Foot arthritis causes your feet to become achy, swollen, and stiff. These symptoms and other arthritis complications can make your gait change temporarily or permanently.
Receiving help from podiatrists Thomas Rambacher, DPM, FACFAS, FAPWCA, and Amber O’Connor, DPM, at Podiatry Hotline Foot & Ankle in Mission Viejo, California, can simultaneously alleviate your foot arthritis symptoms and improve your walking posture. Read on to learn the link between arthritis and your walk, and what can help restore your gait.
The way you walk, or your gait, tends to be established from a young age. Everyone has a unique, individualized way of moving.
A gait consists of two stages: the stance and swing phases. Stance refers to how you place your foot on the ground, while the swing phase is what happens when you lift your foot off the ground and move it from one stance to another.
Medical problems like foot arthritis, taking certain medications, and the aging process are all common reasons your walking pattern can change.
Especially when it’s not well-controlled, the stiffness and swelling caused by foot arthritis can lead to significant changes in how you walk. These changes can reduce and limit your mobility.
Some of the most common changes include:
Walking puts increased pressure on the foot joint where you have arthritis. This can increase your pain levels and cause the area to hurt every time you walk on it.
To avoid pain, you might start walking with a limp or shuffling awkwardly to avoid putting weight on the painful area of your foot.
Arthritis can cause your feet to become swollen and stiff. It can be harder to make each stride as long as it previously was when you walk.
Stiffness can get better as you start moving around, so you might notice your stride length improving as the day goes on.
Your foot and ankle become less flexible when you have arthritis. This makes it harder to move parts of your foot when you walk.
Reduced movement leads to a lower range of your motion when you move your foot, which can also impact the way you’re able to move your hips and knees when you walk.
Many forms of arthritis weaken your foot. Your walk can become shakier as you struggle to carry your body weight, and you may not be able to walk as far.
Arthritis can make walking more difficult, but our team can help restore your gait and alleviate foot arthritis pain with targeted treatment. We begin with a gait analysis to determine how arthritis has most significantly impacted your walk.
Reducing stiffness and swelling, while making walking less painful, helps your walking pattern return to normal. Treatments we recommend include:
Treatment for foot arthritis helps you manage your symptoms and live more actively and comfortably. Contact us for effective solutions for foot and ankle arthritis.
