4 Ways to Slow Down the Progression of Foot Osteoarthritis

When the pain and inflammation of osteoarthritis (OA) develop in any joint, it’s not great news. However, when it develops in your feet and ankles, life can be especially challenging.

Around 33 million Americans have OA, and while knees and hips tend to grab the spotlight, it can also strike your feet and ankles. When this happens, every step becomes uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, OA is irreversible and progressive, so the best way to address foot OA is to slow its progression. To that end, our team of podiatry specialists at Neuhaus Foot and Ankle pulled together some best practices for managing foot and ankle osteoarthritis.

1. Have us evaluate your foot arthritis first

If you suspect foot OA, it’s time to come see us. First, we can confirm your suspicion (or not). Second, we can evaluate the extent of the wear-and-tear in your joints, which serves as an important baseline moving forward.

From there, we can explore the best ways to reduce your pain and inflammation and improve your mobility, such as medications, icing and heat therapies, and/or steroid injections.

This is important because we want you to be comfortable as you take more sustainable steps to slow your OA.

During this visit, we’ll review many of the strategies we’re going to discuss next.

2. Get orthotics

When you have pain in your feet due to OA, it can knock you off balance and increase discomfort. To support your feet and prevent imbalance issues, we highly recommend custom orthotics.

These inserts fit and support your feet perfectly, unlike over-the-counter products, and they can do wonders for helping you navigate arthritis.

3. Reduce your risk factors

There are a few things that can increase your risks for OA, and at the head of this list is carrying too much weight. Excess pounds place far more pressure on your joints, especially the 30 small joints in your feet and ankles.

So, if you really want to slow the progression of your OA, weight loss can go a long way.

We also want you to switch over to shoes that support your feet and move away from shoes that harm them, such as high heels and shoes with pointy toes. Shoes that create more imbalance in your feet speed up the progression of your OA.

4. Strengthen your feet and ankles

Your feet and ankles contain many tiny muscles that you can strengthen to take the pressure off of your arthritic joints.

Exercises like spelling out the alphabet with your foot are helpful and will not only make your feet stronger, but they can also preserve the range of motion in your lower extremities.

For more foot and ankle exercise ideas, click here.

Clearly, there are steps you can take to slow the progression of foot and ankle OA. For a more detailed and customized action plan, schedule a consultation with our foot health specialists.