Arthritis and Your Feet
Posted by JB Smith, Co-Owner on
While Arthritis can affect many different parts of your body, arthritis and your feet have a special connection. Why, you ask? Because arthritis is an inflammation and swelling in the cartilage and lining of the joints, and increased fluid in the joints…and in each foot you’ve got a whopping thirty-three different joints. That means there is a lot of room for potential pain.
There are more than 100 known disorders that can cause arthritis, and according to the Arthritis Foundation, it is estimated that one in three Americans suffer from some form of the disease. So if you suffer from arthritis, you are not alone.
Arthritis can vary from being manageable to being extremely painful and debilitating. There are many different types of arthritis, but today we’ll talk about three of them.
The most common type of arthritis usually occurs as we get older and the cartilage in our joins breaks down. This type, Osteoarthritis, is not acutely painful, but is characterized by more of a dull ache.
Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, has a much more acute onset and is a major, crippling disorder. This most serious form of arthritis is much more common in women. It typically occurs in a symmetrical pattern, meaning that it affects both ankles, both knees, etc.
A third type of arthritis is gout and it mostly affects the big toe joint found on middle-aged men. It’s caused by a build up in uric acid and can be quite painful.
If you suffer from arthritis, it is important that you visit both a doctor and a shoe specialist. The doctor can prescribe a number of different medicines to help control the affects of arthritis. And a shoe specialist can help you find the right shoes and shoe inserts that can minimize how much the joints of the foot have to move in order to walk, thus alleviating pain.