Most of what protects legs and feet is unglamorous and repeatable: looking at them, keeping the skin intact, wearing shoes that fit, moving within the plan you were given, and using compression only when it has been established that compression suits your leg.
One rule before any of the rest
If nobody has assessed the arterial blood supply to your leg, do not start compression on your own. Compression is genuinely useful for many vein and swelling problems and can be harmful when arterial flow is already marginal. The check comes first. Why, and what the check involves →
The daily basics
- Look at your feet every day. Tops, soles, between the toes, and both heels. If you cannot see the soles, use a mirror on the floor or ask someone. Reduced sensation means an injury can be there for days without being felt.
- Keep the skin soft but the toe webs dry. Moisturizer on the tops and soles; not between the toes, where trapped moisture encourages skin breakdown and fungal infection.
- Check inside your shoes before putting them on. A small stone, a seam, a folded insole. This sounds trivial and is responsible for a surprising share of serious wounds.
- Wear something on your feet. Bare feet plus reduced sensation is how minor injuries happen unnoticed.
- Move the way your clinician asked you to. For stable claudication that usually means a structured walking program; for vein problems it means using the calf pump and avoiding long stretches of standing still.
- Act on anything new within days, not weeks. A blister, a crack, a color change, a new area of redness.
The guides in this section
- Compression safety: who needs an assessment first?
- Compression sock fit, pressure labels, and putting them on
- Daily foot and leg skin checks
- Smoking and PAD: building a quit plan with your care team
- Leg elevation: when it helps and when to ask first
- Long flights and long drives: looking after your legs
- Food, salt and circulation: what actually helps
- For caregivers: looking after someone else’s legs and feet
Things worth knowing
Elevation
Raising the legs above heart level helps venous and lymphatic swelling, and the position matters more than the duration — legs propped on a footstool are barely elevated at all. It is not a universal good, though: in advanced arterial disease, elevating a painful foot can make the pain worse, and that is a signal to be assessed rather than to persist.
Heat and cold
Heating pads, hot water bottles and hot soaks are a recurring source of burns in feet with reduced sensation, because the warning signal is missing. If your feet are cold, warm socks are a safer answer than applied heat.
Footwear
Shoes need depth as well as length and width, especially when the foot swells during the day. Buy later in the day, allow room over the toes, and treat any rub or red mark as information about the shoe rather than something to break in.
Nails and calluses
If you have diabetes, reduced sensation, or known arterial disease, nail and callus care belongs with a professional rather than with bathroom scissors or a pharmacy corn remover. Medicated corn plasters in particular are a common route to an ulcer in an insensate foot.
Salt, fluid and weight
These genuinely affect swelling, and they are also where a lot of unhelpful internet advice lives. Big unsupervised changes to fluid or salt intake can interact with heart, kidney and blood pressure medicines. Worth discussing rather than experimenting with.
Common questions
How long should I elevate my legs?
Height matters more than time. Legs above the level of the heart for a few sessions of fifteen to twenty minutes across the day does more than hours with the feet on a low stool. If elevation makes foot pain worse rather than better, stop and get the arterial circulation checked.
Can I soak my feet?
Long soaks soften and macerate skin, which makes it easier to damage, and hot water is a burn risk if sensation is reduced. Short washes in lukewarm water, dried carefully between the toes, are the safer routine.
Do I need special socks?
Not usually. Seamless, non-constricting socks that are changed daily cover most of what matters. Medical-grade compression is a different product with a different purpose, and it should follow an assessment rather than precede one.
What is the single most useful habit?
Looking. A daily inspection catches the blister, crack or color change while it is still a small problem. Almost every serious foot outcome in circulation disease starts as something that would have been visible days or weeks earlier.
Where to go next
Sources
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Diabetes and Foot Problems.
- NHS. Leg ulcer — treatment.
- NHS. Lymphoedema — treatment.
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. PAD — Treatment.
Written by Tom Biernacki, DPM, FACFAS. Published 20 September 2026. General education, not medical advice.