Why do my feet get sore after walking on the beach?

It’s a question we hear at this time of year as the weather warms up. People love to feel the cool water on their feet and the sand between their toes.

Sore feet after walking on the beach is often because you are not used to doing that activity.

We’ve developed over the last few hundred years the habit of walking on hard flat surfaces, like the floors in our homes, workplaces, footpaths and roadways. They are all hard flat surfaces.

Your feet each have 26 bones, 33 joints and all the attaching ligaments, tendons and muscles.

These structures are not used to the kind of stress and stretching caused by walking on a soft flexible surface.

Walking on soft sand is quite unstable, and that’s the reason your feet are put under strain.

You can start to feel discomfort when you’re walking on the beach.

So….A couple of tips………

  1. Gradually get used to walking on the beach by walking on the harder sand to start with.
  2. You could wear your shoes for half of your walk, and then take them off for the second half.
  3. You can also do exercises to strengthen and stretch the small muscles in your feet.

These are things you can do at home, and we can show you how.

So still get out there and enjoy the beach, and the feeling of the sand between your toes.

If you have any soreness it is likely due to structures being overstretched on the soft sand.

It will get better, the more you do it.

ENJOY THE BEACH!