It's World No-Tobacco Day! Horrible Foot Problems Caused by Smoking:

In honour of World No-Tobacco Day, we thought we’d shed some light on how smoking cigarettes can affect the health of your feet.   You’ve heard how smoking can affect your lungs and heart, causes your fingernails and teeth to turn yellow, and even causes bad breath, but no one ever mentions how it seriously affects your feet.

In our clinics, we see some heart breaking problems caused by smoking.  Sometimes chiropodists at our clinics can tell just by looking at a patient’s feet that they smoke!  Surprised?  The skin on their feet is often thinner, shinier, and reddish in colour.

Your feet are the furthest body part from your heart, which means that even under the best of circumstances, they don't receive as much blood circulation as other parts of your body. And if you smoke, your body is definitely not working under peak conditions.

Smoking causes poor circulation, or more technically, peripheral arterial disease. Arteries are the blood vessels that bring fresh oxygenated blood to all tissues of the body.  The further the arteries are from the heart, the smaller they are.  The best arteries are wide open.  Smoking causes a substance called plaque to build up in the arteries, causing them to become stiff and narrowed (and sometimes plugged), often affecting the arteries that run down your legs to your feet, which in turn, reduces the ability for blood to reach your feet.  Peripheral arterial disease can be a painful and debilitating disease, often leading to infection, gangrene and eventually , amputation.  Smoking is the leading cause of lower extremity amputations, which is ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE!

Here is a list of signs and symptoms of Peripheral arterial disease, and some problems it can cause:

1.      The development of peripheral artery disease will make you 5 times as likely to die from a cardiovascular heart disease

2.      Pain in your legs and/or feet when walking or standing

3.      Numbness and tingling in your feet are the beginning affects of neuropathy, generally caused by poor circulation.  This nerve damage makes your feet numb or unable to feel sensations, and can reduce your ability to feel your feet, or pain, heat, or cold.  Foot injury is more likely if you suffer from neuropathy.

4.      An inability to fight foot infections

5.      Wounds, cuts, and lacerations heal slowly or poorly

6.      Cold feet

7.      Possible changes in the shape or structure of your foot

8.      Foot Ulcers on the foot, and toes

9.      Feet turn blue or reddish in color

10.  May develop Beurger’s disease – a painful disorder that involves leg pain and gangrene of the hands and feet that are very are painful, and is a result of smoking

11.  Amputation of your toes or foot

 

Smoking can also cause the growth of your toenails to slow down.  It  can cause the texture of your nails to change, and a certain shape of the nail can indicate lung cancer,  often caused by smoking.  Clubbing of the nails (Hippocratic nails), often indicates lung problems.

If you notice any of the signs noted above, please book and appointment to be thoroughly assessed by our chiropodists.

Later, we’ll discuss how researchers have discovered that taking toenail samples from a person who smokes, can identify their risk of lung cancer! 

Posted via email from Northumberland Physiotherapy and Foot Care Centre's posterous

Mosquitoes Bite Because of Your Smelly Feet!

 

 If being embarrassed by your stinky feet, or having your spouse complain about them, isn't enough of a reason to do something about it, here is one more reason:  Your smelly feet attract mosquitoes!

Yep, according to recent research, mosquitoes may be attracted to the bacteria in sweaty, moist, sinky feet.  So, it may mean that if you can get rid of that nasty odour, you will be able to lower their nuisance level!

Here are the specs:

Remco Suer worked with the African mosquito Anopheles gambiae, one of the primary vectors for the spread malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, and tested them against the smells in his lab:

Suer tested their sense of smell in the labratory by pumping additional Carbon Dioxide into a container to simulate human breath, then added a high concentration of five different foot odors and found that the mosquitoes were unable to react to the carbon dioxide for several seconds. The sole-ful odors actually stopped mosquitoes from sensing carbon dioxide from breathing — which could be a reason why malarial mosquitoes divert when honing in on a person and move instead to the feet at close ranges.

That's pretty cool news. Keep in mind, though, that A. gambiae is only one variety of mosquito that is reacting to a specific cocktail of smells. How mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti that spread West Nile might respond in different ways. Still, there's at least promise in knowing what the effects of bad breath and a set of funky feet can do for your summertime health. [PhyOrg, Photo via Shutterstock]

This study is supported by results from a study performed by Entomologist Daniel L. Kline whose research determined that mosquitoes love smelly feet.  He experimented with using dirty socks as a mosquito lure, and found his 3-day-old socks were irresistible to them. Specifically, it's the bacteria that grow on human feet that seems to draw a crowd.

Want to know other sure-fire ways to get a mosquitoe bite?

1.  Keep breathing.  Mosquitoes detect carbon dioxide in the air, so the more you breathe, the more likely you are to become a blood meal.

2. Skip the shower.  Bring on the B.O.!  The more you stink, the easier it is for blood-thirsty mosquitoes to find you.

3. Run around. First, mosquitoes find you by using their sight, so if you're moving, they'll find you! If you run around, it's like you're telling the mosquitoes "Pick me, Pick me!"

4. Sweat a lot. Perspiration is the perfect combination of mosquito attractants – moisture and odors. Head outdoors on a hot, sticky summer evening, and work up a sweat. The mosquitoes will thank you.

6. Dress in dark colors.  We all know this, right?Research shows that mosquitoes respond best to dark colors, especially blue (I was always taught it is black!).

 7. Wear perfume or cologne.   Especially floral scents, which are especially attractive to mosquitoes.

8. Use alpha hydroxy products on your skin.Lactic acid, which our bodies produce naturally, is a big draw for mosquitoes. It just so happens that many skin care products contain lactic acid, too, and so might help boost your chemistry with these blood-seeking bugs.

10. Drink beer and eat limburger cheese.
Studies show people who've had a few beers score the most mosquito bites at the barbecue. Snack on some limburger cheese while enjoying a beer, and you will open yourself up to an all out assault. Limburger cheese is made with the same bacteria that makes your feet stink.

Argh, I am suddenly feeling very itchy, just writing this.  I'm on my way to buy a bug zapper!  Do this things really work???

Posted via email from Northumberland Physiotherapy and Foot Care Centre's posterous

It's French Open Friday! GotTennis Elbow???

 

The Elbow and Forearm

Elbow Tendonitis

This is a very common condition involving inflammation of the tendons crossing the elbow. There are three groups of tendons which can be involved, the lateral, the medial, or the posterior compartments.

Symptoms that patient's experience are:

• Pain over the inside, outside, or back of the elbow, depending on which tendons are involved.
• The onset of pain is usually gradual. It may be related to wrist extension activities (lateral tendonitis) or wrist flexion and downward rotation (medial tendonitis).
• The pain varies from a dull ache or no pain at rest to sharp twinges or a straining sensation with activities.

Management- In acute cases ice, immobilization, and gentle range of motion is used to resolve the inflammation and progress the condition to a more treatable chronic state. Once the inflammation is controlled the condition is managed using advice as to the appropriate level and type of activity that may be preformed, ultrasound and friction massage, as well as a strengthening and mobility program.

Posted via email from Northumberland Physiotherapy and Foot Care Centre's posterous