What Can Go Wrong With Your Feet As You Age

Plantar Fasciitis

It’s a common cause of heel pain. The tissue that connects the front and back of your foot and supports the arch gets swollen and irritated. Though it’s hard to know exactly what causes it, it’s more common as you hit middle age, especially between 40 and 60. And you’re more likely to get it if you repeat the same impact on your feet, like when you run. Starting a new activity can be a trigger.

Osteoarthritis

It’s the most common form of arthritis (joint inflammation) in the foot and other parts of the body. It can happen to anyone, but it’s more common in middle age, and most people who get it are over 65. It happens when cartilage breaks down and allows bone to rub against bone. Normal wear and tear or even a sudden injury can lead to this condition.

Bone Spurs

You might not even notice these smooth bony growths when they first start to grow at the edge of the bones of your foot, often at your heel, mid-foot, or big toe. But they can cause pain when they get big enough to start pushing on nearby nerves and tissues. Osteoarthritis or a pulled tendon or ligament can cause the growths, which are more common as you age, especially after age 60.

Bunions

This painful, bony lump grows at the joint where your big toe meets your foot. It develops slowly as the big toe pushes inward. Like many foot problems, it’s more common as you get older. Tight, narrow, shoes like high heels may worsen the condition. Icing, special pads, and shoes that aren’t too tight help. Your doctor might suggest surgery in serious cases.

Achilles Problems

The Achilles is the thick tendon that connects your calf muscles to your heel. Blood supply can slow with age, which weakens the tendon and makes injury more likely. Repeated motion can inflame it. A jump or fall, often during sports, can tear it partially or completely. Your heel could swell and become very painful. Rest and icing is important. You could need surgery for serious tears.

Bursitis

Small fluid-filled sacs called bursae help cushion your joints, bones, and tendons. Repeated motion or friction from shoes can make them swell. In the foot, your toes or heel might get red, swollen, and painful. Ice, padding, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen can help. Severe cases may need a corticosteroid shot or even surgery.

Peripheral Neuropathy

Conditions like type 2 diabetes, kidney failure, and arthritis, which become more common with age but aren’t a normal part of getting older, can damage the nerves that connect your brain and spinal cord to all of your body, including your feet. You might have numbness and tingling in your feet that turns to jabbing pain. Talk to your doctor about how to treat your symptoms as well as the underlying condition.

Morton’s Neuroma

You might have pain in the front part of your foot or you feel like you’re walking on a rock or a marble.  It’s more common in women, especially in middle age, in part because of shoes that squeeze their feet, like high heels. The tissue around a nerve near your toe between two bones in the middle of your foot starts to thicken. Your doctor will likely suggest, rest, icing, padding, and NSAIDs.

Gout

It happens when a waste product called uric acid collects as crystals, often in the big toe, where it causes intense pain and swelling. Your risk increases with age, between 30 and 60 in men and after menopause in women. Your doctor can help you treat an attack with rest and medication. A better diet and exercise habits, and possibly medication, may reduce future attacks and other problems linked to gout.

Stress Fractures

For women, the hormone changes that come with menopause can lower your bone density (osteoporosis) and make it easier to break bones, including those in your feet. Men may also get more brittle bones as they age. A stress fracture needs several weeks of rest to heal. You’ll want to strengthen your bones with exercise and diet, and perhaps may need to take medication. Ask your doctor about the pros, cons, and what would help you most.    

Hammertoe

It’s an abnormal bend in the middle joints of your toe. It usually your “second” toe, next to the big one, but it can affect the third, fourth, and fifth as well. You’ll notice an unusual shape and you may have some pain when you move it as well as corns and calluses from the toe rubbing against your shoe. Your doctor can treat it with special footwear, medicine to treat pain and inflammation, and sometimes surgery.

What You Can Do

• Exercise: Movement tones foot muscles, strengthens arches, and keeps blood moving.
• Make sure your shoes fit with plenty of room in the toe box -- your feet get a bit bigger with age.
• Keep your feet clean and dry to avoid infection and your toenails trimmed so they don’t rub against your shoes.
• See your doctor if you have pain that won’t go away. The sooner you go, the faster you can feel better.