When Those Who Care Neglect Their Own Feet: What a Study on Nursing Students Reveals

Healthcare professionals spend a good part of their day standing or moving, often in shoes chosen more for their availability than for their suitability for the wearer's foot. A study published in July 2025 in the journal BMC Nursing puts precise figures on a phenomenon that many foot care professionals already observe in the field: caregivers often neglect their own feet until pain sets in.

Led by Na-Geong Kim and Hye-Ryeon Park, this cross-sectional study surveyed 184 nursing students from two regions of South Korea who had clinical placement experience. The questionnaire covered several dimensions: the presence of foot-related conditions, methods used to relieve pain, perceived stress level, and foot health status measured using the Foot Health Status Questionnaire, a validated tool that assesses pain, function, ease of finding adequate footwear, and general perception of foot health.
The results are striking. Nearly 94% of participants reported current foot discomfort. The most frequent conditions were nail disorders, including ingrown toenails and thickened nail plates, followed by skin mycoses, eczema, plantar fasciitis, and plantar keratosis. These conditions are not insignificant: they affect a young population at the beginning of their careers, precisely when foot care habits are being formed.

The study establishes a clear link between the number of hours spent standing daily and symptom severity. Participants who stood for 6 to 8 hours a day reported significantly more severe plantar pain and significantly more limited foot function than those who stood for less than 2 hours. The general perception of foot health followed the same trend, progressively deteriorating with increased standing time.

Perceived stress also increased with the year of study and accumulated clinical experience, a finding consistent with previous work showing that musculoskeletal disorders of the foot and ankle contribute to a significant attrition rate early in nursing careers. One detail is worth highlighting: 45% of participants obtained their clinical placement shoes through institutional group purchasing rather than individual choice adapted to their foot. The authors identify this practice as an avoidable risk factor that does not take into account the particular needs of each individual.

This study builds upon an already established body of research concerning the foot health of nursing staff. A scoping review published in 2023 by the Portuguese team of Rafael Bernardes and colleagues, from the Coimbra School of Nursing, had already documented the extent of foot and ankle disorders in nurses exposed to prolonged standing. This same team had, as early as 2022, developed a baropodometric assessment protocol for the podiatric profile of nursing students, allowing for objective measurement of changes in posture and foot function before and after a period of clinical internship. A prior, but still widely cited, review by Reed and colleagues, had established that musculoskeletal disorders of the foot and ankle affect a significant proportion of nursing staff, with reported prevalence rates varying considerably depending on the settings studied.

For foot care professionals, these results confirm the value of addressing healthcare personnel directly, a population intimately familiar with foot anatomy and pathologies but rarely applying the prevention principles they recommend to their patients to themselves. The study suggests that early intervention, even before entering the workforce, could have a lasting effect on the foot health trajectory over an entire career in healthcare.
Individualized footwear selection, rather than bulk purchasing, emerges as a concrete and low-cost intervention strategy. A foot assessment prior to an internship or job entry, combined with education on the importance of daily foot care, could help reduce the chronic discomfort affecting such a significant proportion of new nurses.