Heat: Standing on burned soles

[Daniel W. Rouse Jr.]

Extended walking on hot blacktop asphalt, especially during the start of
peak heat hours at hotter air temperatures, can cause burned soles even if
they do not blister.

Standing is even more challenging on already burned soles, but to get used
to the heat, it has to be done anyway. I find it's useful to stop and roll
on both feet--stand on the edges of the feet, roll to the balls of the feet,
back to the edges of the feet, then momentarily balance on just the heels.
The edges get twice as much heat training in case it is necessary to stand
for longer on just the edges of the feet.

As soon as standing gets too hot, I'll start walking again. When it gets way
too hot, I still try to avoid shade while continuing to walk. At the very
least, when it's too burning hot to keep walking continuously on hot
blacktop, I will still stand on hot concrete. With hot enough concrete, it's
worth it to challenge standing full foot on that as much as possible,
because longer periods of standing are possible before having to roll on the
feet because of the heat.

This isn't new--it's something everyone who goes barefoot on hot asphalt has
to get used to. I've just extended it to longer walks of several minutes
exclusively on hot blacktop for as long as possible, without going to cooler
sidewalk or shade.

Also, since my arches are lower, I find that the entire balls of the
feet--including just behind the little toe, and also including a tip of the
thumb size part just behind the balls of the feet aligned with the gap
between the second toe and the third toe--are the most burn susceptible.
Noteworthy is that if I stand still on flat ground, hard floor, or even
firmer carpet--I can fit an object about the diameter of a standard size
ball point pen (e.g., Papermate or Bic) under the arch, and it goes under
the arch about 1/2 inch before being stopped by the middle of the foot
without a lot of resistance. That means--contrary to the beliefs of some
barefooters--that even though barefooting itself does not cause fallen
arches--the arch can fully flatten with every step while walking, and not
just due to overpronation. (The resulting dirt pattern for me is basically
the entire foot except for a thumb size gap on the arch just in front of the
heel for the right foot, and barely an index finger width gap on the arch in
front of the heel--confirming that, in addition to seeing it when walking
past a building with reflective windows, that the arch is flattening with
every step.)