How to Prevent a Callus from Forming on Your Heel
When you see calluses on someone’s hands, it is a sign that is often associated with hard work, as those who do hard labor tend to have them. Having calluses on your feet, especially a callus on the heel, can become a problem.
Continue reading below to find out how you can prevent or treat these unsightly spots.
What a Callus on the Heel Is
A callus is actually a defense mechanism triggered by your body to protect the area. A callus is essentially an area of skin that has thickened.
The reason for this thickened area is protection. Your body knows that the area is injured, which is why a callus grows there. If there is a lot of friction or injury to the area, calluses will develop as a sort of armor.
Should you get one on your foot, that means you likely have some type of constant pressure or frequent friction. The callus develops to prevent further injury. Although it acts as protection, worse things could come your way if these calluses are left untreated.
The group that has the biggest risk of complications arising from calluses are those with diabetes. Now, we will go over what causes calluses on your feet.
Causes of Calluses
There are many potential things that could cause you to develop a callus on your heel. Here is a list of causes:
- Foot arch too high
- Flat-footed (no or extremely low arch in the foot)
- Being overweight
- Walking around barefoot
- Frequent wearing of high heels or other improperly-fitting shoes
- Longer than normal metatarsal bones
- Inadequate natural padding or worn down padding in the area
These are the most frequent causes of calluses. Now, we will look at what you can do to treat or prevent them from forming.
Callus Prevention Methods
Callus prevention is fairly easy to do. Here are a few ways you can prevent calluses from forming:
- Wear the right shoes. This tip applies to socks as well. Wearing socks and shoes that fit right are a key factor in preventing calluses from forming.
- If your foot is flat or otherwise in need of orthotics, obtain the orthotics for your particular condition.
- Talk to a podiatrist about your feet if they are not shaped or designed normally (flat feet, longer than normal toes, too much of an arch, )
- Keep your feet consistently clean.
- Repair or replace worn shoes.
- Talk to a podiatrist about other prevention methods.
Now, check out these treatment methods available to get rid of existing calluses.
Callus Treatment Methods
Here are some things you can do to treat existing calluses:
- Soak in hot water and file them down using a pumice stone.
- Change footwear and use orthotics as needed
- Pressure-relieving pads or other items (such as orthotics or different shoes) to reduce pressure on the heel
- Surgical removal
These are not the only callus reduction or callus removal methods available out there. Talk to your podiatrist first so you can get a professional recommendation on the best course of action to get that callus on your heel taken care of.
Source Links
http://www.footvitals.com/skin/calluses-on-feet.html
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-corns-calluses-prevention
LSI Keywords
Podiatrist
Callus prevention
Callus treatment
Calluses
Callus removal
Causes of Calluses
