Like any other parts of the body, feet are prone to health conditions, infections, diseases and disorders. A foot problem can be minor or major, and it may be an indication of bigger health issues. You can’t be sure of what it is until you visit a podiatrist.
What then are signs of minor and serious foot problems you should look out for to get early treatment? Here are 11 signs that might tip you off.
11 Signs of Serious Foot Problems
1. Pain in Foot/Leg
Pain in the leg and foot can be an indication of serious foot disease, especially if you cannot link the pain to any particular reason such as you physically hurting your leg. If you physically hurt your foot, you can use pain relief medicine or massage the foot with a pain-relieving cream. It should even go away on its own as long as you don’t exacerbate the injury.
On the other hand, if you feel a sharp pain in your foot without any traceable reason, you might be dealing with a serious health issue. If you initially hurt your foot but the pain keeps reoccurring even after a long while, you should see a podiatrist like Eastern Idaho Foot Clinic as soon as possible to seek professional treatment and eliminate serious injury.
2. Unusual Sensation in Foot/Sensitivity to Touch
It doesn’t have to be a sharp pain; if you feel weird or unusual sensations in your feet, that might be a sign of a serious foot problem. It might be a tingling feeling that lasts for a short or long period. The tingling sensation in the foot can occur if you remain immobile in a position for too long (temporary block in blood/air circulation to the leg-foot area).
This does not mean you are at risk of a major foot problem. It is when the tingling sensation keeps reoccurring without a due reason that you should feel alarmed.
How about when you get a prickly feeling (need-like) feeling in your foot? You definitely should see a foot doctor immediately. That is not normal. Also, if you feel pain in your foot at the slightest impact or touch, you might need to seek intervention immediately. This also applies if you feel a burning sensation in your foot.
3. Unusually Warm Feet
Ordinarily, experiencing warm feet is not abnormal, especially if the experience is induced by the weather (temperature of the environment). Observe the experience for a little while to know if the weather caused the feet condition or not.
The alarm should start to ring when the warm feet experience is recurrent regardless of the weather condition. If you experience unusually warm feet or a shockingly hot foot, you should consult your podiatrist as soon as possible.
As a rule of thumb, look out for other conditions such as numbness of the foot, sharp pains, change of feet color and burning sensations. They usually accompany hot/warm feet when a major health challenge relating to the foot or another body part is on the horizon. Asides from being caused by the weather or a major health challenge, warm feet can be caused by a change in environment (relocation).
It can also be caused by a minor health issue such as malaria, common cold and such. The key difference is that your leg will feel warm, not hot. Since it might be hard to tell the difference between the warm feet being a sign or a minor health issue or a major one, it is crucial for you to visit your doctor for diagnosis.
4. Unusually Cold Feet
Again, depending on the weather, your feet might feel cooler than usual. That does not indicate a major health challenge, although you should still remain observant to know what is happening. However, you should be alarmed when your feet feel unusually cold without it being induced by the weather.
If you feel such, especially when accompanied by other health deviations as described in the previous point, you should seek your podiatrist’s expertise. This is because very cold feet that isn’t due to weather conditions is not a normal health experience.
5. Swelling of the Feet
Generally, when there is swelling of any part of the body, it is not a normal health experience; swelling of the feet is no different. At times the swelling might not obvious, and at other times, it might be absolutely obvious, depending on the size of the expansion.
Swelling of the feet might be due to a minor injury/impact to the leg, pregnancy or due to an underlying major health challenge.
Some causes of feet swelling include toenails or ankle/leg injury, edema, heart diseases, kidney diseases, venom from insect/animal bite or sting etc. Since it is almost impossible to know the major cause of the swelling, it is crucial to visit a doctor to get diagnosed.
6. Numbness
Numbness of feet is the loss of sensation or feeling in the foot. What is basically affected is the sense of touch. The numbness of feet is an experience most people have from time to time. It might be due to weather conditions like extreme cold, being immobile for a lengthy duration, hitting one’s foot hard and the likes. This is usually a temporary condition, so it is nothing to worry about.
The situation becomes something to worry about when you start gradually losing sensation in your foot. Once you notice that the numbness is becoming a regular thing, you should seek medical attention immediately. This is because numbness of feet could easily degenerate into a major foot problem fast.
Be especially careful because recurrent feet numbness that becomes the norm is a telling symptom of loss of sensory nerves. Also, the numbness could lead to Charcot’s foot. As an indication, feet numbness associated with major foot problems and major health challenges are usually accompanied by other weird symptoms in the feet.
7. Change in Color
Change in feet color is usually a sign of a minor/major foot condition or a minor/major health challenge. The only exceptions when the change in color mean nothing is when you hit your leg hard, and it becomes red. It could also be due to harsh weather, pregnancy or uncomfortable shoes. In such cases, the feet can become red, blue or even purple.
If the above exceptions were not the case and yet you are experiencing a change in feet color, you should consult your doctor as soon as you can. Some health conditions associated with feet discoloration include diabetes, high blood pressure, ischemic foot, Raynaud’s disease, Acrocyanosis and the likes.
8. Firm/Hard Formations on Feet
Usually, firm/hard formations on the feet are usually nothing really serious, especially if they are bunions, corns or calluses, but they could trigger foot infection and other problems.
If you notice these firm formations on your foot, try to observe and understand if they were caused by your own actions or not. If they were not caused by factors like hard labor, ill-fitting footwear and what have you, they might have been caused by something bigger like a major foot disorder/condition.
You can’t be too sure until you visit your podiatrist. Even if it turns out to be just the normal foot issues without any underlying major health issue involved, you would be at ease knowing that your health is okay. And besides, you could even get the firm formations treated or removed.
9. Foot Infections
Foot infections can occur due to lack of body, more specifically, feet hygiene or lack of care after a foot injury. Lack of hygiene/proper care of the feet could lead to bacterial and other microorganisms finding their way into the feet. This then builds up to cause an infection that could birth conditions like warts, fungus, feet inflammation/swelling, pus filling, etc.
If proper treatment and care is given to the feet and the whole body, the infection could disappear in no time. But if left untreated, the foot infection could degenerate into major health damages. Some of which include athlete’s foot (untreatable), cellulitis, vein-penetrated toenails, among others.
10. Unusual feet Smell
It is both normal and abnormal for the feet to smell. It is normal in the sense that lots of people, particularly men, experience smelly feet. This is particularly after a day of sweating while wearing socks and shoes.
However, it can be abnormal because feet should not smell weird if proper feet hygiene is maintained, and footwear care is practiced. Regardless, if you are used to perceiving a particular type of smell from your feet, and you notice a deviation from that, something might be wrong.
Generally, the feet’s smell rarely changes and is highly dependent on your hygiene routine or general lifestyle (food included). If you notice that your feet have developed an unusual smell, you should seek the expertise of your doctor.
11. Change of Feet Shape and Toenails
The feet do not normally change shape, so this condition is usually triggered by a preexisting health condition, foot/leg injury or wearing ill-fitting footwear. The feet adjust over time to a given pattern, and after the feet have accepted its new form, it can be hard to correct. The change in feet or toe could be caused by conditions such as Charcot foot, hammer toe, mallet toe etc. To fix the condition before it becomes permanent or even degenerate to something bigger, you need to visit your podiatrists as soon as possible.
You may also notice a change in your toenails without any known cause. The toenails might start thickening abnormally, growing inward, changing color and the likes. Inform your doctor of your observation to seek proper treatment.
Conclusion
Sensitivity and keen observation of the body is important to aid early diagnosis of major health problems, feet included. Thankfully, the foot feels so much more than people give it credit for. To stay on the observant side, and for your benefit, pay close attention to your feet daily. Any deviation from your normal feet condition should be reported to your doctor fast. Doing this will help you live healthily and also keep your feet in shape.
