How To Prevent A Callus On Your Heel

A few hints on how to prevent a callus on the heel, an all-too-common day-to-day irritation.

What Causes A Callus?

A callus is a tough and painful area of skin. It’s caused by the skin rubbing against clothing or shoes. Calluses often develop on feet as they’re constantly in contact with the ground. The heel takes most of the weight, so a callus on the heel is a very common type.

Why Should I Prevent It?

A Callus on the heel causes pain. If one develops and is left untreated, it can lead to further problems. It can crack in time, which is even more painful.

How Do I Prevent It?

As calluses are typically caused by friction, the first step towards prevention is to ensure that your shoes fit correctly. See if there are any parts which rub against your heel. Make sure there is a little room at the end of the foot and they’re not too tight. If you walk a lot, make sure that you have shoes which are designed for walking.

I’ve Got Trainers…

Running shoes are padded in different areas, and dress shoes aren’t designed to prevent a callus on your heel. If new shoes aren’t an option, it is possible to buy medicated in-shoe pads and inserts designed to protect the heel against calluses forming.

Looking After Your Feet

Calluses don’t form overnight. They say “prevention is the best cure” and looking after your feet can go a long way towards preventing a callus. Wash your feet regularly and dry them properly. Moisturize as well, nightly if you can. Calluses can be a sign of undernourished, under-protected feet. Try to use a moisturizer which is specifically for feet.

Resting Your Feet

Calluses form through friction. It’s important to ensure that you give your feet a break every once in a while. Rest can go a long way towards preventing a callus.

Keeping Your Feet Dry

Socks are as important as shoes in keeping calluses at bay. Cotton and other natural fibers are best for keeping feet dry and healthy. Change your socks daily. If they get wet, change them. Always make sure your shoes are thoroughly dry before you put them on.

How To Remove Calluses From Feet

If calluses on the heel have formed, there are a number of ways to get rid of them. A well-known callus removal home remedy is to soak your feet in lemon juice or vinegar. You can then scrub the calluses with a pumice stone or specialist foot razor. But take care if using the razor, these can cut the feet.

Is There A Medicine I Can Buy?

It is possible to buy over the counter medications for the removal of calluses. These are based on salicylic acid and can cause irritation. If in doubt, seek medical advice first.

Things To Bear In Mind

So in order to prevent a callus on your heel, do keep these in mind

• Make sure your shoes fit
• Keep your feet clean and dry
• Moisturize
• Change your socks regularly
• Put your feet up

Following these simple tips should hopefully lead to you having happy, healthy feet.

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How to prevent a Callus on your heel

Calluses usually occur on the heel of your feet, from where it has been subjected to a lot of rubbing and friction. However, in rare instances, they can also appear on your:

• Hands
• Other areas of your feet.
• Chin (can be common for violin players)

A Callus on the heel is often characterized by its hard and rough appearance, which can also look like a swollen lump.

They are not to be confused with corns:

Although they are often categorized with corns; they are both different conditions.

Corns are significantly smaller in size and come with a small plug of skin in the center.

The main causes for a Callus on your heel:

• Wearing wrong sized shoes.
• If you wear shoes without socks on.
• Any form of friction to your feet.
• High heels for women.
• Obesity

Other symptoms from a Callus:

• You may feel tenderness around the area.
• Fluid or pus may be produced by the infected area.
• Symptoms of fever.
• Swelling
• Pain

However, symptoms can vary, and most callus sufferers don’t even feel it’s there.

How to prevent onset of a Callus:

It is easily done; to neglect your feet or even giving a thought on the support they provide for the pressure of your entire body weight – so start taking extra care of your feet, with the following:

• Wear comfy shoes and throw away any that brings discomfort to your feet.
• Remember; even when an adult foot size can adjust over the years, so always try on shoes before you buy and get measured at the shoe shop from time to time.
• Remember; your feet are mostly covered over the majority of the time, so are in dark and moist conditions throughout the day – allow as much barefoot time as you can, to give them a chance to breathe.
• Treat your feet to a foot spa (some foot spa even offer specialized fish treatment, which will nibble and cleanse the dead skin from your feet).
• Be more aware of your feet, when doing any sport or activity, assess whether any exertion is causing friction or pressure – then look for ways to adjust for comfort.

How to get rid of a callus:

You can soak the callus for twenty minutes, with either of the following:

• 2 Spoonful of Baking Soda.
• Chamomile Tea.
• Apple Cider Vinegar.
• Epsom Salt

Then with a Pumice stone gently rub the affected area, which will remove dead skin from your feet.

Warning:

Make sure to dry afterwards, do not leave it moist, especially if putting on socks afterwards.

Another technique:

Before going to bed, apply warm Olive Oil and wear cotton socks – this will help to soften the dry skin, for when using the Pumice stone.

In Summary…

Callus on heels are unsightly and even uncomfortable, so it’s always worth giving love and TLC to your feet – the fish treatment offered by foot spas is fully recommended for foot maintenance and cleansing.

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Guidelines For The Prevention of A Callus on the Heel

A callus on the heel can be prevented. There are two aspects to preventing these:

good foot care and proper choice and care of footwear.

There are some aids that also help prevent calluses or callosities as well as remove any that you already have. However, prevention is better than cure.

Good foot care for a callus on the heel

Good foot care consists of taking care of your feet on a daily basis as good foot hygiene is one of the keys to preventing a callus or clavus on the heel. You will recognize a callus on the heel as an area of hardening of the skin.

Try to make this your daily routine:

• Use a good pumice stone or foot file for any callus on your heel when you first get out of bed. This will reduce any thickened skin you already have on your heel and make any preparation you place on your skin more easily absorbed. If you already have larger calluses, you will need to see a podiatrist to have them removed.

• Once you have finished with the pumice stone, use a heel balm or cream specially formulated for feet. It is important to do this in the morning to make the skin more flexible before you start your days’ activities. Repeat this routine at night.

Try not to wear open shoes if you can, especially without socks. This will mean the skin on your feet will not dry out as much. Drink plenty of water during the day for the same reason.  Use heel cups inside your closed in shoes as that increases the amount of moisture your feet retain.

Keep your feet as dry as possible and wear socks of a natural fiber. If your shoes get wet, dry them out before putting them back on.

Wash your feet every day and dry them well.

Footwear to prevent calluses

The second aspect to preventing calluses is the choice of your footwear. This has a lot of impact on how healthy our feet are.

• Don’t be tempted to wear high heels on a regular basis. This pushes your feet into positions where calluses form. Higher heeled shoes are often not shaped for comfort and feature small toe spaces which again cause foot problems.

• Make sure you can wiggle your toes comfortably when buying new shoes. You will probably have one foot larger than the other so choose a shoe size that is comfortable for the largest foot.

• Choose the size of your shoe at the end of the day so that it will accommodate your feet when they are more swollen.

• Buy your shoes from a shoe shop that does fittings and have them measured.

• You may have calluses forming because your feet are not shaped uniformly. In this case, you will benefit from using orthotics. These will correct any imbalance in the shape of your foot and make walking more comfortable. A good shoe store that measures your feet before selling you your shoe can help you with that.

• Good care of your footwear is also important. Worn shoes can help cause calluses as they cause shoes to rub in different places.

Pads, often sold as corn pads, are designed to protect your feet and can be worn to help prevent calluses but are not as effective as proper foot care and footwear. Diabetics should be especially careful to avoid developing foot problems such as a callus on the heel as they are much more prone to foot problems. The consequences are much greater if foot problems arise.

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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:

1. 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.
2. If your foot is flat or otherwise in need of orthotics, obtain the orthotics for your particular condition.
3. 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, )
4. Keep your feet consistently clean.
5. Repair or replace worn shoes.
6. 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

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