Get Square With Your Feet

by Dorothy Foltz-Gray
Reprinted from Arthritis Today

Add Arthritis to the Mix
Neglect foot problems, and we’re much more likely to develop osteoarthritis (OA) in our feet. In fact, almost half of people in their 60s and 70s have arthritis affecting the foot or ankle.

As the condition progresses, bony spurs form around joints and limit movement. “You can have a painful foot from wearing high heels or running too much,” says Sharon Feldmann, a physical therapist and orthopaedic specialist at the Arthritis Center of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. “But it’s not arthritis until the irritation changes the joint tissues. Once there’s enough damage to initiate inflammation, then you have an arthritic foot, not just a painful one.”

Another problem is that pain – whether it’s from arthritis or other foot problems – changes the way we walk. And once we change the way we use our feet, we also change the way we turn our ankles, knees, hips and spine. “If you have a limp, you put more weight on one leg than the other,” says Anastasia Willis, a physical therapist who works in the arthritis program at the Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital in Chicago. “Then you have more stress on the other foot. It’s almost as if your body is a tower of stacked blocks. If you move one block, all the other blocks have to shift so the tower doesn’t fall.”

“You’re caught in a vicious cycle,” Feldmann agrees. “If you pronate (tilt your foot to the inside), for instance, cartilage in the ankle degenerates, causing you to pronate more, further wearing out the cartilage. That causes stress on the knee joint, forcing the knee to turn in and then you have a non-alignment of the knee, which can degenerate the outside of the knee joint. When the foot isn’t aligned, it affects everything – the way the knee, hip, pelvis or lower back is stressed. And if stress is abnormal, it leads to problems in those joints, which may result in deterioration of joint surfaces, or arthritis.” If you already have arthritis, joint difficulties worsen.