Foot Lock! What You Get From Standing Too Long And How To Prevent It

I have been standing in these shoes all day! 

My Feet Hurt! Maybe the pain will go away…….

Those are six very dangerous words, maybe the pain will go away….

An activity as simple as standing all day can lead to pain in your feet. So you need to know how to protect your feet when you’re stuck standing for hours on end, especially on a hard surface.

Besides the stress of prolonged standing, the architecture of the foot can also increase the symptoms from pre-existing conditions: Plantar fasciitis refers to the inflammation of the fascia under the heel. Flat or tilted feet (from heel pronation) and bony spurs in the base of the ankle may make the condition worse. 

Achilles tendonitis results from over stretching of the Achilles tendon. Bunions at the side of the big toe may arise because of heel pronation and may be aggravated by narrow shoe boxes (the area in front of the shoe) and prolonged standing. Corns on top of the toes may be aggravated by scraping against the inside of your shoe.

WHAT ARE POSSIBLE HEALTH SYMPTOMS FROM STANDING ON YOUR FEET TOO LONG?

The most common symptom from prolonged standing on your feet, and usually the first to occur, is discomfort and fatigue in the legs.

The closer the body part is to the ground, the more likely it will be affected by prolonged standing (i.e. the feet are most often affected, followed by the shins and calves, followed by the knees, thighs, hips and low back). However, symptoms from working on your feet may reach to the top of your body. In some studies neck pain symptoms have been related to prolonged standing at work!

Beyond simple fatigue and discomfort, more serious health effects can result from working on your feet for long hours.

In lab experiments people could not distinguish fatigue in their legs from whole-body fatigue. Therefore, that whole-body fatigue feeling could be related to working on your feet.

Some of these are: Low Back Pain, Painful feet and other foot problems, Plantar Fasciitis and Heel Spurs, Orthopedic changes in the feet (e.g. flat feet), Restricted blood flow, Swelling in the feet and legs, Varicose veins, Increased chance of arthritis in the knees and hips

WHAT CAUSES THESE PROBLEMS?

Joint compression: Gravity squeezes your joints under the weight of your body. Each body part is compressed by all of the sections of the body above it. (For example, your hips are compressed by your head, arms and torso, but your feet are compressed by the weight of your whole body!)

Compressing a joint is like squeezing a sponge – body fluids are squeezed out of the space in the joint. Without body fluids and circulation, your joints become malnourished, and cannot continue to support the weight of your body. Wear and tear of body parts occurs.

Postural muscle fatigue: Postural muscles keep your body from falling over while you’re standing. Standing for a long time forces these muscles to work without a rest. Without rest these muscles become exhausted, resulting in pain.

These effects are like working without lunch. Joints and muscles get their “lunch” from circulation, and need rest breaks to recoup from bouts of work. Think how you would feel without lunch!

Insufficient venous blood return in the legs: Gravity pulls blood down into your feet. One way that blood is pushed back up to your heart is through cyclic muscle contractions, often called a “muscle pump“. If the muscles are engaged in one long contraction (sustained contraction) to keep you standing, they cannot produce a ‘muscle pump” effect. Continuous muscle contractions also hinder circulation of body fluids.

Keeping the body in an upright position requires considerable muscular effort that is particularly unhealthy even while standing motionless. It effectively reduces the blood supply to the loaded muscles. Insufficient blood flow accelerates the onset of fatigue and causes pain in the muscles of the legs, back and neck (these are the muscles used to maintain an upright position).

Read the rest of the article for tips on how to treat and prevent foot lock here:  https://teamdoctorsblog.com/2012/03/31/video-tutorial-159-foot-lock-what-you-get-from-standing-all-day-how-it-negatively-affects-your-health-and-how-to-prevent-it/