As overlooked as varicose veins and other vascular leg problems may be, one could argue that the least cared for body part is the foot. “I consider us a fairly typical family, and we had no clue how much information we were lacking and what kinds of problems that feet could cause, until we went through the education process to open our store,” says Justin Glass, director of marketing for Foot Solutions, a store he and his father, Gail Glass, opened on August 6 in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. “Feet are not something a lot of people look at as a part of taking care of their health.”

Poor footcare can have serious consequences, especially for people with special medical conditions, such as diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), one in five people with diabetes who enter a hospital do so because of foot problems. Since diabetes restricts circulation to the feet and damages the nerves to the feet that normally signal pain from cracked skin, poorly fitting shoes, cuts, and ulcers, diabetics are prone to serious infections that can lead to amputation of part or all of the foot.

Foot problems, and many of the diseases that lead to foot problems, increase with age. Approximately half of all diabetes cases occur in people older than 55 years of age, the ADA says. Nearly 18.4% of the United States population or 6.3 million people age 65 and older have Type II (adult-onset) diabetes.

When the Baby Boom generation enters this age group, the number of people in need of specialty and medical footwear will only increase. “One of the reasons we went into this particular line of business was that Baby Boomers are getting older and we want to help those people out with any problems they may have,” Justin Glass says.

Of course, before Foot Solutions can help the people of Reynoldsburg and the greater Columbus area, they must establish relationships with referring physicians. Justin Glass spent the last frantic days before the grand opening calling on podiatrists. The company also hosted a special, physicians-only opening night at the 11,000-sq-ft store to make the physicians more comfortable referring to them. “We will show that we are a high-class, real clean-cut store, just as if you were to walk into a doctor’s office,” Justin Glass said before the opening.

Being part of a larger chain also helped, Justin Glass says, because he and his father could learn from the eight other Foot Solutions franchises across the United States and Canada. For more information about Foot Solutions, visit www.footsolutions.com or www.ohiofootsolutions.com.