5 Ways We Can Protect Elderly Feet
Elderly feet are at higher risk for several painful foot conditions. Luckily, we can prevent or manage many age-related concerns, as long as you come in for regular visits with our Westfield, IN podiatrist. Today, we’ll take a look at five common conditions that hurt elderly feet. Then, we’ll share top tips for preventing or treating these concerns to offer pain relief.
5 Conditions That Hurt Elderly Feet
1. Dry, Cracked Heels
As you get older, your body has a harder time holding onto moisture. For that reason, elderly feet are more likely to dry out and develop cracks—especially on the soles or heels of your feet. On your own, you can help prevent cracked heels by following a twice-daily moisturizing routine for your feet. But if you notice deep cracks, or if your heels start bleeding from fissures, it’s time to come in to the office to prevent infection.
2. Elderly Feet and Heel Pain
So many things increase your risk for heel pain as you age. First, the natural padding in your heels wears down over time, meaning you absorb more shock as you age. At the same time, years of activity can wear down your plantar fascia—the connective tissue that runs from your heel to the ball of your foot. As a result, you’re more like to develop tiny tears as well as inflammation. In turn, the heel pain of plantar fasciitis becomes a problem.
Now, we can’t entirely prevent some of the natural changes to your body. But we can provide elderly feet with more padding to replace lost natural cushioning. We can also support your feet with orthotics, taking the pressure off your plantar fascia and helping reduce pain and inflammation.
3. Bunions
Bunions are bony bumps that develop on the outside of your big toes. They form when pressure on the big toe joint shifts your metatarsal, or toe bones inward, causing the base of the bone to shift outward. These bony bumps can form at any time in your life, but they’re more common in women and on elderly feet, since pressure on your toe bones builds up over the years.
We can protect your feet from bunions in several ways. First, we can reduce internal and external pressure on your toe bones and joints with the help of orthotics. Next, we can help you choose shoes that won’t add pressure on your feet. We can also pad small bunions to help prevent painful rubbing. And we can also help prevent them from getting larger with minimally invasive treatment options. Finally, if your bunions are very painful or making it too difficult to wear shoes, we can perform surgery to restore your foot’s natural shape.
4. Arthritis
Because your toes, feet and ankles contain so many bones, they may develop osteoarthritis as you age.
Currently, there’s no cure for this progressive condition that attacks the cartilage around your joints, leaving you with pain, stiffness and limits on mobility. Still, we may be able to slow your disease progression, and we can certainly help limit your pain, especially if you seek early intervention.
5. Elderly Flat Feet
As the years pass, pressure builds on the tendon in your arch, called the posterial tibial tendon. In turn, tiny tears may develop, which could lead to pain as well as a noticeable ‘collapse’ in your arch. Once the arch collapses, your feet will appear flat when you stand, but you’ll still see an arch when feet don’t bear weight. At this stage, we can help manage and prevent the pain of flat feet. But if you wait too long, flexible flat feet may become rigid, at which point treatment becomes far more difficult.