Foot care for a busy business professional might not be the first thing you consider. As a business owner, rarely do you get to take the easy way. You are either sitting behind your desk pouring over numbers, figures or e-mails or you are up on your feet all day watching your business grow, helping improve your work-space, or attending to employee concerns or hitting the networking circuits to promote growth. Either way, your feet are the last thing that probably get your attention.
If you sit behind a desk all day a couple of specific problems are more likely to occur.
One, your feet will swell without appropriate foot care for a business professional.
This has to do with the lack of muscle movement you would otherwise get from walking, moving and also a result of gravity. When you are still for a long period of time, you tend not to move your feet or ankles, and gravity loves to push things (in this case extra fluid in your body) to the lowest position. As a result of your muscles not pumping the extra fluid around, it accumulates around your ankles and into your feet. This can make your shoes tighter resulting in pinched toes and painful pressure points and it can make your legs tired and fatigued as the muscles get filled with fluid.
- Flex your ankles and bicycle your hips and knees several times an hour.
- Consider wearing compression hose – put them on in the morning and wear them until bed time.
- Select shoes that have some give to them to accommodate the swelling…no one looks good with their feet swelling over top of their shoes.
Another common situation that often affects your feet as a result of sitting all day is the tightening of your Achilles.
We all tend to sit at rest with our toes pointed down in comparison to our heels. Holding this position for an extended period of time allows the Achilles tendon (that chord like structure in the back of your heel and ankle) to tighten, shorten, and contract. Then when you stand up, the Achilles—now in its tightened state, and connected to the plantar fascia at the bottom of your heel—pulls on your heel bone causing heel pain either at the back or the bottom of your foot.
Try stretching your Achilles several times an hour by pulling your toes up towards your nose. This should be done with both your knees flexed and your knees extended. Hold this stretch for several seconds. This stretch should also be done just before you stand up from your chair.
Another way to help reduce the pulling and pain upon standing is to wear a low heel. This reduces the amount of pull your Achilles will have on your heel when you change position to upright.