What are the 10 most common foot problems. How can you manage these foot issues. Discover the solutions to athlete’s foot, hammertoes, blisters, bunions, and more.

Athlete’s Foot: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Athlete’s foot, also known as tinea pedis, is a common fungal infection that affects the areas between the toes and the soles of the feet. It is caused by a fungus that thrives in warm, dark, and moist environments. Symptoms of athlete’s foot include a white, scaly rash with a red base, itching, burning, peeling, and sometimes a slight odor.

To reduce the risk of athlete’s foot, it is important to keep your feet and toes clean and dry, change your shoes and socks regularly, and avoid walking barefoot in public areas like locker rooms and showers. Over-the-counter antifungal creams or sprays can be used to treat athlete’s foot, and sprays and powders can also be used inside your shoes to destroy any lingering fungus. If these remedies do not work, you may need to see a doctor and ask about prescription-strength medication. It is also important to note that the infection can spread to other parts of the body if left untreated.

Hammertoes: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

A hammertoe is a deformity where the second, third, or fourth toe is crossed, bent in the middle of the toe joint, or pointing at an odd angle. Ill-fitting shoes are a common contributor to the development of hammertoes. If the toe is still flexible, your doctor may suggest wearing more comfortable, roomier footwear, as well as using inserts or foot pads to help reposition the toe. However, if the toe becomes fixed in the bent position, pain will set in and you may require surgery, according to the Mayo Clinic. Corns and calluses may also form on hammertoes that press against the insides of your shoes.

Blisters: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment

Most blisters on the feet are caused by friction between the skin and the inside of your shoes. To prevent blisters, it is important to wear comfortable, properly-fitting shoes and socks. If a blister does develop, it is best to let it break naturally rather than bursting it yourself, even if it is painful and makes walking difficult. After the blister has broken, you can apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment and cover it with a bandage to help it heal and prevent infection. However, if you have a health condition that makes you prone to infections, such as diabetes, you should consult a physician before treating any blisters yourself.

Bunions: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

A bunion is a bony bump that forms at the base of the big toe joint. This deformity causes the big toe to turn inward, toward the smaller toes. Bunions can be caused by congenital deformities, arthritis, trauma, heredity, or habitually wearing shoes that are too narrow in the toe. Conservative treatment for bunions includes wearing wider shoes, using padded shoe inserts, and taking over-the-counter pain relievers. If these methods fail to provide relief, surgery may be necessary.

Corns and Calluses: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Corns and calluses are thickened areas of skin that develop in response to pressure or friction, often on the feet. Corns are circular, cone-shaped thickenings that typically develop on the tops or sides of the toes, while calluses are larger, flatter areas of thickened skin that form on the soles of the feet or on the heels. Factors that can contribute to the development of corns and calluses include ill-fitting shoes, high heels, and activities that put repetitive pressure on the feet.

To treat corns and calluses, you can try using over-the-counter corn or callus removers, soaking your feet in warm water, and filing down the thickened skin with a pumice stone or foot file. If the problem persists or worsens, it is best to see a podiatrist, who can professionally remove the corn or callus and provide recommendations for prevention.

Claw Toes and Mallet Toes: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

Claw toes and mallet toes are deformities of the toes that can be caused by muscle imbalances, arthritis, or ill-fitting shoes. Claw toes are characterized by toes that are bent upward at the joint closest to the foot and downward at the joint closest to the tip of the toe, while mallet toes have a bend in the joint closest to the tip of the toe.

These toe deformities can lead to the development of corns, calluses, and pain, especially when the toes rub against the inside of shoes. Treatment may involve wearing wider, more comfortable shoes, using toe splints or pads to straighten the toes, and in some cases, surgery to correct the deformity.

Ingrown Toenails: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment

An ingrown toenail occurs when the corner or side of a toenail grows into the surrounding skin, causing pain, redness, and swelling. Factors that can contribute to ingrown toenails include improper trimming of the nails, tight-fitting shoes, and injury to the toe.

To treat an ingrown toenail at home, you can soak the foot in warm water, gently lift the nail edge, and apply an antibiotic ointment. If the condition persists or worsens, it is important to see a podiatrist, who can surgically remove the ingrown portion of the nail or perform other treatments to resolve the issue.

10 Common Foot Problems and How to Manage Them

Your feet take a pounding every day. Help them go the distance by identifying and correcting issues ranging from corns and calluses to athlete’s foot and hammertoes.

By Brian P. DunleavyMedically Reviewed by Justin Laube, MD

Reviewed: September 4, 2020

Medically Reviewed

Take good care of your feet, and they’ll take good care of you.

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The human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, ligaments, and tendons made of strong fibrous tissues to keep all the moving parts together — not to mention more sweat glands than any other part of the body.

Indeed, the foot is an evolutionary marvel, capable of handling hundreds of tons of force — your weight in motion — every day. The foot’s myriad parts, including the toes, heel, and ball, work together to get you from one place to another.

But the stress of carrying you around puts your feet at high risk of injury, higher than any other body part. And many foot problems, including hammertoes, blisters, bunions, corns and calluses, claw and mallet toes, ingrown toenails, toenail fungus, and athlete’s foot, can develop from neglect, ill-fitting shoes, and simple wear and tear.

Pain in your feet may even be the first sign of a systemic problem. Gout, for example, often affects the foot joints first.

So what can you do to identify and manage some common foot-health issues?

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Athlete’s Foot

Caused by a fungus that likes warm, dark, moist environments, athlete’s foot commonly affects the areas between the toes and the bottoms of the feet. It can inflame the skin and cause a white, scaly rash with a red base. Other symptoms of athlete’s foot include itching, burning, peeling, and sometimes a slight odor.

You can lower your risk of athlete’s foot (also called tinea pedis) by keeping your feet and toes clean and dry, changing your shoes and socks regularly, and never walking barefoot in public locker rooms and showers. Over-the-counter antifungal creams or sprays can be used to treat athlete’s foot, and sprays and powders can also be used inside your shoes to destroy any lingering fungus, according to Penn Medicine.

If these remedies do not work, you may need to see a doctor and ask about prescription-strength medication. It’s also worth knowing that the infection can migrate to other parts of the body if left untreated, Penn Medicine says. It can also be transmitted to other people via shared floors, gym mats, towels, and other surfaces.

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Hammertoes

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If your second, third, or fourth toe is crossed, bent in the middle of the toe joint, or just pointing at an odd angle, you may have what’s called a hammertoe. Ill-fitting shoes contribute to the formation of hammertoes.

If your toe is still flexible, your doctor may suggest that you wear roomier, more comfortable footwear. In addition, wearing inserts or foot pads can help reposition your toe.

But if your toe becomes fixed in the bent position, pain will set in and you may need surgery, according to the Mayo Clinic. When hammertoes press against the insides of your shoes, corns and calluses may form on them.

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Blisters

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“Most blisters are caused by friction between the skin on the foot and the inside of your shoes,” says Allan M. Boike, a podiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic and the dean of the College of Podiatric Medicine at Kent State University in Ohio.

You can prevent blisters — soft pockets of raised skin filled with clear fluid — on your feet by wearing comfortable, appropriate-size shoes and socks. If blisters do develop, it’s best to let them break naturally rather than burst them on your own, even when they are painful and make walking difficult, Dr. Boike says.

“If you develop a blister, simply cover it with a bandage and allow it to burst naturally,” Boike says. “If it bursts, you can apply an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment with a bandage to help it heal and prevent infection, but you should keep the area covered to reduce friction and keep it from reforming. ”

Most foot blisters don’t require medical attention. But if you have diabetes or another health condition that makes you prone to infections, you should consult a physician before treating any blisters yourself, Boike advises.

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Bunions

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A bunion is a bony bump at the base of the big-toe joint. The changes within the foot that cause the bump also cause the big toe to turn inward, toward the smaller toes, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Bunions can result from congenital deformities, arthritis, trauma, heredity, or habitually wearing shoes that are too narrow in the toe. Regardless of what caused them in the first place, bunions can be made worse by high heels and constrictive shoes.

Conservative treatment for bunions includes wider shoes, padded shoe inserts, and over-the-counter pain relievers. If those methods fail to relieve pain and allow for normal walking, the Mayo Clinic says, surgery may be recommended to return the big toe to its normal position.

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Corns and Calluses

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Corns and calluses form after repeated rubbing against a bony area of the foot, usually by shoes that don’t fit well, the Cleveland Clinic says.

Corns can appear on the tops and sides of your toes as well as between your toes, while calluses tend to form on the bottoms of the feet, especially under the heels or balls of the feet, and on the sides of the toes. These compressed patches of dead skin cells can be hard and painful to walk on.

With many corns or calluses, you can treat them yourself by removing the buildup of skin. The Cleveland Clinic recommends soaking the affected area in warm water until the skin softens and using a wet pumice stone or emery board to remove the dead skin. Be gentle, though: Removing too much skin can cause bleeding and infection. You can also apply a moisturizing cream or lotion to the corn or callus and surrounding dead skin to soften the skin over time.

If this doesn’t work, you may need to consult a podiatrist, who may recommend placing moleskin or padding around corns and calluses to relieve pain.

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Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is a painful disorder in which the ligament — the fascia — that connects the ball of the foot to the heel becomes inflamed or even torn. Plantar fasciitis has no visual signs or symptoms, just pain and stiffness in the foot, says Tracey C. Vlahovic, a podiatrist and a clinical professor at the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine in Philadelphia.

Research suggests the condition is common among runners and other athletes of all levels, but it’s generally seen as an overuse injury for which nearly everyone is at risk, Vlahovic notes.

“Most of the time, we’ll refer people to physical therapy, where they can learn stretches to reduce the tightness in the medial band of the foot,” Boike says. Fewer than 10 percent of the people with plantar fasciitis Boike sees require surgery to treat the condition.

Applying a cold compress can help relieve the pain. Your podiatrist may also recommend that you wear a splint at night to stretch the affected foot, Boike says.

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Claw Toes and Mallet Toes

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A claw toe curls upward at the joint where the toes and the foot meet and downward at the middle and end joints of the toe, making the toe look curved, or clawlike.

Claw toes often develop calluses and corns where they rub against shoes. While tight shoes can be blamed for claw toes, so can nerve damage to the feet (from diabetes or other conditions), which weakens foot muscles.

With mallet toes, the toe bends downward at the joint at the tip of the toe, and a painful corn often grows at the tip of the toe where it presses against the ground. Generally, the second toe is affected because it’s the longest. Injuries and arthritis are among the causes of mallet toe, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

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Gout

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Gout is a type of arthritis caused by a buildup of uric acid in joint tissues and joint fluid, which happens when the body is unable to keep uric acid levels in check, according to Boike. Although gout isn’t a foot condition per se, typically, one of the first places this buildup occurs is in the big toe joint. This is because, temperature-wise, the toes are the body’s coolest parts, and uric acid crystallizes with temperature changes, Boike says.

You’ll probably know a gout attack when it happens: The joint where the big toe connects to the foot will get hot, red, and swollen and will be painful even to the slightest touch.

You can help reduce your risk of gout attacks by making changes to your diet to avoid foods known to cause a rise in uric acid, like red meat, seafood, and alcohol, particularly beer, Boike says. Significant consumption of beer or liquor (more than one drink per day) has been linked to an increased risk of an attack of gout, he says.

Maintaining a normal body weight also appears to have a significant effect on preventing gout attacks.

Once you are in the midst of a gout attack, drinking water to keep hydrated and staying in bed may help, but if you have frequent attacks, your doctor will likely refer you to a rheumatologist to manage the condition, according to Boike.

Medications for gout are designed to reduce pain or control the body’s production of uric acid to limit the frequency of attacks, he says.

Although gout most often starts in the foot, it can spread to other joints, where uric acid can accumulate and crystallize, limiting range of motion — which is why it’s important to treat the condition, not just the symptoms, Boike says.

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Ingrown Toenails

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Proper toenail clipping — straight across and not too short — is key to preventing ingrown toenails. If you don’t cut them straight, the corners or sides of the nail can dig into the skin, causing pain and sometimes an infection (called paronychia).

Other causes of ingrown toenails include shoes that press your toes together and unusually curved toenails, according to the Mayo Clinic.

If you develop an ingrown toenail, you can try soaking the toe in warm water for 15 or 20 minutes several times a day and tucking a small piece of cotton or dental floss under the ingrown edge of the nail to encourage it to grow up and away from the skin

If home remedies aren’t working or you have diabetes or another cause of reduced blood flow to the toes, you should see a doctor, who may lift or remove the affected nail and recommend the use of a topical antibiotic to prevent infection, the Mayo Clinic says.

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Toenail Fungus

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Toenail fungus can give nails an unattractive, deformed appearance. It can also spread to other nails, including fingernails.

Toenail fungus often forms after damage to the nail that causes the nail-skin junction, where the nail meets the skin of the toe, to be disrupted. This can occur after a pedicure, because of ill-fitting shoes, or after repetitive trauma from running or hiking that causes the nail to lift or get pressed on.

“Toenail fungus is caused by a skin-, hair-, and nail-loving fungus,” Vlahovic says. “The fungus is attracted to the protein in the nail bed, and the toenail is perfect because it’s in a moist and warm environment — inside your shoes — most of the day.”

Treating toenail fungus can be difficult, as it often comes back even after successful treatment. You should talk to your doctor about taking a prescription antifungal medication, because over-the-counter treatments likely won’t work.

If medication doesn’t work, you may need surgery to correct the trauma that caused the fungus to take hold, the Mayo Clinic says.

Pictures of Common Foot Problems

Medically Reviewed by Carmelita Swiner, MD on February 13, 2023

Tiny fungi can get inside your nail through a crack or break, causing an infection that can make nails thick, discolored, and brittle. The fungus, which thrives in warm, wet places, can spread to people who swim a lot or who have sweaty feet. An infection won’t go away on its own, and it can be hard to treat. Creams you put on your nail may help mild cases. Antifungal pills or surgery to remove the nail offer the best chance of clearing up a severe infection.

Is a bunion, corn, ingrown toenail, or a bad case of athlete’s foot causing you pain? Keep your feet happy and healthy — learn the symptoms of common foot problems and what you can do to treat them.

This bony bump at the base of the big toe causes that toe to veer toward the others. It throws foot bones out of alignment and can be painful due to pressure or arthritis. It might also lead to corns. Pain relievers, pads to cushion the bunion, custom shoe inserts, or surgery may help. You could also wear roomy shoes and avoid high heels.

Friction or pressure causes these thick, hard, dead areas of skin. Corns look cone-shaped and point into the skin, usually forming on pressure points from poorly fitted shoes or a bone spur. Calluses tend to spread out more and can appear anywhere something rubs on your skin. Moleskin pads can help relieve a corn. Your doctor can trim calluses or correct them with surgery. You can also wear patches with medication that can remove calluses.

It’s a form of arthritis that causes sudden pain, redness, swelling, and stiffness. It usually affects the large joint of the big toe, but it also can flare in the foot, ankle, or knees. Gout comes from too much uric acid (UA) in your body, which can form needle-like crystals in joints. Attacks can last days or weeks. You can treat it with drugs that fight inflammation (pain, redness, and swelling) or UA-lowering medication. Some diet changes help break down uric acid, too.

These tough growths form on the soles of the feet. You get them when a virus enters your body through broken skin. They can spread through skin-to-skin contact or on surfaces in places like public pools and showers. The warts are harmless, so you don’t have to treat them. In many cases they’re too painful to ignore, though. You can apply salicylic acid to help get rid of them. But burning, freezing, laser therapy, and surgery to remove them work best for more severe cases.

This fungal infection can cause peeling, redness, itching, burning, and sometimes blisters and sores. It’s mildly contagious, spreading to others by direct contact or by walking barefoot in places like locker rooms or near pools. The fungi then grow in shoes, especially tight ones without air flow. Treatments usually include fungus-fighting lotions, or pills for more severe cases.

When toe muscles around the joints get out of balance, they can cause painful problems. Hammertoe generally makes the second, third, or fourth toes bend downward at the middle joint. The condition sometimes runs in families. Other risks include tight footwear or an old injury to a toe. Well-fitted shoes with the right amount of space in the toe box, shoe supports, and surgery may offer relief.

It’s just how it sounds — a toenail that has grown into the skin. The problem can cause pain, redness, swelling, and infection. You can get them from cutting your nails too short or not straight across, injuring a toenail, and wearing tight shoes. For mild cases, soak your foot in warm water, keep it clean, and wedge a small piece of cotton under the corner of the ingrown nail to lift it off the skin. Minor surgery can remove all or part of the nail.

You have this condition when your sole makes complete or near-complete contact with the ground. You can get it after an injury or because of a health problem, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Most people don’t have symptoms, although weight gain, ill-fitting shoes, or standing a lot may cause pain in your feet and legs. Foot-strengthening exercises and shoes with good arch support or orthotics can help.

IMAGES PROVIDED BY:

(1) Nikolay Suslov / iStockphoto
(2) Photo courtesy of Evelyn Taylor
(3) Copyright 2007 Interactive Medical Media LLC and Copyright © ISM / Phototake — All rights reserved.
(4) Copyright © Pulse Picture Library / CMP Images / Phototake — All rights reserved
(5) Copyright 2007 Interactive Medical Media LLC
(6) Credit: Phanie / Photo Researchers, Inc
(7) Copyright © ISM / Phototake — All rights reserved.
(8-9) Credit: Dr P. Marazzi / Photo Researchers, Inc
(10) © ISM / Phototake — All rights reserved.

REFERENCES

American Academy of Family Physicians.
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
Community Health Care Medical Library.
Jonathan Cluett, M.D, “About.com,” Orthopedic Surgery Fellow in Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy, California.
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center College of Medicine.
National Health Services (NHS) Direct.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases web site.
National Institutes of Health.
University of California, Davis, Student Health Services web site.

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China’s crippling sexual foot-binding fetish

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For a thousand years before the early 20th century, Chinese women mutilated their feet, believing that only tiny feet could tell them apart from men. The monstrous and crippling custom of footbinding in China has been preserved in the country for so long that it has grown into the flesh of its culture.

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Tiny deformed feet are now perceived as ugliness, but in China, women’s legs were supposed to look like that.

The result of foot binding in Ancient China was called “golden lotus”. The altered shape of the feet seemed to her fans extremely feminine and attractive.

History of footbinding in China

When did the tradition of footbinding begin in China? There are many legends about where this custom came from. The most common of them says that Emperor Xiao Baojuan had a concubine with tiny legs. She danced barefoot on a golden platform adorned with pearls, where lotus flowers were depicted. Enraptured, the emperor exclaimed: “At every touch of her feet, lotuses bloom!”

Probably, it was after this legend that the expression “lotus foot”, that is, a very small bandaged foot, came into use.

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Deformed feet, according to the Chinese, emphasized the weakness and fragility of a woman, and at the same time gave her body sensuality. The monstrous tradition of footbinding in China was not only painful, but also deadly. A woman, in fact, became a hostage of her own body – without the ability to move freely, her life was completely subordinated to the whims of men.

The ideal leg should not exceed 7 centimeters in length – such legs were called “golden lotuses” in China.

Blood and broken bones

Bandaging girls’ feet in China was not only painful, but also a very long process. It took place in several stages, the first of which began when the girl was 5-6 years old. Sometimes the children were older, but then the bones were not so malleable.

The feet were bandaged by the mother or another older woman in the family. It was believed that a mother is not very good in such matters, because she pities her own child and therefore does not tighten the leg tightly enough, turning it into a “lotus leg”.

Footbinding in Ancient China happened like this. First, the girls had their nails trimmed to prevent them from growing in, and their feet were treated with infusions of herbs and alum. Then they took a fabric 3 meters long and 5 cm wide, bent all the fingers, except for the big one, and bandaged the legs so that the fingers tended to the heel, and an arch formed between them and the heel.

Here is how an elderly Chinese woman recalls the process of her bandaging in 1934:

“After everything was over, she ordered me to walk, but when I tried to do this, the pain seemed unbearable.

That night my mother forbade me to take off my shoes. It seemed to me that my legs were on fire, and, of course, I could not sleep. I started crying and my mother started beating me. <...> Mother never allowed me to change the bandages and wipe off the blood and pus, believing that when all the meat disappears from my foot, it will become graceful. If by mistake I ripped off the wound, then the blood flowed in a stream. My big toes, once strong, supple and plump, were now wrapped in small pieces of cloth and stretched out to form the shape of a young moon.

Every two weeks I changed my shoes, and the new pair had to be 3-4 millimeters smaller than the previous one. The boots were stubborn and it took a lot of effort to get into them. <...> In summer, my legs smelled terribly because of blood and pus, in winter they were cold due to insufficient blood circulation, and when I sat near the stove, they hurt from the warm air. Four toes on each foot curled up like dead caterpillars; hardly any stranger could imagine that they belong to a person. <...> My lower legs became weak, my feet became twisted, ugly and smelled unpleasant – how I envied girls who had a natural shape of legs.

Ultimately, the biggest danger of footbinding custom in China was foot infection. Although the girls’ nails were cut, they still grew in, which led to inflammation. As a result, tissue necrosis occurred at times. If the infection spread to the bones, the fingers fell off – this was considered a good sign, because it made it possible to bandage the legs even tighter. This means that the foot will decrease and approach the cherished 7 centimeters.

Women’s inability to move and stand up for themselves provoked atrocities on the part of men.

Andrea Dvorkin, in her work “Gynocide, or Chinese Footbinding,” writes: “A stepmother or aunt, when “binding her feet,” showed much more rigidity than her own mother. There is a description of an old man who took pleasure in hearing the crying of his daughters while bandaging…”

Another case is also given there. If the village was endangered, then the women with crippled lotus feet could not escape: “About 1931… the robbers attacked the family, and the women who had undergone the rite of “foot-binding” could not escape. The bandits, irritated by the women’s inability to move quickly, forced them to remove their bandages and shoes and run barefoot. They screamed in pain and refused, despite the beatings. Each bandit chose a victim and forced her to dance on sharp stones… The attitude towards prostitutes was even worse. Their hands were pierced with nails, the nails were pushed inside the body, they screamed in pain for several days, after which they died. A form of torture was the binding of a woman so that her legs were hanging in the air, with a brick tied to each toe until the toes were stretched or even torn off.

“Voluptuous Thighs”

Bandaged lotus feet were one of the most powerful Chinese sexual fetishes. Next to a weak, incapable of self-defense woman, any man felt like a “hero” – this was the basis of attraction. Men could do whatever they wanted to women with impunity, and they could not run or hide. Permissiveness tempts.

However, the irony was that, despite the exciting effect of deformed feet, men never saw them without shoes – the sight of a naked female leg was considered highly indecent. Even in the so-called “spring pictures”, Chinese erotic images, women were depicted naked but wearing shoes. The custom of bandaging feet in ancient China meant that men would see “lotus feet” only when shod.

One of the strongest erotic experiences was, for example, the contemplation of traces of tiny female feet in the snow.

The Chinese ideas about the consequences of such a mutilation were ambivalent: on the one hand, they allegedly made a woman chaste, on the other, sensual. The custom of bandaging legs in China led to the fact that due to the constant load on a small area, the legs of the thighs and buttocks swelled, became fuller, and men called them “voluptuous”.

At the same time, men were convinced that women with small lotus feet strengthened the muscles of the vagina with their walk, and touching them brought pleasure to the woman. Legs were considered too large if they were stable – for example, if a woman could withstand the wind. Chinese sexual aesthetics considered the art of walking, the art of sitting, standing, lying down, the art of adjusting the skirt and the art of any movement of the legs.

The small, perfectly shaped foot was compared to the new moon and spring bamboo shoots. It was believed that foot binding in ancient China turns the feet into “golden lotuses”.

One of the Chinese authors wrote: “If you take off your shoes and bandage, then aesthetic pleasure will be destroyed forever.” Before going to bed, the woman could only slightly loosen the bandages, changing her street shoes for slippers.

In 1915, a Chinese man wrote a satirical essay defending the custom of footbinding in China:

“Bandaging of the feet is a condition of life in which a man has a number of virtues, and a woman is satisfied with everything. Let me explain: I am a Chinese, a typical representative of my class. I was too often immersed in classical texts in my youth, and my eyes grew weak, my chest became flat, and my back was hunched. I do not have a strong memory, and in the history of previous civilizations there is still much that needs to be remembered before learning further. Among scientists, I am ignorant. I am timid and my voice trembles in conversation with other men. But in relation to a wife who has undergone a rite of binding her feet and is tied to the house (except for those moments when I take her in my arms and carry her in a palanquin), I feel like a hero, my voice is like a lion’s roar, my mind is like the mind of a sage. For her, I am the whole world, life itself.

And if you don’t bandage?

A woman with bandaged lotus feet was an indicator of a man’s status. It was believed that the less she was able to move, the more time she spent in idleness, the wealthier her husband.

For a long time it was believed that the tradition of footbinding in China existed only among the elite, but this was not the case. Bandaged feet could “pave the way” to a better life. The peasants, whose women were forced to work in the fields, did not bandage their feet as tightly as girls from good families, but the eldest daughter, who had high hopes for marriage, got it more than others.

Women with ordinary legs were despised, laughed at, mocked, they were excluded from society with its brutal laws. There were almost no chances for a successful marriage for such girls. They could not even get a job as servants in a rich house, because even servants from there had to go through the painful procedure of footbinding in China. So, girls preferred to go through torture, but not remain unmarried.

It was a monstrous practice of enslaving women. Girls were maimed by their own mothers to please the erotic fantasies of men.

A complete ban on footbinding in China was achieved only by the arrival of the Communists in 1949, although the emperor’s decree on the ban was issued as early as 1902.

The last pair of golden lotus feet was made in 1999. After that, a solemn closing ceremony of the shoe factory took place, and the goods remaining in the warehouse were donated to the ethnographic museum.

How to know if you have walking problems and how to fix it

Health

Column

January 25, 2019

If you are suffering from back pain, knee pain, hip pain and headaches, you should pay attention to the way you walk.

Anna Fedaka

Rehabilitologist, yoga teacher, healthy lifestyle expert, postnatal doula, author of a blog about perinatal yoga and functional fitness.

Correct and incorrect gait

In correct gait, the spine is straight, the head, shoulders and pelvis are almost motionless, the arms move in time with walking. The weight of the body moves smoothly from foot to foot, the step width does not exceed two foot lengths. With each step, some muscles relax, others contract, alternating. In general, more than 200 muscles are involved in walking.

If the normal walking mechanism is disturbed, the desired muscle does not turn on in time, and its antagonist does not relax. There is a violation of muscle balance. As a result, muscle spasms, tension, pain appear, some muscles shorten and other muscles weaken. You can try to correct this imbalance with massages, a chiropractor or an osteopath, but the problem will quickly return. After all, after the session, you will again reproduce the same motor errors that led you to the specialist.

Some causes of abnormal gait

One of the most common types of gait disorder is the dormant gluteal muscle. It should stabilize the pelvis when walking, but does not. There is a whole cascade of muscle imbalances and characteristic pains. Pelvic instability is accompanied by weakness of the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus and medius muscles, shortening of the piriformis, lumboiliac, quadratus psoas, obliques, and rectus femoris muscles. The function of the hip joint is disrupted, it begins to collapse and hurt, because it is on it that the load is redistributed.

The task of the gluteal muscle is to ensure that the leg is pushed forward during the step. Look at the photos of runners, they run with a straight body, without shifting the center of gravity forward, due to the strength of the gluteal muscles.

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If the gluteus muscle pushes the leg forward with each step, not only will the butt become prettier, but also:

• the pelvis will be stable, it will not change inclination, warp to the sides or twist;
• the load from the hip joints will go away, they will stop collapsing and hurting;
• the step will become freer, and the gait will become lighter and more beautiful.

And vice versa, if the gluteal muscle does not do its job, then:

• the lumboiliac and rectus femoris muscles gradually shorten, the step becomes heavy;
• quadratus lumborum shortens or overexerts;
• extensors of the back are overstrained, since the lumbar region is actively involved in the step;
• the pelvis becomes unstable;
• there are pains in the lower back, hip joints, knees.

Variants of incorrect gait

1. With each step, the pelvis tilts forward, there is a deflection in the lower back.

Photo of the author. Model — Serafima Konysheva, Iyengar yoga teacher

2. With each step, the pelvis twists left and right.

3. With each step, the weight is transferred to the hip joint, the pelvis is tilted.

Photo of the author. Model — Serafima Konysheva, Iyengar yoga teacher

4. Shuffling gait, legs dragging on the ground with every step.

Photo of the author. Model — Serafima Konysheva, Iyengar yoga teacher

An exercise that will help correct the gait

What should we do with the “sleeping” gluteal muscles? It is necessary to start work with the shortened lumboiliac muscles and the muscles of the anterior surface of the thigh: make them functionally long. Stretch, in simple terms. This will straighten the pelvis and allow the gluteus muscle to engage in daily activities.

It is better to start with a preparatory exercise. We will stretch the left lumboiliac and rectus femoris.

Stand straight on two legs, take the right back, the left should remain vertical in line with the body. Put your right foot on the toe and straighten it at the knee, without shifting the pelvis anywhere relative to the body. Already at this moment, you can feel the tension of the front surface of the thigh, in front of the hip joint or a little inside. Then it is necessary to stop at this position for the time being.

Photo of the author. Model – Serafima Konysheva, Iyengar yoga teacher

Note that the pelvis should not follow the outstretched leg. If this happens, then you just bend in the lower back and the exercise is useless. As you stop feeling any tension in your hip, move your leg further and further away.

In order for the gluteus muscle to participate in walking, the thigh must be stretched by about the length of a wide stride. For running, a little more.

If you perform this exercise for a week or two, you will notice that the step becomes freer, longer, there is a desire to “turn on” the gluteal muscles.

Prevention

Even if you don’t have any pain, it doesn’t hurt to include this exercise in your regular workouts. It is used in one form or another in many classes. For example, in yoga, this is the well-known virabhadrasana I. Pay attention to how it must be performed in order to get a therapeutic effect to improve gait.

On the left – the correct execution of the asana, on the right – incorrect.