5 TIPS FOR HEALTHY FEET WHILE WORKING FROM HOME

How Has Work From Home Impacted Your Feet?

Enjoy this 2 minute read...

So we’ve been working from home, or just spending a lot of time at home for the last two years, and the impact on our health has been substantial. For some, our health has improved with a renewed focus on what is important to us. For others, health has deteriorated because of inactivity and additional stress.

From a foot and leg health perspective, what are the consequences of working from home? Well for one, if you have cut out hours of commuting time, your step count may be way down, or the frequency of movement may have reduced. For example, if you partake in a daily walk, this is great but previously you may have been walking much more, with travel to and from the GO-station, using public transport, walking the streets of downtown Toronto, going out for lunch, taking the stairs at your office, and many more lifestyle movements that are now obsolete. Now movement may be limited from the kitchen table to the fridge and back. This can have a considerable impact on our cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. Secondly, for the 8-10 hours we are at work previously, we were typically wearing well-structured (and hopefully Align custom fitted) footwear – now, you may be wearing socks in the house?

Let’s look at some easy ways to get optimal health for our feet and legs.

1. Use light compression socks for extended periods of sitting. Compression socks are an excellent way to maintain healthy circulation in your legs. Find out more of their amazing benefits here.
   
   
2. Bare feet, slippers, or both... but don't walk around in just your socks! While compression socks have benefits, walking in socks impedes our body’s natural sensory stimulation from the skin on the soles of our feet. Depending on your current foot health situation, a combination of being barefoot and wearing structured custom fitted slippers can do wonders for your body alignment (posture & movement biomechanics) and foot health. Not sure what ratio of barefoot to slippers is right for you, book a foot health check-up with one of our Align Clinicians or have a read through this great article that gives a deeper dive on this question.
   
   
3. Use a sensory massage ball to keep your feet flexible, comfortable, and pain free! In this video, Brandon, an Align Clinician, Canadian Certified Pedorthist and Registered Kinesiologist takes you through a quick 5-min video on how to look after your foot health while at your desk.
   
   
4. Take a movement break! At least once an hour, stand up and move around. If your feet hurt when you first stand up, pretend you are pumping the brake pedal in your car with your feet 10 times, before you stand up. This will loosen up the tissues including the plantar fascia and achilles tendon.
   
   
5. Finally, take the time to get yourself a healthy pedicure. You can take care of those precious feet with a proper foot moisturizer and using the proper tools for cutting and filing your nails.

As always, if you have any questions about your leg and foot health, reach out to the team at Align and we will be happy to help.