Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-08-02

M class condition are essential to efficiency; for
w even if your occupation does not require
much walking, you cannot work While suffering
the discomforts of corns, bunions or fallen arches
To have sound feet, it is necessary first of all
to learn how to use them correctly, and how to
avoid abusing them. You must also know how to
choose footwear, how to care for your feet, and
how to attend to their minor ailments.
We have to get over the idea that the foot is
prop 1t is not a prop and the less we use it as a
prop and the more We use 1t to get about with, the
better of We 1t is the tendency Of modern life
to the foot great deal for standing. In print
tive life it used little for standing Among
savage tribes when men not walking they are
sitting, but in modern life great many occupa-
lions require standing, and standing without resi-
for good many hours in the course OF the day.
The waiter is a well-known instance of this type
of occupation. He is his feet and standing stin
for a great deal Of the time. The butcher and the
grocer are other instances and a great deal OF
clerical work is done standing the feet. OF late
years efforts have been made to give people the
opportunity to sit down whenever it is possible.
The heel bone is not directly underneath the body,
but is placed at considerable angle to the outside
consequently, in standing, the foot is only kept
square by a constant effort of the muscles on the
other side. You tire out these muscles and liga-
ments, and then instead of letting your weight
come down on a definite arched surface, you gradu-
ally give way, and presently the muscles are ex-
hausted and make further effort The foot is
consequently painful and it has lost its shape that
of arch. This is the great trouble in STANDING
for any great length of time and is thing to be
avoided just as much as possible. Wnen we have
to stand should try to shift the weight from
foot to the other as not to Overture ono set
of muscles. Sit down when possible
Walking is, of course, fairly simple motion
and what the foot primarily designed for, but
a great many people walk badly. 1t is a common
expression to say that person is good walker
or a poor walker. Difficulty in walking often starts
very early in 1ife, with small children Children
are either so heavy that the foot gives way, or they
have been sick for long time and the muscles
have not developed, they have been walking in
improper shoes. The last is one of the chief rea-
sons for difficulty in walking in adults, and to
great extent II children. So we should consider
always, both in walking and standing, that we
should strain the foot just little as possible In
standing as we'll in walking, the best position
is with the foot parallel The old idea OF standing
with feet spread out has been given up.
If bad habits have been developed, if the foot
is rolling over to side and is very weak and
easily tired out, how are these tatits to be over
come? The best way is to practice walking by the
proper method. That seems very simple, but 1t is
not as simple you would imagine. The move
ments of the foot require regular training in the
proper way. In the first place you should walk
with the foot straight ahead, one foot parallel TO
the other Practically all savage tribes walk with
one foot almost directly ahead of the other; the
Indians, for example, never toed out. waking
should not be a stiff, heavy gait, but spring on
the anterior arch of the foot The springy gait is
the important thing, for that brings into play Doth
tbe big muscle of the calf and the other two
muscles so with all the muscles functonating
properly and normally, they keep in their normal
condition If walks slowly, he forms the habit
of making all the muscles from the knee work and
the foot becomes simply balancing apparatus or
course in walking in the footgear that we do, the
front part of the not allowed to develop as
much as it would in normal, primitive conditions.
There are various ways of training the foot
lv shoe arches etc. and this is often necessary II
the foot has degenerated beyond certain point.
In order to get rid of this support we should get
into the habit of exercising the muscles that nave
become weak by improper use, and there are sew
eral simple exercises which accomplish a great
deal although most of are too lazy to spend ten
minutes day to make the foot do its own work
One simple exercise is simply to stand with the
foot parallel and the knees straight and try to