In summer you want to do healthy exercise with little effort, such as taking walks along the beach, with the sea breeze on your face and the tickling of the waves on your feet. This practice has always been thought to be good for health, but is it really so? The answer is that not in all cases or in any way, since it can have drawbacks.
It is common for people to get excited and start walking distances on vacation that they never cover during the year and to which they are not used to, something that is not positive, although it is not the main problem, explains Rosario Correa, president of the Official College of Podiatrists from Andalusia, a community with more than 800 kilometers of coastline that in summer is filled with people who suffer from different pathologies due to this practice.
The most important evil of walking barefoot along the shore is the inclination of the ground, since this forces other parts of the body such as the lateral ligaments of the foot, the muscles or the hips and tendonitis, muscle overload or pain in the knees. back, among other ailments. In coastal areas with a considerable unevenness, we force one of the legs to exert more effort than the other, forcing bones, muscles and feet inappropriately, explains Correa.
“There are people who have been telling that they have walked the path forcing one leg to go and the other to return, but it does not compensate what you go and what you come back, you have done it wrong twice,” says the podiatrist.
“At the end of the summer, around September, there is a fairly considerable increase in the number of plantar fasciitis due to overload,” confirms María Herreros, a podiatrist at Podoactiva, a leading company in biomechanical podiatry nationwide that works with elite athletes such as Spanish Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the Spanish soccer team or Real Madrid.
“It’s not that it’s bad to go barefoot, in fact it has many advantages, for example for muscle relaxation, but it’s true that it’s not good for everyone” or in any circumstance, Herreros clarifies.
Another of the problems that this practice can cause is that the beach also has a large number of elements that sting, such as fragments of shells or pebbles, this causes micro-wounds to occur on the feet that we are sometimes not aware of, but that make us more vulnerable, for example to catch infections, fungi or plantar papillomas.
These diseases are also very common in summer: “viruses, for example, that can be on the shore of the beach, as well as in swimming pools, in showers or anywhere, take advantage of any situation of vulnerability to enter the body” and those small wounds are an open door for them, Correa tells La Vanguardia. In addition, “the feet when they are wet are also more vulnerable to this type of attack by fungi, viruses, etc”, he adds, so the shoreline of the beach could be a good breeding ground for them.
“It is not recommended for the elderly due to the instability of the terrain on the beach, also for those who have previous injuries or for users of insoles,” explains Herrera.
Diabetics are also a vulnerable group when it comes to walking barefoot on the sand because in many cases they have greater insensitivity in their feet, this means that, for example, they are able to walk on dry and hot sand without realizing that they are burning The same happens when they walk along the shore, where fragments of shells can get stuck and inadvertently make small wounds or ulcers, which are also more difficult to close.
A good practice for those who want to continue enjoying the pleasure of taking long walks along the shore is to do so with suitable footwear, advises the Podoactiva professional.
Walking in flip flops, especially the kind that sticks a strap between the toes, is another reason why patients go to podiatrists in the summer, as it is a type of shoe that is not we are used to it and we have to make an extra effort so that they do not fall, the fingers get stiff and plantar fasciitis occurs, both podiatrists interviewed by La Vanguardia agree.
In addition, it would be advisable to choose an area with the least unevenness possible, each beach is different and in many of them, when the tide is low, there may be a less inclined ground and with an adequate hardness for stability and not to force the body.
Do not forget to put sunscreen on your feet as well, an area that sometimes goes unnoticed, but the insteps also burn like any other part of the body. In addition, when walking along the shore, just as if they were submerged in the pool water, the cream is removed sooner and therefore, they are unprotected from the sun.
Thus, taking walks along the shore is a good practice, although not for everyone, and it is advisable to do it with sports shoes or comfortable ones, on stable floors and as smooth as possible and be attentive to any ailment to change this habit. if necessary.
