The Truth About the Causes of Dry Cracked Feet

“What are the causes of dry cracked feet?”

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

In this article, you’re going to learn what the causes of dry cracked feet are, as well some brief but helpful tips on how to care for them.

With many body or health conditions, we usually find it very simple to find the reasoning why.

We go to a doctor or look up symptoms on Web MD of what we are facing and usually find ourselves with a probable reason.

Then of course, we work to eliminate that reason to eliminate the cause of our discomfort or poor health.

This is a logical process that many employ, but most seem to think that it is only viable for those big health problems. However, finding out the causes behind any of your issues really will help in preventing them in the future and even taking care of them right now.

One such issue is cracked, dry heels. Unfortunately, a lot of people suffer from this nowadays.

However, this is not an issue in itself. While it is difficult to deal with, dry and cracked heels may, more importantly, be a symptom of something more serious, or a side effect of something extremely controllable.

The causes of dry cracked feet vary greatly and they should all be understood equally well in order for you to do something about your feet.

You will feel more empowered when you are able to tackle the issues directly and then see your feet cure themselves afterwards, rather than spending valuable time and money with expensive medications or treatments that may or may not work.

In some cases, expensive treatments may even end up making your conditions worse if they include the wrong ingredient!

Many can agree to the fact that allergies come out of nowhere.

So, it only makes sense that before you start applying heavy medication to your sore feet (unless of course your doctor recommends it!), use some natural home-remedies and get to the root of the problem to eliminate the source!

Under Pressure–Your Feet, That Is

The first of the causes of dry cracked feet could be the one most people can directly relate to…Pressure.

Many people have jobs that require them to be on their feet the whole day.

This could be retail workers, managers, supervisors, plumbers – the list is endless! It is highly likely that a lot of people you interact with on a daily basis have to spend their times up and on their feet.

While this is not only tiring, it is terrible for foot health! A lot of studies have shown that prolonged standing is very disadvantageous to foot health because the sweat glands in that specific area become destroyed due to the pressure. This leads to excessive dryness, dehydration and of course, cracked and rough skin.

You can tell that this is the reason behind your dry feet because of additional side-effects that you may be experiencing, such as severe ankle pain or swollen ankles or feet.

(Help your feet function under pressure with healthy skin-benefiting vitamins!)

Try to counter this problem by taking breaks in those long hours you usually find yourself standing.

Sit down for a couple of minutes or change your standing position.

You don’t want to kill off your sweat glands – they’re important, even though they can be smelly!

Pressure can also, unfortunately take the form of weight. Those who are extremely overweight can unknowingly be adding too much pressure to their feet even if they are not standing for such long periods of time.

The resulting side symptoms would be the same – swollen ankles and aching feet.

You will definitely know if this is your cause if you already have weight problems. The only cure, therefore, would be to slowly and steadily lose weight.

It will be a challenge and take a lot of hard work and determination, but at the end of it, not only your feet will thank you but the rest of your mental and physical body as well!

Medication May Be the Culprit

Another reason that could be behind your horrible feet conditions is the medication you take. If you are on any medication, check to see if they are diuretics or antihistamines.

Diuretics are also known as water pills and are built to help your body flush out unnecessary water and salt through your urinary system.

Most often, those with high blood pressure are usually prescribed diuretics. Antihistamines, on the other hand, is a medication that targets allergic reactions and stop the symptoms that usually accompany such reactions.

Both of these medications are known to severely dry out parts of your body, especially your feet! If you are on either of these medications and your feet just will not stop flaking, both might be related so be sure to bring up your foot problems to your doctor next time!

Additionally, even if you are not taking either of these medications, but are taking another set of medications, they still might be related to your issues. Don’t be afraid to mention it to your doctor the next time you are with them, as such side effects go unnoticed for a lot of people and could be extremely important!

Your Diet Can Be One of the Causes of Dry Cracked Feet

Your diet must also be thoroughly examined when going over all the causes of dry cracked feet.

Nowadays, not many people are well-versed in healthy eating habits. This may be because healthy food itself is more expensive than cheap junk food or fast food!

This is not a good practice. Deficiencies are becoming more and more common and one of the side effects of that is – you guessed it – dry and cracked feet!

The rough skin on your feet could be a cry for help from your body needing it’s important nutrients! When you do not have enough minerals, vitamins or zinc in the meals you eat, you will definitely see the deficiency in your body.

How will you know if your cracked feet are a result of your dietary habits? Take a look at what you eat and determine if it is healthy! Additionally, you may also experience other symptoms of vitamin deficiency along with your dry feet.

These may be constant fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness, weight loss or irregular heartbeat. Of course, these symptoms are vague but are meant to serve as a stepping stone to figuring out the real causes of dry cracked feet and other serious health concerns you may be facing.

(Get this diet cookbook to learn new recipes that will benefit you, your skin and your feet!)

An important part of your diet is water (we’ve discussed this time and again because it’s super important that you drink water!)

This might seem obvious to many, so obvious that most thing it should go unsaid. “How could we not think of that?” you may say.

But even though you might think it is obvious, it is not that obvious to everyone! It’s quite easy to forget to drink water in the rush and stress of a normal day.

The water intake you take daily will reflect itself through the condition of your body.

If you have not been drinking the amount of water you are required to, your body will feel the effect!

Dehydration is something that creeps up on you, so if you are reading this, go drink a big glass of water right now!

Besides having softer feet, you will most certainly feel the benefit in many other places, much like having a better diet. By drinking more water, you feel more energetic, have glowing skin, less digestive problems and feel less stressed and more relaxed all around! 

Therefore, even if you feel like less water is not one of the causes of dry cracked feet in your situation, it will not do you any harm to up your water intake!

Your Shoes Might Have Something to Do With It

The kind of shoes you wear will also, of course, have an impact on the condition of your feet.

Fashion may be fashion, but it could be killing your soft skin on your feet.

Open-backed shoes or sandals expose your feet to the dirt and grime of the outside world.

More importantly, continued use of such shoes can allow the pockets of fat under your heel to actually expand sideways!

This expansion stretches out the skin and increases the cracks in your dry feet. And with the exposure to outdoor bacteria, the cracks definitely do not stay clean and healthy.

In fact, you may find yourself at risk of infections and worse conditions of your feet.

It is important not to rely on the easy of open-backed shoes, even though they are comfortable! Switching it up every now and then seems to be your best bet when it comes to tackling dry and cracked heels.

On another note about footwear, throw away your uncomfortable shoes! Seriously – beauty is not pain! Forcing your feet in tight or ill-fitting shoes is not doing your cracked heels any good.

Such discomfort really will contribute to the deteriorating conditions of your feet and can worsen any cracks or rough patches you already have on your feet.

The importance of good footwear cannot be stressed highly enough. Quality matters! After all, your feet, quite literally, support you everyday so it is important to invest in something good and long-lasting in order to make sure you do not have to go through more rough feet!

Ah, Age

Some things, though, you can not control.

While most of these causes seem to be easily reversible, there is one cause that you really have no say over!

We all have to go through it at one point or another. What is it? Aging!

Each of us gets old and you know you are reaching that point when you begin to see parts of your body feeling or looking differently.

In the case of feet, as we get older, our skin loses elasticity. This is even more prominent in areas with skin that is thick and already prone to dryness, especially in our feet.

(Did you know DIY home remedies work amazingly for aging feet? They’re gentle on them, too. Check out our articles on DIY foot care home remedies.)

The cracks that appear then can have much higher incidence than we would otherwise see. The solution to this would be a lot of foot scrubs and spas and moisturization. After all, haven’t you deserved it by now? Attacking those feet with constant foot care would seem to be the best way to handle it as prevention is not something that is viable. Wouldn’t we all want a fountain of youth? We can dream, right?

After all, haven’t you deserved it by now? Attacking those feet with constant foot care would seem to be the best way to handle it as prevention is not something that is viable. Wouldn’t we all want a fountain of youth? We can dream, right?

Attacking those feet with constant foot care would seem to be the best way to handle it as prevention is not something that is viable. Wouldn’t we all want a fountain of youth? We can dream, right?

It’s in Your Genes!

Another thing that you are not able to control, unfortunately, are your genetics.

We each get our traits from our parents, and some are a blessing while others are a curse.

The condition of the skin on your feet may very well be something you inherited from someone in your family.

Having naturally thick and dry skin, if nothing else seems to be the reason behind it, is probably genetic!

Look at your parents and grandparents’ feet. Do they look similar?

If so, then you are out of luck! You cannot possibly change your genetics much like you cannot reverse the aging process.

However, do not be discouraged! Just because your feet are naturally dry to start out with, by investing a little bit of time and care in the form of moisturizer and exfoliation, they will be as good as new.

You won’t even be able to tell that you have your grandma’s dry feet after all those foot spas you will go through. And that’s not to say they are difficult to go through – foot spas and pedicures are some of the best relaxation techniques!

Overall, there can be a lot of different causes for such a simple symptom.

The causes of dry cracked feet vary greatly in number and it can be difficult to pinpoint where exactly you are going wrong.

When you notice the splitting skin around your heels, you may start to panic and want to quickly scrub it off without a second thought.

Well, you may do that!

You may dunk your feet in fifty foot soaks and have multiple pumice stones to scrape away your rough skin, but how long can you do that for? How long can you keep shaving away the dead skin, only to have it reappear the next week?

Well, for as long as you are clueless about the source! Once you know the true root behind the condition of your feet, you can work backwards to rid yourself of the initial situation and then enjoy your beautiful, soft feet!

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