Q I have terrible pains in my feet which come on after walking into town and back. My doctor says nothing can be done and I should just rest. Can you help?

A The feet are the commonest place in the body to get arthritis and I think it is little appreciated how complicated our feet are and how much we rely on them - until they go wrong that is.

As most of us get older the arches of our feet start to drop and this can cause pain in the feet in the heel area, in the balls of the feet and also on the tops.

We should all try to find shoes which have high supportive arches. Women often find a higher heeled shoe less provocative of pain because it keeps the arch supported, but I recommend a lower heel with arch supports.

You can buy arch supports, the Scholl shop is good for these, or it is possible to get them fitted by the surgical appliance department.

As far as the wear-and-tear arthritis goes, I recommend keeping the weight off to let it settle, anti-inflammatories to help with the pain and things like cod liver oil, glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate, devil's claw among other herbs and reflexology massage to ease the pain.

Updated: 09:52 Monday, January 28, 2002