Considering how hard they work, most of us don't treat our feet very kindly. We ignore them, squeeze them into badly-fitting shoes and never give them a second thought until they start to hurt. In an average lifetime, a pair of feet will walk around 120,000 kms, so it's no surprise that around 40 per cent of us will have some form of foot problems at some time in their life. Most of these problems could be avoided by wearing the right kind of shoes. Badly fitting shoes are also a common cause of falls.
Many people slip, trip or stumble because of a slippery sole or a heel that's too high.
Wearing safe, supportive shoes is a good way of keeping feet healthy and of preventing falls. This is good advice for us all - but especially for older people. Falls can cause serious injury at any age, but the older you are, the harder it is to recover. A fall is the most common injury that results in people over the age of 60 being admitted to hospital. Thirty per cent of these admissions are for a fracture of the hip.