• New “100-percent-feet-only” med-spas include
Stride Wellbeing in northern California (U.S.),
which integrates full podiatric medical services
and surgeries with a rich menu of foot-relief spa
treatments. (Stride’s program revolves around its
STRIDE Annual Foot Exam, or SAFE.)
• Multi-treatment, foot-focused spa packages
specifically zeroing in on high-heel agony (i.e.,
special feet/calf massages, stretching, etc.) include
New York’s Mohonk Mountain House’s (U.S.)
“High Heeler” treatment. Spa Montage locations
in California and Utah (U.S.) offer special high-heel
pedicures using special oils and gels to reduce
stiletto swelling.
• Unique specialty pedicures, treatments and foot
spas are also on the rise, from Mandarin Oriental,
Las Vegas’s (U.S.) 1930s- and Shanghai-themed
“Chinese foot spa” to Dragonfly spas’ (20-plus
Chinese locations) four-hand foot massages to
“medi-pedis” specifically for men at the Mandarin
Barber in Hong Kong, performed by a thirdgeneration
Shanghai medi-pedi master, Samuel So,
using ten razor-sharp metal blades.
• Look for: almost every spa skincare line to include
specialty foot products, and for companies that
specialize in pain-relief, like Biofreeze, or footcare
specialists like the more than 100-year-old
powerhouse Gehwol of Germany to continue to
make big strides into the new feet-focused spa
arena. (Gehwol products are used in hundreds
of global spas, including Canyon Ranch’s new
“Healthy Feet” program.