Schwitzende Füße – was steckt dahinter?
“Would you please take off your shoes?” For some people, this phrase makes them break out in a sweat, as they fear their feet might give off an unpleasant odour. So-called “stinky feet” are not only unpleasant in the summer heat but can also cause a great deal of distress. At a chiropody clinic or podiatry practice, people are in safe hands.
Every person has between two and four million sweat glands. They are not evenly distributed across the body’s surface, but rather cluster in ‘hotspots’: they sit most densely on the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and in the armpits. Whilst, for example, the skin on the neck and back is only furnished with around 55 glands per square centimetre, you can find about 400 sweat glands on the palms of the hands and approximately 620 on the soles of the feet. The reason lies in human evolutionary history. Fleeing across rough terrain is easier if moist hands and feet deliver better grip and traction.
Sweat has a protective function
Sweating is an important bodily function controlled thanks to the sympathetic nervous system. So that all organs can work normally, our body must have a constant temperature of around 37 °C – regardless of the ambient temperature. Both in the skin and inside the body temperature sensors, or thermoreceptors, are located to keep the brain informed about external and body temperature.
A reduction in blood flow to the skin protects against excessive cooling. Before the body temperature drops too low, blood flow to the skin is restricted thanks to constricting the blood vessels, which reduces heat loss to the outside. The opposite process occurs to prevent the body temperature from rising: blood flow to the skin is increased thanks to dilating the blood vessels, so that heat is released to the outside world.
If this action is insufficient, the sweat glands are activated to moisten the skin and so that evaporative cooling is formed. Under normal circumstances, this mechanism protects against overheating. If it is overwhelmed, heat build-up or heatstroke occurs, manifesting as nausea, dizziness, headaches, restlessness, confusion and even loss of consciousness.
Excessive sweating is a burden
Abnormal sweat production in terms of quantity is called hyperhidrosis (from the Greek: ‘hypér’ = ‘over’, ‘beyond’ and ‘hidrós’ = ‘water’). It can affect specific areas of the body, but also the entire body. Most commonly, excessive sweating occurs on the hands or under the arms, along with the head and neck, the feet and the torso. In many people, more than one area of the body is affected by hyperhidrosis.
Hyperhidrosis cannot be compared to the occasional heavy sweating experienced by a healthy person. A person with hyperhidrosis sweats so profusely that their clothes are constantly damp and often show stains. This is extremely unsettling. For example, someone who constantly has wet hands often avoids contact with other people for fear of shaking hands. It is a vicious circle: the fear of sweating actually makes one sweat even more.
In ‘primary hyperhidrosis’, which accounts for over 90 per cent of cases, the cause is unknown. Localised sweating tends to fall into this category. “Secondary hyperhidrosis” often affects the entire body and is the result of a different condition, such as an overactive thyroid or adrenal glands, medication (e.g. cortisone), hormone-producing tumours or severe obesity. Diabetes-related neuropathy of the autonomic (vegetative) nervous system can cause both anhidrosis, i.e. greatly reduced or absent sweating, and hyperhidrosis.
Hyperhidrosis pedis or plantaris describes excessive sweating of the feet. There are three degrees of severity:
Grade I: light hyperhidrosis
The palms of the hands or soles of the feet are highly damp.
Grade II: moderate hyperhidrosis
A film of sweat forms, but only on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
Grade III: severe hyperhidrosis
Sweat also forms on the fingers and toes along with the sides of the feet – droplets of sweat form.
Pathogens find favorable conditions in a warm, moist environment. As sebaceous glands do not sit between the toes to provide protective lipids, the skin here swells more easily and loses elasticity. Rhagades form on the whitish, macerated skin between the toes, which can act as entry points for bacteria and fungi. Furthermore, the skin becomes susceptible to plantar warts. If the calluses on the feet are constantly too moist, a breeding ground for bacteria develops, which in extreme cases can break down the calluses (‘keratolysis sulcata’ or ‘keratoma sulcatum’).
Palmoplantar hyperhidrosis must be treated at a dermatology practice. Here, the patient will be offered individual treatment options.
Help for sweaty feet in everyday life
At a chiropody clinic or podiatry practice, the first step is to determine whether sweating and odour are caused thanks to poor hygiene, unsuitable footwear or different factors – possibly work-related – such as wearing rubber boots, safety footwear or working in a warm, humid environment (such as a greenhouse, spa area or commercial kitchen). Shoes and socks with a high artificial content promote the development of sweaty feet, as does working with different types of footwear too infrequently.
It often helps customers and patients if they are simply told that a little moisture on the feet and a light foot odour are normal. Simple rules can reduce foot sweating and prevent foot odour.
Convenient tips:
- Wash your feet at least once a day with a pH-neutral product and lukewarm water, then dry them thoroughly.
- Regularly maintain your feet with products that regulate perspiration and inhibit odour; foot deodorants are available as creams, powders or sprays. We especially recommend the peclavus® PODOcare Foot Deodorant Cream with sage oil.
- Shoes, socks, insoles and footbeds should be made of breathable materials as far as possible and should be changed as often as possible or aired out for 24 hours.
- Bamboo socks and socks containing silver or copper fibres help prevent odours; this also applies to insoles made of cedar wood, along with activated charcoal or cinnamon insoles.
- To prevent fungal infections, shoes should be regularly disinfected with a special spray such as RUCK® Shoe Disinfectant.
- Fresh air is well-suited to your feet – so make the most of the warmer months to walk barefoot as often as possible.
- Foot baths with extracts of medicinal plants such as oak bark (astringent and sweat-reducing), rosemary and sage (disinfecting and deodorising) are a real treat. Suitable for use on feet that sweat heavily and suffer from foot odour is the peclavus® PODOcare Foot Bath Concentrate.
Experiences from podiatry practice
Sweaty feet and sweaty feet are a problem that podiatrist Elisabeth Prinz knows highly well from her practice. In her new video, she shows how she deals with it and which solutions have proven effective. Why not take a look and share your own experiences in the comments:
Elisabeth Prinz is a podiatrist and alternative practitioner specialising in podiatry, and runs a thriving practice in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. She is a passionate podiatrist and gives her extensive expertise to anyone interested through her videos. You can find all videos by and featuring Elisabeth Prinz on the HELLMUT RUCK GmbH YouTube channel.
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