The painful foot.

The inventive physician may find ways of making releasing cuts or openings with existing shoes to alleviate points of pressure. Many patients will suffer misery of pressure in shoes without giving a thought to cutting them, or opening them to allow for more freedom of movement. Releasing cuts may be made along seams, or between sole and upper with leather inserts to increase shoe size at points of major need for improved fit. Soft shoes may be resorted to. Elasticized material or sandals are preferable to the hard, resistant leather which aggravates so many lesions in our offices. Shoes custom made for disordered feet are very expensive. They may have to be ordered for some feet deformed beyond the capacity for ordinary shoes. Again, unless foot care is convenient and helpful in offsetting pain, the patient will usually not comply. Careful explanation of objectives for present and future is as important here as in any condition treated by family practitioners.