Our foot has a complex anatomy with 26 bones, more than 100 tendons, ligaments and 33 joints on each side of the foot. Its main function is to carry weight and propel the body forward.
The foot requires a certain degree of flexibility to adapt to a variety of different ground to maintain body balance; foot also has a certain degree of stability to withstand the amount of reaction force given to the body by the ground when the body is in various activities.
We walk 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, the distance walked in a lifetime can be 4 weeks around the earth, and the foot in walking withstand the force is 2 to 3 times the weight, so the elderly foot prone to lesions.
What changes will happen to the feet of the elderly?
1.The foot will become wider and longer.
2. The arch of the foot may be flatter than in younger years.
3. The fat pad of the heel may shrink.
4. The foot and ankle joints may lose their normal mobility and become stiff.
5. The ability to balance the foot and ankle joints while walking is reduced due to the loss of muscle strength and the body’s ability to coordinate.
These changes are normal degeneration of the human body and do not necessarily cause discomfort, but if you do not pay attention to foot care, it may cause foot pathologies such as bunion, hammertoe, bursitis, callus, corns, intermetatarsal neuroma and arthritis.
How can I check my feet?
It can be examined in the following ways.
1. skin, to see if the skin is calloused, blistered, or red from irritation.
2, blood circulation: look at the color of the toes, reddish, purple or dark. Press the toenail to make it white, generally normal people relax the pressure, the color under the nail will recover after 2 to 5 seconds.
3. Flexibility. Hold a small ball or towel with the toe, if it can be done, it means the toe has good flexibility. The flexibility of the ankle joint can be tested by the following method, stand on a step with the forefoot and put the heel down, if you feel pain in the heel, stop the test, if you feel some pulling in the heel or calf, you can improve the flexibility of the ankle joint through exercise, if you can complete this action smoothly, it means the ankle joint has good flexibility.
4.Feeling, you can use a pencil eraser to compare different parts of both feet to check, and can compare with other parts of the body to see if it is the same.
5, pain, there should be no pain in any part of the foot.
6, balance ability, after closing the eyes and stretching out the hands to stand on one foot, generally 40 to 50 years old, can stand for 10 seconds; after 50 years old can stand for 7 seconds.
7.Foot arch check.
8.From the wear and shape of the shoes you wear to understand the condition of the foot.