Podiatrists always cringe when they see what has happened to patients who have donned tennis shoes that no longer properly fit the patients' feet. Just looking at what has happened to the toes, the toenails, and the feet can send anyone into empathetic spasms of pain. While exercise is most definitely good for you, and daily five-mile walks are great, you should always start with good, comfortable shoes with enough room in the toe boxes to wiggle your toes, and start out slowly to build to five miles instead of jumping into long walks warrior-style. Here are some of the much more unpleasant things you might experience wearing the wrong shoes and walking too much too soon.

Blood Blisters under the Toenails and Separation of the Nails from the Nail Beds

​Anyone who has ever experienced this knows exactly how terrifying and painful this is. Removing your shoes, you will see at least the two biggest toenails have turned purple or purple-black. They look horrible, and they feel as though someone has driven actual woodworking nails underneath the toenails.

If you take a day or two to rest, be sure to clip the nails back. A gush of blood and other fluids is likely to be released, and the pressure from the pooling fluids underneath the nail has already caused the nail to separate from the nail bed. A podiatrist will take this a step further by completely cutting the dead and loose nail away from each affected toe. Then you will have to keep these toes clean and bandaged until new nails begin to grow back over the exposed flesh. 

Blisters All Around

Ill-fitting shoes often cause blisters as well. Most of the time, the blisters are just on your heels. Repeatedly walking and wearing the same shoes causes the blisters to build and increase in size and fluid. You should never pop a blister because the blister skin and fluid is trying to protect the flesh underneath. However, in shoes that do not fit very well, the shoes may burst the fluid-filled sacs. If and when this happens, you should bandage the heels right away and try a different pair of shoes and/or tone down your exercise routine. 

Additionally, big and little toes may get blisters, and if you are flat-footed, the soles, arches, or balls of your feet may blister as well. Use bandages on all of these areas. Rest a few days if you can, or find better fitting shoes. Your podiatrist can help in regards to better shoes.

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