I have significant arthritis in my feet and ankles (in additions to hands and hips). I do work with a podiatrist for my feet because he came highly recommended and I needed surgery for a torn ankle tendon a year ago. He has been very helpful.

I do wear shoes in the house at his suggestion. They have orthotics in them that he made for me over ten years ago. What a difference they have made over the years! I also use a metatarsal pad beneath one foot due to neuropathy that occurred after the surgery (numbness & tingling of middle toes). That helps, too. The company that makes the pads is called HAPAD, in case anyone needs to find them.

I wear Hoka sneakers almost exclusively, but will switch to crocs in the house for something I can slip in and out of. The Hokas have incredibly thick and cushiony soles.

I do physical therapy for my ankles and receive (at different times) dry needling gor tendons that are still healing, cupping around the ankle, and ultrasound to help reduce inflammation in my tendons under the foot.

With all of that I was still having flare-ups and enough pain that I was using more and more Voltaren (a topical anti-inflammatory that gives temporary relief from pain). I was also doing Epsom salt soaks, which were helpful, but I was stuck sitting while doing that.

The thing that has helped me the most is something I do at home. It involves a 10-15 minute regimen of stepping onto and off of two different balls (one hollow and squishy, the other solid and harder), and then rolling them under various parts of my foot and heel, as well as rolling the softer one over the tops of each of the long bones in my foot. I went to a couple-hour class where this was taught almost 10 years ago now. I did it for a while, it felt great, and then convinced myself I didn’t have time for it and didn’t need it any longer, so let it go. Big mistake! Gradually, the pain under and around my great toe got worse and worse. After the ankle surgery my doc showed me the xray of my foot and told me that injections and surgery were next steps. He also explained how my holding my foot in such a way that had been avoiding more of that pain had probably contributed to the tears in the tendon that had required surgical repair. Well, one ankle surgery was enough for me to decide to take seriously the need to take care of my feet a little better. I now do the ball regimen every morning while I drink my tea and look out the window as the sun comes up. My toes do not give me much trouble at all any more. The brand name of the balls I use is MELT and is designed to hydrate the connective tissue in the feet and ankles, which helps …?… make space for the bones? I can’t tell you why it works so well, but it does for me. I also have a set of balls for my hands and will do that before saying yes to injections. If you are in enough pain that standing on your feet is agonizing, you will want to start very slowly, even doing the exercises in sitting at first so that you don’t put too much pressure on your feet and cause more pain. The exercises shouldn’t hurt. When I started, I couldn’t put much pressure on the bottoms of my feet or on top of my enlarged big toe joints, but I can now. There are videos online (on YouTube) that you can watch to learn about this if you are interested.

I sure hope each of you finds a combination of remedies that works for you. I’ve had some level of osteo arthritis since ~age 9. I can make it worse by eating potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants (nightshade family vegetables), so eat them only occasionally.
Even so, I used to wonder (inside my head) what all the fuss was about arthritis. I had discomfort, but could still do most things. Then, after age 50 I stopped knitting and crocheting and in the last 2-3 years I began having difficulty reading my own handwriting. But I could still do what I needed to do. It’s been in the last 1-2 years that the pain (in my hands, mostly) that gets so intense that I can no longer do things I need to do, such as opening jars, even with tools, buttoning, zipping, etc. I am finally starting to do the MELT business with my hands (I was stubborn…convinced I didn’t have time for feet AND hands). I hope I can make a big shift here, too, and know I’ll need to be patient to see the long-term results.

Again, wishing each of you best of luck with reducing your foot pain and increasing what you can do in your lives.