Anyone else suffering arthritis in their feet? OUCH!

Interesting that you use the lidocaine patches on the top of your foot. I put mine on the bottom to cover the arch of my foot. I might try both and see what that does. It’s so hard to keep walking when your feet are killing you.

Orthofeet provides great shoes

I have also found that I was restricting my feet in certain shoes ( bunions on both ) went up in sock size and wide shoes. Also foot soaks with Epson salt. Just a thought

I am housebound due to over all my body arthritis-undergoing the journey for knees and shoulder/neck. I don’t wear shoes around the hose, just socks. I haven’t even gotten the doctors involved in the foot pain, but if y’all definitely know I should be wearing shoes please tell me and give any advice. It’s excruciating the few times I get up out of bed/recliner. Should I exercise through the pain, or is that making it worse? Will a podiatrist be a waste of time, just go straight to the osteo guys working on all my other joints (cortisone is rationed severely-why?-at 79 what do I care about cortisone side effects?!) Getting desperate…thank God for long term care insurance providing caretaker/cook/housekeeper! Foot advice? First “steps”:) for relief?

Hi Ferrit. I’m sorry you are going through what you are going through. I think you should talk to a podiatrist because I think that if you can wear shoes that may have orthotics or shoes that definitely have support that are easy to get on your feet, it will help you. I am glad you are seeing an orthopedic that can help you with injections and that you have the help at home that you need as well. We are all trying to navigate the pain that we are in. Please continue to find the right answers for you as we are all different but we all have pain in common. 🙏😊

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.

thank you for all this wonderful information. I am sorry you are in such pain but your attitude is the BEST! looking for the Melt balls now. I had terrible pain in big toe from running a great deal when I was younger...never went to podiatrist then after years of pain in both big toes. ...it stopped. a few years later I had my foot x rayed because I dropped something on it and lo and behold both big toes had FUSED themselves so they were 1 long bone and did not bend at all at the joint. (which is why the pain stopped!) good luck with your hands. I just had carpal tunnel surgery which I resisted and now am so grateful for. I no longer wake in the night with numbness and pain. Live on!!!!

All of the info here is awesome! I can add one comment to this, which is to investigate Gouty arthritis! For 30 years, I have been labeled with osteoarthritis because my x-rays are loaded with it. I’ve had the same problems as the gal that stopped crocheting and her handwriting got bad then from this group, I learned about tart cherry capsules at a very low moment this past summer when I had gone through another round of rheumatoid arthritis, test all pointing negative. The chart cherry capsules. (I bought on Amazon called ZAZZEE) for $20 changed my life in 24 hours. It made me realize that all the arthritis pains for the most part were due to gout and high uric acid levels when I asked my doctor to test I tested high for high uric acid. My handwriting has not gotten any better, L O L, because that is the osteoarthritis however, all the pain has gone away! 30 years of joint pain has pretty much vanished. For 25 years I’ve pretty much used black cherry juice, apple cider vinegar and lemon in a concoction which I drink if I get really sore over my whole body , and I’ve had a gout attack a couple times in my big toe and fingers having to go to the hospital, but nobody ever suggested that I had gout arthritis as a condition on an ongoing basis. Just another thing to look into.

Thank you for this, @loriesco !

I have tart cherries here and will try them and see. If I get a reprieve from pain I’ll ask to have my Utica acid levels checked.

I SO appreciate this group!

My thanks to each of you!

I’m not sure you could eat enough or as regularly. But hacmve at it! I have IBS and can’t digest stone pit fruit so be careful.