Are you still touching your face? 1 of 5 Biggest Personal Hygiene Mistakes to Avoid

According to one study, people touch their face about 23 times an hour. From now on, we all need to make a conscious effort to keep our hands below shoulder level at all time, this could make a very large difference to the transmission of the coronavirus

Why not the face?

The eyes, nose and mouth, are the key gateways for bacteria and viruses to enter our bodies which include, of course, the coronavirus.

We all touch our face regularly and we often do it without noticing. Studies have shown that we are particularly prone to touching our chins. The problem is that if you touch the mucus membranes in your nostrils, mouth or eyes after touching an infected surface or an object, you can become infected.

“If you never touched your face, it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t wash your hands. Your hands could be as dirty or as contaminated as you like,” says Robert West, a professor of health psychology at University College London.

That is why we need to start tackling face touching -something that has not been talked about as much compared to hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser.

If you want to limit the spread of Coronavirus, then keep your hands below your shoulders and…what else?

Besides washing our hands with soap for 20 secs, avoid large crowds, and practice social distancing, we need to start getting it into our heads that face touching isn’t an appropriate thing to do, especially in public. This is clearly a behaviour that makes us prone to infecting ourselves with disease by spreading the bacteria and viruses we pick up with our hands when we touch our surrounding environment.

Besides avoid touching our face, it is also a good idea to wash your hands as well as your face thoroughly when you get home from the outside.  For those of you who wear glasses, it’s important that you clean your glasses every day as well, they act as a physical barrier to viruses to get into your eyes (that’s why full PPE includes goggles!). In addition, it is recommended to always wash your face FIRST in the shower as the steam will open up all the routes of transmission for the bacteria and viruses that may be on the surface on our face after being outside.

At The Footwork Clinic, Chatswood and Sydney CBD practice, we are all making a conscious effort not to touch our face to minimise the risk of disease transmission. I’m glad to say that we are doing pretty well so far….

Hope that’s helpful. For more great health information or if you’ve got any questions or concerns about your foot and leg healthCLICK HERE to reach out, we are here to help and support the community during this time.


We’re proud to continue supporting the community and offering great health services during this time with the following: 

  • Innovative Virtual Foot Health Program to improve your foot health in the comfort of your own home
  • Home visits to provide foot care and anything that you may need to maintain your foot health
  • Our clinics remain open -we are taking every precaution to ensure that our clinics are as safe as possible for you and our staff. Please CLICK THIS BUTTON to see what we are doing to help prevent the spread of COVID-19
  • Providing great health information you can rely on

Yours in Health,
Mark Lin & The Team @ The Footwork Clinic

Director | Rehabilitation or Rehab / Sports Podiatrist,

Foot Mobilisation & Trigenics® Lower Limb Practitioner, Movement Restoration Coach (MRC™), Strength and Conditioning Coach

Is Pain Impacting Your Life?

You don’t need to live like this. Let us help you!

The Footwork Clinic, situated in Chatswood on Sydney’s North Shore and Sydney CBD, is there to help should you have an injury or condition that you think would benefit from heat or ice treatment. They offer advanced manual therapies and a holistic and corrective care approach, with a proven track record of success in resolving acute and chronic conditions, and they will gladly offer advice to get you on the road to recovery as soon as possible.

For further information, visit the The Footwork Clinic – Leading Sports, Podiatry, Foot And Lower Limb Corrective Services to book online, or call Mark Lin or his friendly team on +61 2 9131 6891.

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The information contained in this guide is provided in good faith and is not intended to be nor is it to be used as a substitute for any sort of professional, medical or podiatric advice. An accurate diagnosis can only be made following personal consultation with a podiatrist. Any users should always seek the advice of their podiatrist, or other qualified healthcare providers before commencing any treatment.

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