Bare Feet

[jbeegoode]

I got to thinking about hiking barefoot and the reason that I don't is because of the harsh environment I live in. So many sharp rocks and other pricklys that it is almost impossible.

....I have found that I am less likely to turn an ankle on lose gravel on my steep driveway and open hillsides than with shoes.  I no longer have to take daily pills for gout and my bunions have been reduced.  The "Earthing" benefits are enormous for overall health..... 

Good luck to you.

That's good encouragement for me. Glad to hear that.
Jbee

[nuduke]

During those years I often had to pick the ends of pine needles out of my feet.

We've had a spell of good weather and I've been barefoot a lot in last week or two (well, more than average as I doff the footwear and hosiery as much as poss these days!) which brings it's attendant splinters and thorns.  I have to say I really hate the business of getting small embedded splinters out of my sole.  So fiddly and often exhausting as one has to sit or lie with the foot in an accessible position which sometimes means advanced yoga contortions (as best I can at my age!).  We have a hawthorn hedge along part of the garden and those bastards have extremely painful, long, hard, brittle thorns.  If you get one of those, they can go deep and the end breaks off.  In that case one has to wait painfully sometimes for days for the tiny fragment to get near the surface so it can be extracted.  However, mercifully rare occurrence...so far!
John

[MartinM]

It is one of the trials of the barefoot life that occasionally a thorn or other sharp, woody spine breaks off in your foot. Larger ones can usually be removed easily. The culprits are normally tiny. I am coming round to the the realisation that there is no point trying to dig these ones out, as it rarely works. Time, patience and nature run their course and they come out on their own. Meanwhile, one just has to learn to live with the discomfort.

Oh for the larger impaled thorn that is simply removed from the foot a moment later, and quickly forgotten.

Such issues are still fairly rare, and largely result from my proclivity for walking off path in woodlands.

[eyesup]

. . . there is no point trying to dig these ones out, as it rarely works. Time, patience and nature run their course and they come out on their own.

I've had the same experience, though not just on feet. If small enough they don't hurt enough to make me do anything about it. They can be irritating until I stop noticing them.

Duane

[nuduke]

When I get a thorn/splinter, it bothers me that I have a foreign body lodged "within" - risk of it going septic.  I prefer to extract them if I can although this sometimes needs the patience MartinM refers to whilst the little irritant rises close enough to the surface to get at with tweezers.  I have a particularly fine pair of surgical ones and a jeweller's eyeglass to get up close and personal with the splinter.  Depending on where in the sole the irritant is lodged, this can mean advanced level yoga contortions to see/reach it (and I don't do yoga!!) 

John

Afterthought:  remind me to tell you the story of my bit of embedded glass in the hand many years ago!  Not time to relate it at the moment.

[eyesup]

Speaking of glass, I have a cousin that was in an auto accident and had a tiny sliver of glass embedded in her hand. It was under the skin and the natural movement of muscles caused it to move. Essentially a miniature knife, it moved easily.

She had x-rays taken to try and locate it so it could be removed. They had a difficult time locating it because of it's size but they eventually got it removed.

I would say that if the object penetrates the epidermis absolutely get it out. There is more danger of infection and sepsis. If only in the dermis maybe not unless it's glass. The skin's purpose is to deal with this sort of problem. If you can't get at it let the skin do it's job.

Duane

[nuduke]

My glass story had some similarities, so here goes:  I was in a chemistry lab at university and broke some glass, a small portion of which lodged in a finger (I still have the scar).  At A&E (Emergency Room) the medic picked out the visible shards and looked at the cut and averred he couldn't see anything more.  I opined that since there was a lot of blood and messy tissue around the small cut (not serious only about 1/4"-1/2") and that the glass had gone in to my skin with some force, that it would be all too easy to miss a tiny bit deeper down.  Does glass show up under Xray? I asked.  This confounded the doc who turned to a colleague to see if they knew.  No dice. (What do we train them for 6 years for?).  Taking control of the situation I suggested he Xray anyway and if there were any more glass in and if glass did show up under Xray then he would have been as diligent as he could have been.  After a lot of waiting, we looked at the Xray together.  I spotted a tiny thin shadow which he firmly dismissed as indistinguishable from the grain of the Xray picture.  I had to admit is was not that dissimilar to other granularity on the film and allowed him to stitch me up and send me on my way. 

You will by now have guessed that I was right.  10 days later I had the stitches out and the cut was still uncomfortable.  I thought nothing of it but it remained tender and a bit swollen for days afterwards.  Then it formed a small fluid filled head under the skin.  I thought I better go to the doctors and see if it was an infection.  Needless to say again, in curiosity I squeezed the area and lo!  The tiny javelin shaped sliver of glass shot out with a little blood and fluid an settled politely on my finger for inspection.  Instant relief and healed up in another day or so.

That's why I don't like to leave bits in my skin unattended! 

John

[eyesup]

Agreed. Infections are not to be ignored.

Duane

[MartinM]

What's the problem? It sorted itself out - you didn't need the doctor...  I have had several annoying small thorns in my foot, but I have learned better than to dig around in my foot to get them out, which might cause infection. Generally, after a few (irritating) weeks, the thorn will just pop out,in the same way as you describe your glass. This is clearly part of the body's mechanism for dealing with foreign objects.

[nuduke]

You are right of course, Martin.
The body will take care of its foreign invaders.  However, thorns are a rarity for me and I generally perform the 'minor operation' just to reduce the irritation of a little painful spot on the sole.

I nearly did myself an injury a few weeks ago when I trod on some hawthorn spikes and a couple went right through my shoe (cheap crocs ripoffs!) and left an ever so tiny spike end near the surface.  It was giving me merry hell not in terms of being very painful but just reminding me of its presence all the flipping time.  I had to get a jewellers loupe to see it.  Now, just imaging a tubby unfit 63 year old trying to look at the sole of his foot with a jeweller's loupe which requires getting the lens within a centimetre of the thorn plus needing to grab it with very fine tweezers.  It made advanced yoga look like a doddle!  My back and knee were stiff all the next day as a result of that little contortionist episode!

John

[jbeegoode]

Many of the  thorns around here have poisons in them. Many prickley pear have masses on tiny needles that sting for example. These get around, often on shoes. I tend to dig them out, even digging/carving holes in my body to be sure.

Last week, I had one between my toes. It was insignificant, but then in certain positions, it stopped me. I make a point to get anything I feel in my foot as soon as possible, before it breaks off and becomes too small for tweezers, or just rubbing off.

Yea, Nuduke. I add that it is much easier to bend and contort nude than with a waist belt or pants restricting movement. These days I see best when things are up very close to my eyes, which exaggerates my need to bend and contort. DF my best friend care giving helper, doesn't see well up close at all. She can't be of much help during such issues. I don't like the restriction of weight and tight body. I am working to increase my youthful elasticity. Warm temperatures, free movement of nudity and regular stretching like yoga, massage, etc. are required. Then the battle, over accepting the weight and fat that robs me of the flex and balance rages on. Back issues which lead to seemingly infinite other issues are a good stimulus to maintain my habits. I am finding that all of this is tied into my feet and their flex and natural movement in a bigg way.

Having been massaging and stretching and exercising my barefeet for years now, to compensate for decades of cowboy boots, I was surprised to learn yet another profound trick for the feet. It was presented as a yoga pose a couple of weeks ago. It is simply sitting my butt over/on top of my feet. It stretches them in the other direction, opening up a great deal of the intricate maze that they are. Incorporating a prana mudra, where Three fingers are out and the one closest to the thumb is pressed to the base of the thumb, as they simply rest on the legs, releases amazing stuff. We did that for 21 minutes that first time and...whoah! I found that there is still much work to do, not just maintenance.
Jbee

[ric]

back in late winter ,fast aproaching 60, i was finding cutting my toenails a bit of a challenge, a few months on i feel ive lost a bit weight and a bit off the waistline and im finding it easier to bend to cut the toenails,   if i had the time i might consider taking up yoga ,or maybe with old age aproaching i should make the time.

[jbeegoode]

I figure retirement or at least a period of partime is a good time to make diet and exercise the new job. It will improve the quality of the next 30 years AND these things are easily done without icky clothing, which I will be without as often as possible.
Hmm, a good career move, me thinks.
Jbee

[eyesup]

Yes! I have lately been dropping tidbits of lifestyle improvements for my wife to find. Such as how crowded it's getting here and how frustrating it is with the bad traffic everywhere. A few years ago she would come back with how much she liked it here. This is where she, as a military brat, landed. So she id fond of it.

More recently she has been agreeing with me at how crowded it is. 

Duane

[jbeegoode]

As a military brat, I landed in Tucson. Having moved someplace every couple of years growing up, I stuck around. Then Tucson caught me living in a couple of other places and sucked me back as it does to some of us. There is an inertia for MB's after traveling and moving to want to stick in one place, although not a dead wanderlust by any means. I understand her inertia. I moved out of town, But not far, to find more elbow room, peace and nature. I still have the friends and family and culture here, it is just a longer drive. The city is crowded, loud, hot, and now, mosquitoes. I'll only visit. The place in town is convenient, but I'd have to live indoors.

Every so often, I think about leaving the country, moving. The potential is there, but I've yet to find a place that I prefer more.

Every time I have traveled, visiting anyplace else, I have considered moving there and come back home.  There has been living cheap in the mountains of eternal spring and pure waters of Equator, a Mediterranean island or Carribean. Six months down south and six up here. Six months up north and six here. What are your fantasies?

No matter where I go, there I am. So, focusing on health, mindful meditation, sun and naked freedom, I'll be okay about anywhere. Warm weather, mostly sunny, a variety of natural opportunities everywhere, elbow room, are all icing on the cake and a choice that I make. DF wouldn't consider leaving that granddaughter and so would I for the time being, but change happens. I can switch cultures, my base is in the immersion into nature. I'm sayin' that my posts will probably be coming out of Arizona for some years to come...unless, that motorhome a few months here a few there, come home, hang out, wander again...maybe a place with lots of water....
Jbee