This article is first of a two-part series. Aging takes its toll on your feet and ankles, as it does  the rest of your body. Taking good care of ourselves, is the best way to ensure good health into our senior years. But we usually don’t think of our feet, until something goes wrong. Given the amount of stress we put on our feet in a lifetime, it’s easy to see why certain foot problems seem unavoidable. In addition to wear and tear, there are natural changes that occur with the aging process, which affect foot health.

As feet get older, they lose some of their strength and springiness, due to changes in the skin and joints. Feet tend to spread, and lose the fatty pads that cushion them. This does not mean that feet should necessarily become painful as they get older. However, it does mean that they are not able to sustain the same levels of activity that they could, when you were younger. Foot pain and discomfort aren’t a natural part of growing older, or something to just put up with. Much can be done to relieve pain, improve comfort, and prevent small foot problems from becoming major down the road.

Some Areas Aging is Evident

Fatty pad reduction

Mother nature provides humans with built-in insoles, collagen, and elastin cushions on the bottoms of your feet. Collagen production decreases through the years, thinning these fat pads. Without this cushioning, your feet have a lot of pain, because you’re essentially walking on bones. The way to deal with this problem is to wear cushioned, comfortable shoes, reinforced with insoles if needed.

Arthritis appears

Arthritis most commonly strikes the big toe or the midfoot joints, on the top of your foot. Besides pain, you might feel stiffness in the morning, which improves once you get moving, then worsens again at night. Shoe inserts, exercises to increase range of motion, and losing weight if you’re heavy, may help,

Hip and knee arthritis also have trickle-down effects, altering your alignment in ways that can cause pain on the insides or outsides of your feet. If any of your joints ache, see your podiatrist;  treating hip and knee arthritis with exercise or medications, often lightens the load on your feet as well.

Osteoarthritis is what we think of as wear-and-tear arthritis; the inevitable consequence of years of stress on the joints. The ankle joint, subtalar joint, and the big toe joint (first MTPJ), are three joints that frequently develop arthritis. Symptoms associated with bunions and hammer toes may worsen over the time, due to the progression of arthritis within those toe joints. Another joint problem that can develop in older adults is gouty arthritis. Gout is a metabolic disease that often manifests as intense arthritis symptoms at the big toe joint.

When observing an X-ray of an elderly patient, we sometimes see signs of decreased bone mineral density, indicating the possibility of osteoporosis. This is especially true for female patients, who may be unaware that they are at risk for a fracture, due to this change in bone health. Often, it’s the long bones of the foot (metatarsals), that will show signs of decreased bone mineral density on a foot X-ray.

Common Skin Problems of Aging Feet

Skin changes occur gradually with aging. They include: decreased skin cell turnover; decreased collagen production; and thinning of the skin, with a decrease of the fatty layer beneath. These changes bring about several typical foot problems, which deal with extra stress from weight-bearing.

 

Dry Skin of the Feet

Dry skin, especially on the soles of the feet, is a problem that may require a daily application of a moisturiser, to prevent cracking, or an itchy rash. The decreased fatty layer beneath the skin means reduced cushioning on the sole of the foot;  it also contributes to cracked heels and calluses, due to extra stress on the skin. Additionally, the decreased fat pad on the sole of the foot, may contribute to an increased sensitivity to pain, the result of that loss of cushioning.

Toenail Changes

Toenails usually become thicker and more brittle with age, making them more difficult to cut. One reason that nails become thicker, is because their growth slows over time, mostly due to hormonal changes in the body. Other causes of toenail thickening include hypothyroidism, and inadequate circulation to the limbs from peripheral artery disease (PAD). Onychomycosis, which is a fungal infection of the toenails, is another common cause of toenail thickening.

This article will continue next week.

Your feet mirror your general health . . . cherish them!