Nota Bene Promotes Foot Wellness

• • • • •
Foot wellness is the foundation for your future health and mobility. You already know that uncomfortable shoes can make a long day, a wedding, or a walk to lunch less fun. But imagine as the years go by, trying to run or walk after bunion surgery, metatarsalgia, or you have exaggerated the natural thinning of the cushioning under the balls of your feet. You will not be able to buy new feet. You have to keep them well!

No high heel is healthy. Period. Really. But for fascinating social and cultural reasons women make logical, sound decisions to wear high heels and snug-fitting dress shoes. For women who need to wear dress shoes and heels, Nota Bene makes the best out of a challenging environment for feet. Wearing Nota Bene shoes cannot make your feet healthier. But wearing Nota Bene shoes will help you minimize damage to your feet associated with wearing heels and dress shoes. If you are going to wear a heel or dress shoe for a long day, an event with lots of standing around, or a-lot-of-walking-airport-type day, Nota Bene shoes are the ones you want to wear.

For average, mostly-healthy feet, there are four things to keep in mind to maintain foot wellness.

1. Properly Fitting Dress Shoes.
Genetics plays a role in foot problems; but, the environment in which you keep your feet for 2/3 of every day can be an even bigger contributor. You can ruin you feet with bad shoes. Too small a toe box and you may get not only blisters, but lateral compression of your toes as well as the metatarsals and nerves between them. Too aggressively angled a toe box can accelerate a tendency toward bunions. Too shallow a toe box can cause pressure on your toenails that damages your nail beds. Heels that don’t fit properly and set you up in a neutral position at heel strike can aggravate joint problems from your toes and arch to your back.

• All your toes need room to lie out flat. If you can wiggle them, you’re probably good.
• The ball of your foot should not be compressed laterally. A snug hold is okay, even necessary to hold on some shoes. But the ball of your foot is a high-performance lever and spring. It needs room to work!
• Your heel should almost, but not quite slip.
• Your shoes should help your feet and ankles and knees align in neutral positions.

Picture Perfect Fit
For detailed information on fit see. . .

2. Quality Dress Shoes.
Because of their sleek line, in dress shoes, quality has a big impact on both comfort and long-term foot health. For dress shoes, quality starts with leathers. What materials do diabetics and people with serious foot problems wear? Soft leather shoes with light-colored, non-staining leather linings. Why? Because these are the most protective, gentle, and forgiving materials available for shoes. This is a standard of quality everyone should try to achieve — not just people with serious foot problems. Quality dress shoes use only leathers that are soft and conforming. A beautiful, fantastically fashionable shoe is NOT quality if it is hard and inflexible!

Quality dress shoes also have flexible but protective outsoles; they bend slightly at the ball, but not elsewhere. Cushioning insoles and mid-soles also indicate quality of design, and can offer significant protection from the wear and tear of walking on hard, paved surfaces. Some rubber outsoles can be helpful with weather, or even offer some shock-absorption, but they never achieve the right level of friction for natural walking the way leather outsoles do.

In quality dress shoes, the heels are both protective and balanced. Quality dress shoes have heels that are hard enough to absorb and re-distribute the force of heel strike away from a single point on your own heel. Heels of quality dress shoes are also balanced to keep your feet and legs in neutral alignment. Take a look at some of Nota Bene’s design elements that create the quality and comfort active women need in their dress shoes.

3. Pedicures and Regular Foot Care.
Pedicures are not just a luxurious indulgence. Regular foot care can help keep your feet in excellent condition. Here is why: They increase circulation. They prevent natural callus build-up from becoming dry and cracked, making your feet vulnerable to infection, and painful cracks. They keep your nails in good condition. They help keep you aware of their health and condition just by forcing you to look at them carefully and regularly. So, even if you never have or will paint your toenails, think about either a professional or at home pedicure once or twice a month.

That said, a good daily scrubbing and lotioning of feet is not to be underrated. The soles of your feet have no oil glands. But they do have an incredible number of sweat glands. Removing the dried sweat and reducing the load of accompanying bacteria can take you a long way to eliminating foot odor. And if that is a persistent problem, consider wiping down the linings of your shoes with anti-bacterial wipes. Always make sure your shoes have enough time to to dry out.

4. Stretching.
Stretching your feet is just as important as stretching the rest of your body. You want to maintain full range of motion and increase circulation. Make sure to stretch toes, as well as the tendons, muscles, and ligaments above and below your arch. It is also a good idea to vary the height of heels you wear.

• • • • •	Foot wellness is the foundation for your future health and mobility. You already know that uncomfortable shoes can make a long day, a wedding, or a walk to lunch less fun. But imagine as the years go by, trying to run or walk after bunion surgery, metatarsalgia, or you have exaggerated the natural thinning of the cushioning under the balls of your feet. You will not be able to buy new feet. You have to keep them well! No high heel is healthy. Period. Really. But for fascinating social and cultural reasons women make logical, sound decisions to wear high heels and snug-fitting dress shoes. For women who need to wear dress shoes and heels, Nota Bene makes the best out of a challenging environment for feet. Wearing Nota Bene shoes cannot make your feet healthier. But wearing Nota Bene shoes will help you minimize damage to your feet associated with wearing heels and dress shoes. If you are going to wear a heel or dress shoe for a long day, an event with lots of standing around, or a-lot-of-walking-airport-type day, Nota Bene shoes are the ones you want to wear.
For average, mostly-healthy feet, there are four things to keep in mind to maintain foot wellness.
1. Properly Fitting Dress Shoes. Genetics plays a role in foot problems; but, the environment in which you keep your feet for 2/3 of every day can be an even bigger contributor. You can ruin you feet with bad shoes. Too small a toe box and you may get not only blisters, but lateral compression of your toes as well as the metatarsals and nerves between them. Too aggressively angled a toe box can accelerate a tendency toward bunions. Too shallow a toe box can cause pressure on your toenails that damages your nail beds. Heels that don’t fit properly and set you up in a neutral position at heel strike can aggravate joint problems from your toes and arch to your back. • All your toes need room to lie out flat. If you can wiggle them, you’re probably good. • The ball of your foot should not be compressed laterally. A snug hold is okay, even necessary to hold on some shoes. But the ball of your foot is a high-performance lever and spring. It needs room to work! • Your heel should almost, but not quite slip. • Your shoes should help your feet and ankles and knees align in neutral positions.		Picture Perfect Fit For detailed information on fit see. . .
2. Quality Dress Shoes. Because of their sleek line, in dress shoes, quality has a big impact on both comfort and long-term foot health. For dress shoes, quality starts with leathers. What materials do diabetics and people with serious foot problems wear? Soft leather shoes with light-colored, non-staining leather linings. Why? Because these are the most protective, gentle, and forgiving materials available for shoes. This is a standard of quality everyone should try to achieve — not just people with serious foot problems. Quality dress shoes use only leathers that are soft and conforming. A beautiful, fantastically fashionable shoe is NOT quality if it is hard and inflexible! Quality dress shoes also have flexible but protective outsoles; they bend slightly at the ball, but not elsewhere. Cushioning insoles and mid-soles also indicate quality of design, and can offer significant protection from the wear and tear of walking on hard, paved surfaces. Some rubber outsoles can be helpful with weather, or even offer some shock-absorption, but they never achieve the right level of friction for natural walking the way leather outsoles do. In quality dress shoes, the heels are both protective and balanced. Quality dress shoes have heels that are hard enough to absorb and re-distribute the force of heel strike away from a single point on your own heel. Heels of quality dress shoes are also balanced to keep your feet and legs in neutral alignment. Take a look at some of Nota Bene’s design elements that create the quality and comfort active women need in their dress shoes.
	3. Pedicures and Regular Foot Care. Pedicures are not just a luxurious indulgence. Regular foot care can help keep your feet in excellent condition. Here is why: They increase circulation. They prevent natural callus build-up from becoming dry and cracked, making your feet vulnerable to infection, and painful cracks. They keep your nails in good condition. They help keep you aware of their health and condition just by forcing you to look at them carefully and regularly. So, even if you never have or will paint your toenails, think about either a professional or at home pedicure once or twice a month. That said, a good daily scrubbing and lotioning of feet is not to be underrated. The soles of your feet have no oil glands. But they do have an incredible number of sweat glands. Removing the dried sweat and reducing the load of accompanying bacteria can take you a long way to eliminating foot odor. And if that is a persistent problem, consider wiping down the linings of your shoes with anti-bacterial wipes. Always make sure your shoes have enough time to to dry out.
4. Stretching. Stretching your feet is just as important as stretching the rest of your body. You want to maintain full range of motion and increase circulation. Make sure to stretch toes, as well as the tendons, muscles, and ligaments above and below your arch. It is also a good idea to vary the height of heels you wear.