Editing Foot binding (section)

=== Health problems ===
[[File:Feet of a Chinese woman, showing the effect of foot-binding.jpg|alt=feet of a Chinese woman in an isolation hospital in Mauritius|thumb|Feet of a Chinese woman, showing the effect of foot-binding]]
The most common problem with bound feet was [[infection]]. Despite the amount of care taken in regularly trimming the toenails, they would often in-grow, becoming infected and causing injuries to the toes. Sometimes, for this reason, the girl's toenails would be peeled back and removed altogether. The tightness of the binding meant that the circulation in the feet was faulty, and the circulation to the toes was almost cut off, so injuries to the toes were unlikely to heal and were likely to gradually worsen and lead to infected toes and rotting flesh. The necrosis of the flesh would initially give off a foul odour. Later the smell may have come from various microorganisms that colonized the folds.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/mar/21/china.gender |title= The ties that bind |first=Fraser|last= Newham|date= 21 March 2005 |work=The Guardian }}</ref> Most of the women receiving treatment did not go out often and were disabled.<ref name=mackie />

If the infection in the feet and toes entered the bones, it could cause them to soften, which could result in toes dropping off. This was seen as a benefit because the feet could then be bound even more tightly. Girls whose toes were more fleshy would sometimes have shards of glass or pieces of broken tiles inserted within the binding next to her feet and between her toes to cause injury and introduce infection deliberately.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/pathologymuseum/specimens/items/items/te230-bound-foot-of-a-chinese-woman-1862.html | title=2014 - TE.230: Bound Foot of a Chinese woman 1862 - Pathology Museum }}</ref>  Disease inevitably followed infection, meaning that death from [[septic shock]] could result from foot binding, and a surviving girl was more at risk of medical problems as she grew older. It is thought that as many as 10% of girls may have died from [[gangrene]] and other infections owing to foot binding.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ac2UAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA423 |title=Ordinary Violence: Everyday Assaults against Women Worldwide |first= Mary White |last=Stewart |page=423 |publisher= Praeger|date=27 January 2014 |isbn=978-1-4408-2937-6}}</ref>

At the beginning of the binding, many of the foot bones would remain broken, often for years. However as the girl grew older the bones would begin to heal. Even after the foot bones had healed, they were prone to rebreaking repeatedly, especially when the girl was in her teenage years and her feet were still soft. Bones in the girls' feet would often be deliberately broken again to further change the size or shape of the feet. This was especially the case with the girl's toes, which were broken several times since small toes were especially desirable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cummings |first1=S. R. |last2=Ling |first2=X. |last3=Stone |first3=K. |title=Consequences of foot binding among older women in Beijing, China |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=1997 |volume=87 |issue=10 |pages=1677–1679|doi=10.2105/AJPH.87.10.1677 |pmid=9357353 |pmc=1381134 }}</ref> Older women were more likely to break hips and other bones in falls, since they could not balance properly on their feet, and were less able to rise to their feet from a sitting position.<ref>Cummings, S. & Stone, K. (1997) "Consequences of Foot Binding Among Older Women in Beijing China", in: ''American Journal of Public Health'' EBSCO Host. October 1997</ref> Other issues that may have arisen from foot binding included paralysis and [[muscular atrophy]].<ref name=body /> By the turn of the century foot binding had been exposed in photographs, X-rays and detailed textual descriptions. These scientific investigations detailed how foot binding deformed the leg, covered the skin with cracks and sores and altered the posture.{{sfn|Hershatter|2018}}
There is also some evidence that points to some older women in select rural areas experiencing higher levels of osteoporosis morbidities.<ref>Pan, Yi et al. “A study on bone mass in elderly chinese foot-binding women.” International journal of endocrinology vol. 2013 (2013): 351670. doi:10.1155/2013/351670</ref>