Healthy Steps Pedorthic Clinic

03/18/2021

Happy Dietitians Day to our Dietitian Alia!

01/27/2021

Some helpful tips for your indoor workouts!

In the winter, indoor workouts tend to be appealing to more people. While working out indoors, shoes are still an important consideration. Wearing the proper shoes is one of the best ways to avoid injury, even while exercising indoors. Shoes can be easily forgotten during…

03/17/2020

In light of the evolving COVID-19 situation and the interest of public health and safety we have decided that it is in the best interest of all to temporarily close the clinic for a period of two weeks effective Thursday March 19th and re-opening Monday April 6th. Online booking is still available through our website www.healthystepspedorthic.com for those of you that would like to see us at that time.

While we understand the inconvenience this may cause to our valued clients, we strongly feel that this is an important step in preventing unnecessary harm to everyone, but especially to our most vulnerable clients and community members.

Thank you for your support and cooperation and stay healthy!

01/07/2020

New Year’s Resolution tips from our Registered Dietitian Alia Khudhair-Gilmer

So often the start of a new year brings about self reflection and thoughts of positive changes for the rest of the year. New Years resolutions for many people include diet and exercise goals. Here are my 6 tips to start the New Year off right.

1. Be realistic with yourself and set 1 or 2 goals to work on at a time. If you start the year off working on 10 goals at once you may set yourself up for failure and eventually be tempted to “throw in the towel”.

2. Aim for realistic lifestyle changes rather than “Fad diets”. For most people a “diet” has a start date and an end date. What happens after you have finished the 30 day plan? do you go back to your old eating habits? regain the weight you had lost? Instead of a fad diet work toward a lifestyle change built on healthy choices that are going to work for the long-term.

3. Think of what you Can eat more of and not about what you Can’t eat. Sometimes when we have a long list of foods we should not eat it can be overwhelming and knowing you are not supposed to eat them can make them even more desirable. We need to have a healthy relationship with food, not one full of rules. For example, try to increase your fibre intake by incorporating legumes such as kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils into two dinners per week.

4. Go for real food! Ditch the protein shakes, juice cleanses and especially the processed foods. Let’s put your teeth and digestive system to good use. Go ahead crunch on that apple, you will get more fibre and texture satisfaction than if you just had juice.

5. Go for colour. Go for plant-based foods. Go for foods packed with phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are natural compounds found in plant foods such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes. Many phytonutrients have antioxidants properties and have been linked to reducing the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease to name a few. Go for the red, orange, yellow and dark green fruits and vegetables. Phytonutrients are what gave those fruits and vegetables their colour.

6. Little steps matter! Go one step at a time, its not all or nothing. You don’t’ have to eat perfectly all the time, you just need to do better than before. If you have made positive changes to your diet but the number on the scale hasn’t changed, It’s ok. Eating more fruits and vegetables does help with weight loss but more importantly it also helps in preventing diabetes and heart disease; and overall you will feel better.

These don’t sound too bad right? Certainly, It has to be easier than following a long list of rules that will prevent you from eating your mom’s famous apple pie at a special dinner because it has gluten, dairy and other “bad” foods in it. It takes time to make real sustainable changes, one step at a time.

12/18/2019

Foot Fact Friday: What is Diabetic Neuropathy?

Diabetic Neuropathy is a common but serious complication associated with Diabetes making it a challenge to live with. The cause of diabetic neuropathy is primarily from having high blood sugar (glucose) levels for an extended period of time. These high levels of glucose in blood cause damage to nerves which interfere with their ability to send messages, resulting in the loss of feeling in the extremities, especially the feet. Other factors that will increase your risk of diabetic neuropathy are smoking, high blood pressure, excess body weight and elevated triglycerides (type of fat in the blood).

Although diabetic neuropathy has no known cure, there are lots of things you can do to lessen the impact on your quality of life and prevent future complications. Treatment is focused on early detection, keeping tight control of your blood sugar, staying active and taking good care of your feet.

As Canadian Certified Pedorthists we are particularly concerned with the risk of developing foot sores that turn into ulcers and progress to amputation. The loss of feeling in the feet often results in the inability to detect the formation of a foot sore or cut, which can easily progress to a severely infected ulcer, this can happen from a pebble or other item that made it’s way into your shoe. A person without neuropathy would feel the foreign body and remove it before it could cause a sore. One simple thing we recommend is to inspect the inside of your footwear each day, take the insole out and even vacuum them to ensure they are safe to wear. Shoes that fit too tight or don’t match your foot shape can put excessive pressure on certain areas of your foot causing pressure/friction which can lead to skin breakdown and eventual ulceration. Your Pedorthist will make sure your shoes fit well in length, width, depth, match your foot shape and have the proper support.

In some cases when standard or orthopedic footwear are not a good fit, custom made footwear will be recommended to ensure optimal protection or are necessary to help heal or prevent ulceration. Custom made foot orthoses are often prescribed to better distribute the pressures of the bottom of the foot within the shoe. Orthotics made for people with diabetic neuropathy are often made from materials that help dissipate pressure, reduce friction and accommodate bony prominences and are total contact or touch the entire bottom of your foot.

See you doctor or diabetes healthcare team if you have tingling, burning, sharp/shooting pain or are unable to detect hot or cold. These are common symptoms and may indicate that you have neuropathy.
https://www.pedorthic.ca/find-a-pedorthist/

11/12/2019

The end of the year is coming fast, many of you start to think about your private health benefits rolling over at the end of December. If you have health benefits to see a registered dietician for nutritional services or perhaps you want to make your day more comfortable and get some new custom made orthotics for your winter boots or add some fun colour to your winter wardrobe with some exciting new compression stockings don't wait any longer! Book online now and get the most of your extended health benefits!

https://healthysteps.janeapp.com

Or call us at 613-823-2522 to schedule your appointment today!

11/06/2019

Many of us have heard the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” We eat our dark leafy greens and lean protein to ward off heart disease and wear helmets to minimize head and brain injury upon impact. We even…

09/16/2019

It’s fall harvest time of year, back to making school lunches and back to fall/winter activities. It’s also time to change up your weekly meal plan with warmer, heartier recipes. Meal planning is a frequent issue our Dietician, Alia, works on with clients. It is one of the essentials to being successful with reaching your nutrition goals.

Meal planning will have you eating healthier meals, reduce waste, save you time and money!

Check out Alia's Blog and get inspired to eat healthy this fall 🍂🍁

https://healthystepspedorthic.com/get-inspired-to-eat-healthy-this-fall/

09/13/2019

It's clearout time!

Stop in and say hello and check out what's on sale.

Lots of footwear seeking their forever home ❤️

07/17/2019

Don’t get stuck with sore feet this summer!

Summer is the time to get out your sandals and give your feet some fresh air, this can often contribute to many foot problems including overuse injuries and nasty blisters. Finding the right sandals that fit and function well can be a daunting task. Here are some helpful tips to make sandal season more enjoyable for you and your feet!

Be sensible: Although it may be popular and fashionable to wear sandals that are flimsy and lightweight you may be causing more harm than good if you wear them for extended periods of time.

Fit: Sandals that fit loose and sloppy will cause your feet to work hard to keep them on by over gripping with your toes.

Function: If you have well fitting sandals that contour your arch and cup your heel your feet will be well supported.

A couple of great sandal options to consider are Sole and Cambrian. Sole is a brand of “flip flop” style sandals that we carry at Healthy Steps. These sandals are cool and comfortable and have an anatomical shape for natural toe splay and a metatarsal pad. We also carry a large selection of Cambrian sandals that provide the ultimate in comfort and support; Cambrian sandals have supportive removable foot beds that can be removed to accommodate your custom orthotics.

06/11/2019

If you are living with diabetes or are prediabetic, it is crucial to educate yourself on the disease, and find ways to better manage your own health. Staying on top of things will help you avoid complications in the long run.

At Healthy Steps we offer Pedorthic services to help manage and prevent potential foot complications from diabetes and Nutritional services to help you plan a healthy diet, improve your blood sugar control and better manage your weight.

It is estimated that around 11 million Canadians currently live with diabetes or prediabetes. This is a significant percentage of the population, which means that chances are, you likely know someone affected by the disease.  Long-term complications in people with diabetes frequently manifest in fo...

05/22/2019

Getting back into a sport or activity after the long winter? Training for a charity run or walk? Rock tape can provide the relief you are looking for to stay in the game. Convenient to carry, easy to apply and powerfully effective in its results, kinesiology tape is commonly used for plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, knee pain and other overuse injuries. RockTape helps promote healing by restoring natural blood flow from tendons to muscles; it is one of the great products we use to help our clients stay mobile and active.
RockTape is a unique kinesiology sports tape that features a wave pattern which runs the length of the tape, mimicking the Myofascial Layer just under the skin. An added bonus, it’s latex free!
RockTape helps support your body while allowing full range of motion. When applied to stretched skin it decompresses the pain receptors below lymph vessels and blood vessels. As an effective tool to help decrease pain it decompresses tissue and provides stimulus that improves body awareness and alignment. You may have seen it on our athletes at the Olympics helping them to perform at their best.
Use RockTape at the initial start of ligament instability and muscle soreness-fatigue due to overuse or tendon strain. We have been using RockTape in the clinic for over 2 years and are still amazed at the relief our clients have after they are taped. This is a great recovery product option to use while waiting for your othotics to be made or in conjunction with other treatments. Although it may have started out in the sports community with athletes it is used for all ages and activity levels so don’t hesitate to come in to the clinic so we can show you how it works and how you can apply it yourself.