I’ve been working at McDonald’s for almost 9 months now, and any shifts longer than 4 hours, my feet start to hurt.
I am overweight, Last time I checked it was 230lbs. But I have heard of similar complaints from coworkers and people online.
Is it the case of too much of a good thing? (Being active and about)
In: 268
Try to elevate your feet during your breaks. A lot of the foot pain is cause by poor blood circulation, particular if you are overweight.
In my old line of work, we had to get special soles (paid by employer) to keep our feet/knees healthier because we stand/walked on hard concrete all day.
The surface on which you stand/walk on also attribute to pain
Get better shoes. Specifically better work shoes and get an inner sole that is soft.
Working on your feet has far too many benefits. Being upright is far easier to work on posture than when you’re sitting. I would also argue that being upright is good for weight loss or medium intensity strength building. Not to mention it is very good for stamina.
If you have been doing it for 9 months, you should be used to it…unless you are wearing shitty shoes. I worked in a packaging factory for well over a decade…and the shoes made all the difference. I got construction type of boots with strong support around my ankles and silicon based inner sole. I cannot recommend it enough. It falls in the same category as sleeping on a good matrass
Your spinal flexor muscles will also alternate flexing as you walk, giving them a short rest that delays fatigue. Standing still has both postural muscles active at the same time and therefore fatigue faster.
It helps massively to stretch your legs, even though it’s the bottom of your feet that hurt. I can’t exactly remember which ones helped for me but try bending your leg back and touch your bum with your foot, hold it with a hand and stretch the muscle as far as you comfortably can and hold it.
When doing bar work I could often suffer from from the bottom of my feet being really sore, stretching leg thighs/calves really helped.
Weight is one part, shoes are another part. Maybe you don’t have the best shoes. I know when I used to work in my vans my feet would be killing me. Switched jobs and wore a different type of shoe and now I don’t have that issue
Weight contributes to making it worse, but from experience, I can tell you the right shoes make a world of difference. Poor shoe quality or shoes not fit for the purpose of all-day standing/walking causes your feet to hurt a lot sooner. A good quality, supportive, cushioning shoe is worth the extra cost, and I don’t mean running shoes which are for running, not all day standing/walking. If you can’t afford new shoes, then look at the various cushioning and arch support inserts available to put into your existing shoes.
Try buying the Nike Invincible 3, Brooks Glycerin, or Asics Gel Nimbus shoe. You will not be disappointed.
I’m on my feet for 12 hours most days during summer and I’m fine with it, but that’s because I’m doing a lot of different movements.
I’ve had a job where I was stood mostly stationary for 3 hours a shift and it was *hell*.
It’s unnatural to be standing upright for prolonged periods without moving around a lot. Movement helps with blood flow and shifts the burden onto various muscles.
It’s a similar thing with sitting down; poor posture isn’t purely down to bad positions, it’s down to prolonged bad positions. If you only sit down for a 15 minute break in the middle of the day, feel free to slouch. We’ve not evolved to hold stationary poses
Good shoes makes a big difference. I am heavy, and spend a lot of time on my feet, found that sketchers with memory foam soles makes a world of difference.
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