Fighting
feral foot fungi
Volume
48, No. 12, July 13, 2006
ADF
members are often required to live in communal conditions
either at sea, on base or on deployment. Healthy foot
hygiene is as essential as understanding foot problems.
The
average person takes between 5000 and 8000 steps a day.
It is therefore not surprising that 40 per cent of Australians
develop painful foot problems.
The
risk of picking up chronic foot problems increases when
you commonly use gyms, swimming pools, showers and saunas.
Fungus can be picked up by walking barefoot in communal
areas.
Fungal
nail infection, known to doctors as ‘onychomycosis’,
causes thickening, roughness and often splitting of the
nail. The nail may become discoloured (turn white, yellow
or brown), become very thick and separate from the nail
bed. The toenail may also split or crumble. It is caused
by the fungus spreading under the toenail and into the
nailbed.
Members
involved in sporting activities are at an increased risk
of traumatising their nails, providing an opening for
infections. The fungus gains entry under the nail via
a broken, closely cut or ingrown toenail.
If
you have any of the following foot problems, see your
ADF Health Centre:
