Weak bones can affect every part of your body, and the pain can feel overwhelming. Osteoporosis, meaning “porous bones,” is a condition that can cause bones to become brittle. More than 10 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, and more than 40 million people are at risk due to low bone density.
It can affect all parts of your body, especially your spine, hips and wrists. But it’s not uncommon to feel the effects of osteoporosis all the way down to your feet.
Symptoms of osteoporosis
Osteoporosis symptoms aren’t always noticeable in the early stages of the condition, but there are a few signs of potential bone loss that you can look out for.
Early symptoms of osteoporosis include:
- Receding gums.
- Weak fingernails.
- Weakening grip strength.
As time goes on, more osteoporosis symptoms may develop. The symptoms of later-stage osteoporosis are:
- Stooped posture, known as kyphosis.
- Neck or back pain.
- Fractures due to a fall.
- Loss of height from compression fractures.
How does osteoporosis affect your feet?
The most prevalent symptoms of osteoporosis are fractures and pain within your bones due to a lack of bone mass. This makes falls and injuries even more dangerous than usual because the bones are more susceptible to damage from the loss of bone density.
Since your feet hold up the weight of your entire body, it’s quite common for them to feel pain from osteoporosis. A foot has 26 bones that can be weakened from the condition, resulting in pain from the wear and tear put on them throughout the day. Additionally this wear and tear can cause painful stress fractures. Stress fractures refer to small cracks in the bone from overuse.
Osteoporosis can also affect the feet by causing not only pain, but swelling or redness at the top of the foot as well. These symptoms are most evident while walking.
How to manage osteoporosis pain in your feet
Even though there isn’t a cure for osteoporosis, there are a few treatment options that you can try to alleviate the pain in your feet.
- Hot and cold packs — Switching back and forth between ice packs and hot compresses is a tried-and-true method for treating osteoporosis pain in different body parts, including the feet. The cold packs can numb the area and decrease swelling, while the heat can alleviate some of the stiffness.
- Over-the-counter pain relief — When osteoporosis pain is flaring up in your feet, try taking pain-relieving medication like acetaminophen, ibuprofen or aspirin. When okayed by your doctor, these drugs are an easy and effective way to temporarily reduce your foot pain.
- Physical therapy — Learning about proper strengthening and stretching exercises from a physical therapist can go a long way to help you to alleviate your foot pain from osteoporosis.
How physical therapy can help osteoporosis pain in your feet
There are quite a few ways that physical therapy can be beneficial for people struggling with osteoporosis pain in their feet.
If your osteoporosis is causing foot pain, here are some ways that a physical therapist can help. They can:
- Recommend home modifications — The importance of a safe home environment for people with osteoporosis shouldn’t be underestimated. A therapist can help you learn about safety modifications you can make to your house to prevent falls and fractures.
- Teach you proper exercise methods — Even though exercise is essential for strengthening your bones, not all methods of exercise are safe for people with osteoporosis. A physical therapist can teach you the proper techniques for exercises to avoid possible bone fractures in your foot.
- Help you improve your balance — Fractures from a fall are one of the most common symptoms of osteoporosis, as well as one of the most dangerous. Your physical therapist can help retrain your balance in order to improve your stabilization and decrease the risk of bone fractures in your feet due to falls.
Alliance PTP is ready to help you find top-notch PT for osteoporosis in your feet
At Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, we’re proudly bringing together physical therapy practices across the country to help people get the high-quality PT they need.
Want to see a physical therapist in person? We can put you in touch with an Alliance PTP partner that’s close to you and that can help you address osteoporosis in your feet.
Not keen on in-person PT sessions or not close to an Alliance PTP partner? No worries. We also offer effective and affordable virtual physical therapy through our Agile Virtual Physical Therapy platform.
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