Calluses
The formation of calluses begins with friction, rubbing and shearing motion against the skin of the foot. In the beginning, blisters will start to form. As the motion, pressure and friction continues, the skin will start to become very hard, creating what is known as a callus, which is a hard piece of skin.
The top layer of skin is dead skin. If the motion and friction remains in the same area, the callus will continue to become much harder and thicker as time goes on.
The most common area for calluses to build up on the foot is around the bottom of the heel area, particularly for people that go barefoot a great deal, and for people that wear sandals.
Other areas that are quite common for the foot to callus are on the side of the big toe, or on the side and bottom of the ball of the foot. You can also get calluses on the outside of the foot where there is pressure and motion that is triggered by an ill fitting shoe, or the shape of shoe that you happen to be using.
If these calluses are left untreated, particularly around the heel, as they become very thick and eventually they will start to crack.
If you have areas on your feet where you get a large amount of callus build-up, that is an indication that you need to help to stabilize the foot within the shoe and re-evaluate the shoe size and the fit of the shoes that you are wearing.
A solution to help reduce the calluses would be first, to have them medically treated and to have them properly removed, shaved down, or sanded down. Then, follow-up with a supportive footbed like Superfeet, or an orthotic. And last, have the shoe evaluated and possibly modified to fit the shape of your foot so that it reduces any pressure points. Another option is to have certain areas of the shoe padded or reworked so that it fits your foot much closer and you don't have excessive motion when you walk, run or do other activities.
If there is a large callus build-up on the side of the big toe and at the ball of the foot, this is an indication of over-pronation in the rearfoot. As the foot hits the ground and starts to pronate, the foot will elongate and you will start to get pressure on the side of the big toe and at the ball of the foot. When the foot leaves the ground, instead of the big toe flexing and the foot leaving the ground pointed straight ahead, the foot will actually rotate and swivel to the outside. Therefore, you will be pushing off the side of the big toe and the side of the ball of the foot instead of allowing the foot to leave the ground going straight ahead.
This is how the callus formation starts to build up on the side of the big toe and the side of the ball of the foot, due to the fact that the foot is rotating sideways instead of moving forward in a line of straight progression.
One of the recommendations for softening up calluses is after you have cleaned the feet, either from a hot bath or a hot shower, before you dry the feet off, rub moisturizing lotion into the foot so the lotion can get into the pores of the foot before the pores close. In some instances this will help soften the calluses from the inside-out, helping to soften the skin of the callus so that it will slowly flake away, and the skin underneath it can remain soft. Eventually the callus may disappear if you properly take care of other areas in regards to the footbed and proper shoe type.
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