At Pasco-Hernando Foot & Ankle, we know the biggest shopping day of the year—Black Friday—is right around the corner. If you’re planning to get out there and get your first pick of holiday gifts, we want to give our Nature Coast patients some strategies for saving your feet and your money.

At Pasco Hernando Foot & Ankle, we invite all our Nature Coast patients to join us in celebrating National “I Love My Feet” Day, which takes place on August 17th. Most of us take our feet for granted—until they aren’t working the way they should! But your feet deserve recognition. These complex structures consist of 52 bones (nearly a quarter of all the bones in your body), 66 joints, and over 200 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. All work in perfect harmony so that you can walk, run, kick, squat and reach to accomplish everything from grocery shopping to ballroom dancing. Below are seven ways to show your love and gratitude to your feet.

At Pasco-Hernando Foot & Ankle, we know many of our patients love their flip-flops. They are relatively inexpensive and very convenient because they are so easy to slip on and off your feet. Flip-flops do serve a purpose. Around the pool and at the beach or gym, they protect your feet from coming in contact with contagious fungal infections. They’re also preferred to bare feet if you’re walking out to get the mail or newspaper. However, making flip-flops, your primary footwear, can harm your feet (and other parts of your body). Long hours spent in flip-flops has several drawbacks. Below are four ways they can hurt your feet.

Nothing can ruin a beach day faster than a foot or ankle problem. Here are some potential shore issues and steps to take to protect your feet.