Autumn has a habit of changing everything at once. One week your feet are in sandals; the next they’re back in socks and boots, splashing through wet pavements while the heating goes on indoors. Good autumn foot care comes down to easing into your autumn shoes, keeping your feet and footwear dry, moisturising regularly and catching small problems before your boots hide them.
Check Your Autumn Shoes Before Living In Them Again
Before you pull last year’s boots on and forget about them until spring, give them a proper look. Check for worn insoles, damaged linings, rigid seams and flattened cushioning, and make sure there’s still room around your toes. If a seam rubs or a boot presses somewhere it shouldn’t, don’t assume your foot simply needs to ‘break it in’. Rubbing and pressure are what cause corns and calluses, so a boot that hurts now is worth sorting now.
Check the soles too. We see plenty of twisted ankles every autumn when wet, rotting leaves turn pavements into skating rinks, so make sure your shoes still grip.
Waterproof boots are a good idea, as long as you’re smart about it. Wear them with moisture-wicking socks, take them off and let your feet air when you can, and rotate between a couple of pairs. Shoes take 24 to 48 hours to dry out properly, so putting the same pair straight back on the next morning defeats the point.
Keep Your Feet Dry When The Weather Isn’t
Damp feet are more than uncomfortable: wet or sweaty feet make athlete’s foot more likely. Change damp socks as soon as you can, put on clean, breathable socks every day, and dry your feet carefully after washing, especially between your toes.
If autumn rain catches you out, stuff your shoes with newspaper and give them a day off rather than squeezing your feet back into them while they’re still damp.
Don’t Give Fungal Infections A Cosy New Home
Sandals let your feet breathe. Boots don’t, and the warm, dark, sweaty environment inside shoes is the ideal breeding ground for fungus.
One thing we see surprisingly often is itchy athlete’s foot flaring up during those unexpectedly warm autumn days. People have already moved into heavier shoes, the temperature jumps, and their feet spend the whole day sweating inside them. If the forecast is warm, choose lighter shoes if you can, and take a spare pair of socks.
Moisturise Dry Skin Before It Starts Cracking
Central heating is one of the causes of dry skin, and heels don’t start autumn from a good place: dry, cracked heels are often worse after a summer in open-backed shoes like sandals. Covering them with socks doesn’t fix them.
We see heels split and crack painfully once the weather turns and the heating goes on. Moisturise your feet every day, ideally morning and night, and all over the foot but not between the toes. It soaks in best about 10 minutes after a bath or shower. Pay particular attention to your heels. Softening dry skin now is much easier than waiting until a crack opens up and hurts every time you walk.
Keep On Top Of Nails And Hard Skin
Once feet disappear into socks, it’s surprisingly easy to stop looking at them. Keep checking your nails and skin rather than waiting until something hurts.
Trim your toenails straight across. Closed autumn shoes mean nails spend far more time under pressure and with less air around them than they did all summer, which is why toenail care needs more attention once the boots come out. Watch for hard skin building up where heavier footwear presses, and if hard skin or a corn develops, don’t cut it off yourself.
Don’t Ignore New Foot Pain
The most common autumn problem we see is sharp heel pain in people who’ve gone straight from flat summer sandals into stiff boots. That sudden change can strain the tissue under the foot, so ease into your autumn footwear over a week or two rather than switching overnight.
Changing shoes can also uncover rubbing, pressure points, and arch or forefoot pain. New pain is information, not something your feet need to learn to put up with. Foot pain that persists, gets worse or starts changing the way you walk is worth having assessed.
When Should You See A Podiatrist?
If autumn has uncovered persistent pain, cracked skin that isn’t healing, athlete’s foot that keeps coming back, painful corns or calluses, troublesome nails or signs of infection, it’s time to get it checked. If you have diabetes, circulation problems or reduced feeling in your feet, don’t self-treat corns, hard skin, cracks or nail problems at all. Let us look at them.
Our Northwich podiatrists can assess what’s going on and help you get your feet through autumn and into the colder months in good shape.
