Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 288, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1918 — Don’t Turn Out Your Toes Or You’ll Get Flat Feet; High Heels No Guarantee [ARTICLE]

Don’t Turn Out Your Toes Or You’ll Get Flat Feet; High Heels No Guarantee

Do you turn your toes out farther than necessary when you walk? A good many people do, asserts an expert, and there are two reasons why the practice is a bad one —for one thing, it gives an awkward and affected gait, which may even be a mincing gait if the habit is very pronounced; for another thing, it is apt to produce flatfoot, that unsightly and often painful disability./ One hears a, good deal about flatfoot these days, and it is shocking’ how many otherwise able and efficient candidates for the army have to be turned down "by physical examiners because of this disability—flatfoot. So much attention is being paid to the welfare 1 of the foot now that flatfoot is likely to be far less prevalent In the next generation, but those who have been fortunate enough to escape the trouble so far In this generation should be very careful not to let it come upon them. The common causes of flatfoot are Improper shoes and faulty ways of walking or standing. Flatfoot will not be prevented, as many women seem to fancy, by the continuous wearing of high heels. There are people who wear healiess tennis shoes all summer long without Injury to the arch of the foot It all depends on the way one steps. Barefoot people for the most part walk with the toes pointing straight forward —if anything a trifle inward. The Indian always walks in this way; so—if you will note —does the barefoot lad in the country. The toes in this method of walking get- a firm grip on the ground and help to propel the body forward. To avoid flatfoot wear supple, roomy shoes and take care not to toe out excessively. Make all the toes do their work in propelling the body forward.