WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW F ROM H EEL TO TOE

    If you don't have any foot discomfort at all, you're at a huge

advantage. But don't congratulate yourself just yet: you must take

steps to ensure that you don't develop any problems. Here are the

most common problems affecting women who wear fashionable

shoes on a regular basis.

    THIS IS a misalignment of the joint of the big toe. Health care specialists often refer to this condition as ((hallux valgus," which is a fancy way of saying that the joint of the big toe (hallux) is bent outward (valgus). It is the most common foot disorder among women. The base of the big toe enlarges and angles toward the second toe instead of facing straight ahead. It's caused by abnormal pressure placed on the big-toe joint because of excessive pronation and ill-fitting shoes. There is also a genetic component: a history of bunions tends to run in families.

    To treat corns and calluses: Same as above: change your shoes. See a medical professional to determine the best course of action. She might

trim the corn or callus (you should never do this yourself). Over-thecounter

corn pads are available but avoid medicated pads, which have

acid that can burn the skin. If coms and calluses don't go away, you

probably need orthotics or over-the-counter inserts.

    PRONOUNCED: Plant-R Fa-she-1-tus. This condition causes sharp heel pain that usually presents itself first thing in the morning when you get

out ofbed and stand for the first time after having had your feet elevated.

If that happens to you, it means that your plantar fascia is overstretched,

injured, or inflamed. Plantar fasciitis is often confused with

heel spurs, an overgrowth ofbone in the heel, but heel spurs are actually

a response to plantar fasciitis.

    Plantar fasciitis affects women and men in equal numbers, and is

seen in both the athletic and the sedentary. Factors that may lead to its

development are being oveiWeight or gaining weight; excessive pronation;

wearing shoes without arch support; exercising more than usual

or engaging in any physical activity in which you impose excess pressure

on your heels; standing for long periods on a hard surface; or just getting

older and having the plantar fascia lose much of its elasticity.

    To avoid or alleviate foot pain, switch to better shoes that do not

force your foot into an unnatural position or shape. Otherwise,

over time your naked foot will come to mimic the unnatural position

or shape of the shoe, which is not only highly uncomfortable

but also horrifying to look at.

    A landmark study for the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle

Society in 1993, coauthored by Dr. Carol Frey, demonstrated that

almost all women wear the wrong shoes. 26 There were 356 healthy participants between the ages of twenty and sixty.Among her findings:

    • Eighty-eight percent of the women in her study wore shoes

that were too small.

    • The average woman wore shoes that were too narrow by a

half inch and too short by a half size or full size.

    • Eighty percent reported significant foot pain while wearing shoes.

    • Seventy-six percent had foot deformities, with bunions and

hammertoes the most common.

    • Fifty-nine percent wore uncomfortable shoes every day.

    • Seventy-nine percent had not had their feet measured in the

last five years when buying shoes.

    Even the women in the study who did not have pain or deformity

wore shoes that were too small.