CHILDRENS FOOTHEALTH
The Society of Shoe Fitters’ Survey Back-To-School 2011
T
he Society of Shoe Fitters is extremely concerned at the increased number of children being referred to Podiatrists and G.P.’s. Retailers have reported seeing far more serious foot health problems than ever before i.e. Hallux Valgus, Ankle Valgus, heel bumps and Plantar Fasciitis etc. in children, and are tentatively referring children for treatment.
"Shops are seeing some dreadful feet and the start of acute health issues
more associated with the elderly” says Laura West, Secretary of the SSF. “This does not bode well for the nation’s health in general, as sore feet affect the way we walk, and this in turn can affect our entire physiology.” Legs, knees, back and neck pain – even migraine can all be attributed to the way we walk and ill-fitting footwear. “Sadly there is no legal obligation for anyone selling shoes to know
anything about feet or footwear - but there is a moral obligation!” says Laura. “Hairdressers, Tattooists, Nail Bars, Masseuse etc. all have government legislation to ensure that staff has a certain level of knowledge and qualification, but the footwear industry has never been regulated or received sufficient support.” “It would be impossible for a shop to be held responsible for a foot problem as the public buy numerous shoes from numerous outlets, but it is vital that staff are capable of giving advice and able to spot a problem occurring”. So what does the Society of Shoe Fitters think has changed or perceive
the problem to be? “There are some fantastic independent and multiple retailers who are responsible and do know what they are doing, but most of the problems are due to the lack of hands-on fitting. Shoes are often sold ‘self-service’ in supermarkets, markets and worse still online (as they are less likely to be returned) and copies of good quality footwear are often copied using cheaply made easily accessible fashion footwear from clothing
outlets. Younger children insist on wearing the latest fashion which is not suitable for their age, and they (and their parents) have no idea that they are actually storing up long term damage to their feet.” Society member Professor Wesley Vernon OBE has suggested that shops
may like to record the problems they are seeing to allow the SSF to present this to government. They are asking all shoe shops to monitor very simply what they see from August – September during the busy back-to-school period. A form can be downloaded from the SSF website. "It is time shops stood
together to stress the importance of fitting - regardless of being SSF qualified or not" said Laura. If you would like to be a part of this survey go to
www.shoefittersuk. org. Download the form and return it to the SSF office by the end of October.
Interesting feet facts • Children’s feet grow approximately 2mm a month. This means about three shoe sizes a year.
• When we walk our feet have to absorb the full weight of our bodies. When we jog they have to absorb two to three times the weight of our bodies.
• A foot has 26 bones. This is one quarter of all the bones in your body. It also has 33 joints, 107 ligaments and 19 muscles.
• The thickest skin (4 mm) in the body is on the soles of our feet. • There are over 7,000 nerve endings in the feet. They send out nerve impulses that play an important role when we move.
• From childhood to old age we walk a distance of 1,000,000 km. The distance around the equator is 40,075.017 kilometres, so that means almost 25 times round the world.
40 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• SEPTEMBER 2011
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