Why you need a runner's pedicure

When you are duration up the miles, your feet area unit operating further onerous, therefore offer them some further tending with our foot care guide.

Sensitive soles? robust skin on your tootsies? Pounding the pavement will create disturbance on your feet and build coaching a painful expertise. Here’s our guide to beating the foremost common runner’s ailments and renewing your feet.

The problem: black toenails

This is the results of ill-fitting footwear (too tight or too small), that causes your toes to rub against the front of your trainers. If your nails area unit repeatedly pushed against the nail bed, bruising seems underneath the nail. Your toenails, particularly your huge toenail, might grow back yellow and thick later, thanks to exaggerated scleroprotein production.

The solution: Tackle robust toenails when a shower or shower once they’re soft. ‘Cut nails straight across, effort the perimeters of the nail still visible higher than the skin to stop in-growing toenails,’ says specialist Michael Harrison-Blount. Soak your feet during a bowl of heat water with [*fr1] a cup of Epsom salts to alleviate pain, soften skin and kill microorganism. Rub a sustenance E-enriched cuticle oil into the nails to nourish the nail bed. If the pain from black toenails is severe, and you have got the courageousness, it would be necessary to puncture the nail with a sterilised needle to unleash the pressure. Apply antiseptic cream later to avoid infection.

The problem: tough  skin

‘Hard skin and callouses area unit usually caused by excessive stress or friction on your foot, so that they tend to create on the heel, facet and ball of the foot,’ says Harrison-Blount. onerous skin will build your feet less versatile, and it will be uncomfortable once you are running.

The solution: ‘Moisturise and exfoliate your feet on a daily to stop onerous skin and callouses forming,’ says Harrison-Blount. alittle toughened skin can truly shield your feet against blisters. If you select a pedicure, don’t let the healer take away this, raise them to exfoliate your feet instead. ‘Hard skin will be step by step removed with a foot file, associate degreed applying an intensive moisturiser can keep skin soft,’ says Harrison-Blount. Visit a podiatrist if the onerous skin on your feet is cracked or painful.

The problem: blisters

‘Blisters area unit the results of friction that causes the higher layers of skin to rupture, forming a pocket that fills with liquid,’ says Harrison-Blount. Blisters will be terribly painful and might stop you coaching. once your feet area unit sweating and damp within ill-fitting shoes, this can be the right setting for a blister to create.

The solution: ‘Do not break the skin of a blister,’ warns Harrison-Blount. ‘Blister plasters can facilitate them heal, whereas forming a second skin that repels water, dirt and microorganism. Treat associate degree open blister by improvement with soap associate degreed water; cowl it with an antiseptic ointment before employing a protecting soft-gel dressing.’ to stop blisters occurring, avoid cotton socks as they preserve wetness. Synthetic, double-layer sports socks area unit the most effective. an honest runner’s tip is to smother your feet in petrolatum before putt your socks on to cut back friction.