Get Square With Your Feet

by Dorothy Foltz-Gray
Reprinted from Arthritis Today

Prevention: A Necessary Step
“If your hand looked as beat up as your foot looks,” says podiatrist Arthur E. Helfand, chairman of the Department of Community Health, Aging and Health Policy at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, “you’d do more to take care of it.” It’s true most of us ignore our feet, but most problems can be avoided or corrected if we pay attention.

If you already have arthritis, have your feet checked by a rheumatologist, an orthopaedic surgeon or a podiatrist experienced with arthritis. Your doctor will likely suggest X-rays, determine any problems and prescribe a treatment plan.

Whether you have arthritis or not, your foot problems probably stem from or are exacerbated by ill-fitting shoes. “Hammertoes, neuroma and bunions are conditions in which the foot is beginning to take the shape of the shoe,” Dr. Pfeffer says. “But wear a more comfortable shoe, and it’s like getting a facelift without the surgery. A lower heel and roomier shoe box will make a foot feel young again.”

Shoes that fit and feel good are even more important for people who have arthritis, says rheumatologist Roland Chang, MD, director of the Arthritis Center at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. “Often people with rheumatoid arthritis will lose their arch, so they need arch support. And joint capsules stretch as a result of inflammation.”

Another key to foot health is exercise. Stretching out the Achilles tendon (the cord at the back of the heel) and the tendons in the balls of your feet and toes can minimize stiffness and pain. “A foot that doesn’t have mobility will have abnormal stresses,” says Feldmann.

If your feet continue to be sore, consider self-massage, kneading the ball of your foot and your toes top to bottom. For pain, Helfand suggests nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, heat and ultrasound. Topical medications such as those containing capsaicin sometimes help, but as Helfand says, nothing is 100 percent effective.

The most important thing is to take care of your feet. Pain is not normal or inevitable.