it on your own.

Eat balanced diet

Stay away from high salty food, as it can cause fluid retention, which in turn can trigger foot inflammation. It would be good for you to prepare a healthy diet chart, avoiding excessively oily and sugary foods: they can lead to weight gain too. If needed, seek the help of a dietician who would suggest an appropriate diet plan to match your body needs.

Lose weight

Obesity is one of the major underlying causes of foot problems. Your food habit might not be the sole cause for weight gain.

Health problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoarthritis and gout too may trigger obesity. Also, some medicines can cause weight gain.

Weight loss, therefore helps cure not only your foot problems, but also the other health problems mentioned above.

Avoid foot/ankle injury

If you have a sprained ankle, it can lead to swelling. This is because, the ligament which holds your ankle in place, stretches beyond its limit due to the injury. Take adequate rest, if you have foot or ankle injury. Also, apply ice pack, keep your foot elevated and wrap the injured portion with a compression bandage for relief.

Usually foot and ankle swelling is not a cause for concern. For instance, pregnancy often triggers foot swelling, and the problem recedes by itself after delivery. In general, you can depend on the measures suggested above.

Most foot problems are temporary, which can be solved by changing your lifestyle and diet, and, if necessary, by taking some simple medications.

However, if you suffer puffy foot along with certain other health issues, you can’t afford to take it lightly. Sometimes your foot condition can be a warning signal, indicating serious health ailments. Consult with a podiatrist or senior physician promptly in such instances.