Home Remedies for Decreasing Foot Arthritis Pain and Ankle Arthritis Pain
We feel strongly that foot arthritis should be treated by a qualified podiatrist. Not only are you likely to have better results than you can achieve on your own, but you are likely to end up with much better protection for the joints of your feet and ankles.
If you cannot see a podiatrist right away, however, here are some self treatments that you can do on your own to decrease pain of arthritis in the feet.
The first goal of treating of mid-foot arthritis or ankle arthritis is to limit motion in the joints that are damaged. You can accomplish that with the use of proper arch supports and shoes designed with rocker soles to decrease motion. Avoid going barefoot – even around the house.
Follow this 8-Step Plan for 3 weeks. Most people will see relief within the first week or two. If your pain isn’t gone by 3 weeks, see a podiatrist.
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 FootChair Adjustable Arch Orthotic
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1. Use an arch support in your shoes. This will act to decrease painful joint motion by preventing arch collapse. An arch support with a higher arch and some rigidity will work best. These OTC arch supports will not work as well as a quality custom orthotic, but will help. The best one that we have found for foot arthritis is the FootChair Podiatrist Designed Adjustable Arch Orthotic.It’s semi-rigid and adjustable arch height helps tremendously to limit motion of painful foot joints. Arch height is adjustable by the addition of specially designed arch pads.
2. For smaller shoes including high heels, dress flats and soccer cleats FootChair also makes a very slim profile othotic with the same exceptional adjustable arch support. The FootChair Slim Orthotic will fit in all of these smaller shoes and will also flex to adjust to many different heel heights up to 6 inches. |
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3. Use rocker soled shoes to limit painful motion of the foot and ankle. By limiting motion they are very effective at reducing foot and ankle arthritis pain. We have reviewed many of the rocker soled shoes and the brand we like the best for running and walking exercise is Hoka. You can see Hoka shoes here. There are many different shoes with rocker soles, however, and you can see our complete list of recommended rocker sole shoes on this page. |
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4. If you don’t want to use a rocker soled shoe, use a stable walking shoe with a firm heel. You can find shoes on our recommended shoe list. The stability prevents the heel from rolling in (pronating). When that occurs, the arch flattens and the bones on top of the foot are compressed together. One of our favorites is the Orthofeet Shoes for Women and Orthofeet Shoes for Men. |
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5. If you have arthritis of the ankle, use an ankle brace. Ankle braces limit motion in painful ankle joints. We recommend the Ossur Exoform Ankle Brace for it’s superior control and easy fit in shoes. |
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6. Around the house use a slipper with an arch support. We recommend Vioinic slippers. These slippers have exceptional arch support to limit motion of painful joints. |
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7. During summer, use sandals or flip-flops that have arch support. Instead, we recommend the Vionic Arch Support Flip-flop Sandal – available here. Our patients love this flip flop as it provides the best support of any sandal on the market. |
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8. Ice the foot for 10 minutes each evening. |
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9. Use a topical pain reliever such as Biofreeze Cold Therapy Relief Gel during the day. |
Don’t live with painful arthritic feet. For the most effective and long-lasting treatment make an appointment to see us in our Seattle office.
