Foot arthritis

[harllee]

I dance, hike and walk a lot. After doing a lot of all 3 of these activities this summer in August I developed some pain on the heel of my right foot (the back outside of the heel) and the outside of the foot. I went to a podiatrist a few weeks ago who did X-rays and examined me and diagnosed me with arthritis in the cuboid joint. Stress fracture and plantar fasciitis was ruled out (the doctor said where I have pain is not typical for plantar faciitis and I do not morning pain which is also typical of plantar faciitis). The podiatrist said this type of arthritis is common in people who dance and also may be caused by the fact that I supinate (walk too much on the outside of the foot).

The doctor recommended Hoka Bondi shoes (have helped, love them but they are ugly), shoe inserts with moleskin buildup on the outside to push my gait to the inside and voltaren gel. The volteran gel does not help as much as CBD creme. I was also given some exercises that I am doing which mainly stretch my calf muscles and some massages. I am also using a tennis ball to roll my foot on and a TENS machine. I also was told to try to consciously walk more on the inside of my foot which is harder than it sounds.

I was doing pretty good until I had to go to a dress up party the other night and wear dress shoes (I wore some Clark shoes with good arch support and low heels). After the party my foot hurt. It also still hurts if I walk more than a couple of miles. I have not had the nerve to dance but I want to get back to dancing as soon as I can, it is one of my and DH's main hobbies.

Anybody else with foot arthritis that can give me some advice? I am female, age 68, in excellent health, not overweight and until this foot thing I got a lot of exercise ( I aim still walking shorter distances, biking and doing pool walking and exercises).

[RunningBum]

No foot arthritis but I have some other foot issues. My general advice is to wear the Hokas as much as possible, and do the exercises as well, and hopefully events like this and dancing will go ok for at least some time. I found that wearing Crocs around the house keep my feet in better shape. You may never do too well in dress shoes and dancing, but the better shape you can keep your feet in the rest of the time may allow you to do more in the other times. And maybe you just deal with a few days of pain after an event like this, and take it easy until you recover.

[Bamaman]

My wife has terrible mid foot arthritis on the top of her feet, and there are bone spurs. It keeps her from sleeping too.

The only shoes she can wear are Alegria brand, and with custom orthodontic insoles. Belks has a whole Alegria department locally. My wife's doctor and many nurses also wear Alegria shoes.

Unfortunately, the fix is surgery with pins and plates. You're off your feet completely for 7 weeks plus extra time for recuperation, then do it again with the other foot. The surgery is pretty rough.

She's putting off the surgery because we're raising our 8 year old granddaughter and we just don't have the time. In the meantime, it's Volteran gel for inflammation and pain laced with over the counter lidocaine lotion that keeps her going.