5 Things To Expect from Your Aging Feet

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Are you interested in maintaining your strength and vitality as you get older? Well, at Monmouth County’s Affiliated Foot & Ankle Center, we think the answer is probably “yes.” So, how do you do it? Believe it or not, one of the best ways to maintain your mobility and independence as you age is to keep your feet healthy.

Staying agile as you age can be a matter of looking out for potential problems with your feet, and nipping them in the bud. Here are five changes you can expect:

  1. Pain from fat loss. Just like the padding underneath a carpeted room, your foot’s protective fat padding can flatten out after years of use and lose its shock absorption. Pain can follow in the form of plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, and bone contusions.

  2. Pain from fat gain. It’s not uncommon to gain weight as we get older. That extra weight adds to the stress that aging feet are already experiencing. It can also contribute to the loss of protective padding (see #1).

  3. Slower healing. Health problems that we associate with aging such as heart disease and blood clotting may affect the blood vessels in and leading to our feet. If you sustain an injury, healing blood can be slow to arrive on the scene, making wounds and scrapes slow to heal.

  4. Toe deformities. Wear-and-tear arthritis can lead to hammertoes, bunions, claw toes, and other toe problems. Years of wearing narrow-toed shoes and high heels are two other big contributors.

  5. Size change. If you’ve lost fat padding or have bunions, you can expect that your shoe size will change as you age.

Healthy feet are vital in the quest to age gracefully. Expect changes. But don’t accept pain as a normal product of aging. Our podiatrists can help reduce or eliminate your age-related foot pain with custom orthotics that relieve pressure, recommendations for changes in footwear, prescription medications that reduce inflammation, physical therapy, and expert foot and ankle surgery.

Consult one of our board-certified podiatrists - Dr. Samantha Boyd, Dr. Hal Ornstein, Dr. Dan Phan, and Dr. Joseph Saka. You may reach us by phone at (732) 905-1110. Or, contact us online for an appointment at our offices in Howell or Jackson, New Jersey.