The elastic nature of our tissues, the tendons, muscles and ligaments, decreases with time and even in our thirties this occurs, making the feet more easily stressed and damaged. Exercise is now typically prescribed for many of our ageing population's ills and this exposes the feet to significant stresses which can lead to painful changes and abnormalities. As we strive to maintain levels of physical activity and sport with time we need to allow longer recuperation periods for our tissues as well as plan our training increases.
As we move into our thirties we look back to how fit we were in our twenties and try to regain that with an exercise programme, without allowing for the fact that our foot tissues cannot cope with the same level of stresses as before. The typical increase in weight that often comes with time imposes increased forces on the feet and can lead to pathological changes. As we get older it gets more important to prepare for sporting or other activities by stretching and warming up.
In our forties we lose more of the fatty padding from the undersides of our feet, with typical pains occurring in the ball, arch or heel of the foot. The foot tissues are both looser in terms of resisting stress and tighter in terms of being less easily flexible and extensible. Our feet may spread to some degree and by our fifties we may be wearing a bigger size than we did when we were young adults. Now we need to adjust our shoe sizes and comfort and add in strengthening and stretching exercises to maintain foot health.
There is a continuation of the ageing processes in the feet in the fifties as well as changes which occur due to our genetic heritage. Our parents could have had problems such as painful flat feet, osteoarthritis and bunions and these will have manifested themselves by now. Exercise in weight bearing poses increasing risk of injury as the thickness of the fatty cushioning continues to reduce with time. These activities which we want to pursue need to be planned to be successful.
Along with the loss of the plumpness of our padding tissues in the feet, the surface tissues, the skin, also dry out and thin with time. Fissures and cracks in the heel can occur, becoming painful and potentially infected. Treating these problems with moisturising creams is simple and effective as well as improving the cosmetic appearance of the feet. People over 50 years of age are susceptible to osteoporosis and awareness of this has increased greatly over recent years. Small stress fractures can occur in the feet with walking and running, flagging up the body wide problem which may be occurring.
In the fifties it is difficult to set an exercise regime which allows a good level of fitness and yet caters for the reduced capacity of the body's tissues to sustain themselves against physical stresses. People of this age often present to the doctor with medical conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes, part of the treatment for which is exercise. Wishing to improve their health they embark on an exercise regime for which their feet are woefully unprepared.
Nowadays the older idea of previous generations that when you retired it was pretty much the end of life has disappeared, with many millions of people looking forward to their older years in a spirit of activity. All this increased exercise puts significantly higher demands on the anatomical structures in our feet and this generates some pathological problems. But if the person has managed to set themselves a useful fitness program in their 50s if should be relatively straightforward to take this into their sixties.
With many years of walking and multiple physical activities behind them, surgery is most common for people in their sixties as foot problems interfere not only with sport and other vigorous options but starts to get in the way of walking and day to day life. Surgery may be advisable at this stage before the pathologies advance and become more difficult to manage surgically and tissues become less successful at recuperating when we are older. - 14130
As we move into our thirties we look back to how fit we were in our twenties and try to regain that with an exercise programme, without allowing for the fact that our foot tissues cannot cope with the same level of stresses as before. The typical increase in weight that often comes with time imposes increased forces on the feet and can lead to pathological changes. As we get older it gets more important to prepare for sporting or other activities by stretching and warming up.
In our forties we lose more of the fatty padding from the undersides of our feet, with typical pains occurring in the ball, arch or heel of the foot. The foot tissues are both looser in terms of resisting stress and tighter in terms of being less easily flexible and extensible. Our feet may spread to some degree and by our fifties we may be wearing a bigger size than we did when we were young adults. Now we need to adjust our shoe sizes and comfort and add in strengthening and stretching exercises to maintain foot health.
There is a continuation of the ageing processes in the feet in the fifties as well as changes which occur due to our genetic heritage. Our parents could have had problems such as painful flat feet, osteoarthritis and bunions and these will have manifested themselves by now. Exercise in weight bearing poses increasing risk of injury as the thickness of the fatty cushioning continues to reduce with time. These activities which we want to pursue need to be planned to be successful.
Along with the loss of the plumpness of our padding tissues in the feet, the surface tissues, the skin, also dry out and thin with time. Fissures and cracks in the heel can occur, becoming painful and potentially infected. Treating these problems with moisturising creams is simple and effective as well as improving the cosmetic appearance of the feet. People over 50 years of age are susceptible to osteoporosis and awareness of this has increased greatly over recent years. Small stress fractures can occur in the feet with walking and running, flagging up the body wide problem which may be occurring.
In the fifties it is difficult to set an exercise regime which allows a good level of fitness and yet caters for the reduced capacity of the body's tissues to sustain themselves against physical stresses. People of this age often present to the doctor with medical conditions such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes, part of the treatment for which is exercise. Wishing to improve their health they embark on an exercise regime for which their feet are woefully unprepared.
Nowadays the older idea of previous generations that when you retired it was pretty much the end of life has disappeared, with many millions of people looking forward to their older years in a spirit of activity. All this increased exercise puts significantly higher demands on the anatomical structures in our feet and this generates some pathological problems. But if the person has managed to set themselves a useful fitness program in their 50s if should be relatively straightforward to take this into their sixties.
With many years of walking and multiple physical activities behind them, surgery is most common for people in their sixties as foot problems interfere not only with sport and other vigorous options but starts to get in the way of walking and day to day life. Surgery may be advisable at this stage before the pathologies advance and become more difficult to manage surgically and tissues become less successful at recuperating when we are older. - 14130
About the Author:
Jonathan Blood Smyth, editor of the Physiotherapy Site, writes articles about Physiotherapy, back pain, orthopaedic conditions, neck pain, injury management and physiotherapists in Brighton. Jonathan is a superintendant physiotherapist at an NHS hospital in the South-West of the UK.
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