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Foot Pain Explained
By Dave Wilson
The human foot is made up of
26 different bones (25% of all the bones in the body), 22 distinct
joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. The
foot can be broken down into six separate sections: the heel,
the instep, the sole, the ball of the foot, the toes and the
toenails. Since this section of the body is so complex, many
different ailments take place in the feet.
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Pressure related problems: An
average day of walking around is
the equivalent of hundreds of tons of pressure to your feet.
Injuries like fallen arches can result after a lifetime of being
on your feet all day, every day. Long term effects of fallen
arches can result in chronic knee pain and shin splints.
Traumatic injuries: As any professional
athlete can tell you,
traumatic foot injuries can be a pain in the, well, foot. Broken
toes and foot bones can take months to heel, and Achilles tendon
injuries can be debilitating for life. One of the most common
injuries to the foot is simply dropping something heavy onto
the
foot and crushing one or more bones in the process.
Ingrown Toenails: An ingrown
toenail is when the side or the
corner of the toenail end up digging into the skin and causing
moderate to severe pain, swelling, redness and in extreme cases,
infection. They can usually be cured by simply soaking the toe
in hot water for about 30 minutes and then placing thin fabric
under the nail to keep it from digging into the foot. In serious
cases, minor surgery might be needed to remove the nail from
the
foot.
Plantars warts: Plantar warts
are small, usually round warts
that appear on the sole of the foot and are caused by the HPV
virus. They sometimes have small black specks with them that
will bleed when the surface is punctured. The wart is usually
covered by a layer of hard skin due to the pressure on the foot
during periods of standing and walking. It can be spread by use
of common showers or around swimming pools. They are usually
treated by using regular over-the-counter wart medicine
containing acid. |
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Arthritis: Arthritis in the foot
is extremely common in older people since the foot alone has
33 joints. Any sort of traumatic injury to the foot can cause
arthritis in the future.
Heel conditions: The two most
common causes of severe pain in the heel belong to plantar fasciitis
and bone spurs in the heel. Bone spurs are caused by a calcium
deposit attached to the bone of the heel. They can go from mildly
annoying to excruciating depending on the size. We’ll discuss
plantar fasciitis later.
Athelte’s Foot: Athlete’s
foot is caused by a fungus that attacks the feet. It ranges from
being almost painless to causing extreme burning and itching
all over the toes and sole of the foot. There are many different
over the counter remedies for Athlete’s foot, but if you
use many common areas barefoot, you may have to treat it over
and over again as it’s easy to catch.
Nerve Problems in the feet: Most
nerve problems in the feet are caused by the long-term effects
of diabetes. The nerves in the feet are the longest nerves in
the body and are susceptible to neuropathy and other ailments
brought on by diabetes.
Diabetes: Other than the aforementioned
nerve problems, diabetes seriously effects the circulation in
the body and many serious diabetes sufferers have lost fingers,
toes and even feet due to lack of circulation due to a lifetime
of diabetes.
Congenital foot conditions: Birth
defects can range from misshapen feet to bone protrusions, to
nerve problems. Most congenital problems can be dealt with through
surgery.
You can see from this brief overview
how many aspects there are to the feet and why foot pain can
be such a common and complicated problem for many people. |
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