The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-06-08

chine or driving an automobile. it
becomes no wonder that the me-
chanism should break down.
The result of any such break
down is pain, either in the foot or
in the calf muscles or in the knee
on prolonged standing and walk
ing, or sometimes general fatigue
and irrltability without any spe-
cial localization in the foot. All of
this used to be called fiat foot"
and is now generally called foot
strain.
The nature of the difficulty used
to be ascribed to a breakdown in
the arches of the bones of the foot,
but with the introduction of the
term foot strain" more emphasis
is put on the muscles of the fore
leg. These large muscles send ten
dons down TO the toes and around
the arch of the foot and it is their
tone and action which keeps the
arches Of the bones of the feet in
place.
Tired Muscles
More often than anything else
foot strain is due to weakness and
firing of these muscles. To show
how common this foot strain is,
in a group Of probationer nurses
there was an average of one nurse
a week obliged to be off duty on
account of foot strain. Proba-
toner nurses, when they begin
their career, rather suddenly
change from habits where they can
rest a good part of the time, to
p long hours with much standing.
Following this line of thought
out, orthopedic surgeons believe
that exercises to develop the
muscles of the foreleg are far more
valuable in correcting foot strain
than special shoes, arch supports
or any Of the old-fashioned cum
bersome appliances. These exer-
cises must be carried out persis-
tently. The arch supports may
give temporary relief while the
exercises are being done to
strengthen the muscles.
This new conception Of fat foot
invalldates malv of our concep-
tons, because painful feet may
occur either in fiat feet, moderately
arched feet or highly arched feet.
In fact, many candidates for the
city police and fire departments
who appear to have fiat feet have
really very strong feet and use
them perfectly. When many of
these men stand, they certainly
have fiat feet, but when they walk
or run their weight-bearing lines
are perfect.
This idea also has some bearing
on the question of modern shoes
and high heels which commonly
come in for a berating from n.y.
gienists, but the question Of
whether a shoe is harmful or not
depends on the kind of foot and
the kind Of foreleg muscle that
wearer has. A prominent ortho-
pedic surgeon says about the
various attempts to legislate the
heights Of heels that zone may as
well try to legislate window glass
for spectacles, because no two feet
are alike"
According to some insurance
companies, growing pains in child
rem are due to rheumatism. NY
friend, the orthopedic surgeon,
says that 999 out Of l 900 cases are
due to foot strain. By strengthen
ing the muscles Of the forelegs, it
is possible to do away with the
necessity of artificial support of
the feet in great many cases.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
V. NJ; Should l train my child
to use his right hand instead Of
his left one? The child is just one
year old and seems to persist in
using the left hand and we would
prefer him to use his right one.
Does changing hands cause slut
tering?
Answer: In my opinion il child
is left-handed he should be allowed
to be left-handed. | think it also
. tends to cause suffering to change
from natural left-handedness to
right-handedness. What difference
does it make which hand he uses
Well, I'm not surprised that they
didn't pick a time especially suitet
to our convenience.
Nevertheless, wouldn't II hav,
been a humorous Juncture for
feet Of their planes to swish owe
.us2 You're looking for US" the
could have hollered, and here vi
are registering present"
They probably thought It would