End-of-Summer Foot Care Tips
As summer winds down, back-to-school routines, weekend hikes, and transitioning shoes place new demands on your feet and ankles. Without proper support, this seasonal shift can bring heel pain, ankle sprains, and tendinitis. As a podiatrist, I see these injuries this time of year, and some are preventable.
Daily exercises make a real difference. Try towel scrunches (curling a towel with your toes), calf stretches, and resistance-band ankle circles, three sets of 15 each. These build the intrinsic muscles that protect joints on uneven ground and during increased activity.
Sandal season fades, so choose footwear wisely. Pack away unsupportive flip-flops in favor of stable walking shoes or sneakers with structured heel counters, midsoles, and ankle support, especially as you head into busier days.
For patients with flat feet, high arches, or chronic heel pain, custom orthotics redistribute pressure and improve biomechanical imbalances, providing relief no over-the-counter insert can match.
Your feet carry you through every season. Set them up for success.
Traveling Internationally With Kids: A Travel Pro's Checklist
Few things beat watching your children discover the world, though getting there tests any parent. After years of planning family trips abroad, here is what I make sure travelers handle before they fly:
- Confirm each passport has six months' validity beyond your dates, and note children's passports expire in five years, not ten.
- Enroll in TSA PreCheck, where kids under 12 come through with you, and use the free Mobile Passport app to speed home through U.S. customs.
- Shift bedtimes toward your destination's time zone early to soften jet lag.
- If a child travels with just one parent or another adult, carry a notarized consent letter from the parent staying home, since some borders ask for it.
- Arrange a private guide or driver so you can soak up the sights instead of wrestling with maps, parking, and unfamiliar roads.
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