Foot Pain

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FOOT PAIN: does footwear choices make a difference?

There’s an old saying,
“When your feet hurt, you hurt all over.”

 Definition of foot pain

Pain or discomfort can be felt anywhere in the foot. You may have pain in the heel, toes, arch, instep, or in sole of foot.

 Background knowledge:

Foot care in terms of health remains to be listed far behind heart, eye, teeth, skin care and nutrition among the health care of different parts of the body. Hence, the epidemiological literature received less attention, in spite of the fact the incidence of foot pain and related problems is very high and common especially in older population. Though, in a recent APMA survey 51 per cent of adults reported that they have got restricted activities of daily livings due to foot pain, still they have little knowledge about podiatrist and they would rather seek primary care physician (PCP). The same survey also revealed that eighty per cent Americans believed that foot health is fundamental for over well-being and half of them want to know more about podiatrists.

 Epidemiology:

Foot pain is common problem and one of the common musculoskeletal conditions that is being treated by physical therapist. It is highly prevalent in older population, as one in three people aged above 65 years experienced foot pain. Multiple factors may responsible for producing foot pain like increased age, gender, ill-fitted footwear, obesity and chronic degenerative diseases. The incidence of footpain in US national health survey (1990) and the Framingham foot study (2009) have shown 24% and 28% of participants reported generalized footpain without any obvious underlying pathology, respectively. The more recent survey conducted by American Podiatric Medical Association (2014) have shown that 8 in 10 US adults experienced foot problems including pain as third most common complaint. The Cheshire random community based survey (2004) revealed that 10 percent of the participants between age 18-80 reported “disabling” foot pain. A study held in Northwest Adelaide, Australia indicated that one in five people over age 18years have reported foot pain with higher prevalence in females. The prevalence of foot pain has also been seen among randomly selected Danish (2010) population aged 18-80 years with prevalent rate of 30.4%. In Asian population, 50 percent of young urban working women reported recurrent non traumatic foot pain and 68.4% believed that the pain is associated to the footwear they worn at work.

Outcome Measures

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Management / Interventions

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Differential Diagnosis

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Key Evidence

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