Always protect your feet
Do not walk barefoot even inside the room. This may help to prevent stepping on sharp objects like pins, blades, pebbles, fish bones and nails.

Wear suitable footwear inside and outside your home to avoid injuring your feet

· Aim for comfortable shoes that fit well

· The best shoes have a broad toe box, low heel, no stitching/rough seams on the inside and should hold your feet firmly in place.

· Avoid wearing high heeled, tight and pointed shoes

· If you have been told you have nerve damage (neuropathy), don’t rely on your feet being able to tell you how well your shoes fit. You may be better off having your feet measured and fitted for the right shoe.

· Shake your shoes out and examine the inside and the bottom of your shoes for foreign and sharp objects such as nails, pins, buttons, stones and other things that can cause sores, before putting on your shoes.

· Buy new shoes late in the day. This is because feet become more swollen towards the end of the day and you can be more sure that your shoes are not too tight and fit well.

· Break in your new shoes slowly: - New shoes should be worn for approximately half an hour - one hour on the first day, two hours the next day and so forth until they are comfortable to wear all day. Check to see if they have rubbed anywhere on the feet, as this means the shoes do not fit well.

· If you wear socks/stockings, try to make sure they are not too tight. They should be worn with the seams inside out, or preferably have no seams at all. Socks should preferably be made of cotton and wool. Change and wash them daily. Do not wear socks with holes.

Things to avoid

· Don’t use a heater or hot water bottle or other heat sources to warm your toes.

· Avoid putting your feet next to a fire/radiator

· Avoid walking barefoot as much as possible. If this cannot be avoided because of cultural or religious reasons, you must be extremely careful, so as to try to avoid the attendant risk of injury to the feet and burns of the feet from hot surfaces in hot climates like ours.

· Do not try to remove corns or calluses or treat your feet with corn medications, chemicals, blades or knives

· Avoid becoming overweight

· Don’t smoke. Smoking damages the supply of blood to your feet

· Don’t wear jewellery on your feet.

· Avoid crossing your legs because they may slow blood supply to your feet.