What your Feet say about your Health

Taking a quick look at your feet can help detect a variety of health problems. Your feet contain a quarter of the body’s bones and each foot contains 33 joints; 100 tendons, muscles and ligaments; and countless nerves and blood vessels that link to your heart, spine and brain. Here are a few signs and symptoms and what they could lead your doctor to diagnosing:

·         Hair loss on the feet or toes could mean poor circulation caused by vascular disease

·         A sore that won’t heal on the foot can be a clue to diabetes

·         Persistently cold feet can indicate a thyroid issue

·         Numbness in both feet can mean damage to the peripheral nervous system

·         Sore toe joins can mean rheumatoid arthritis

·         Little holes in the nails can mean psoriasis

·         Feet that are painful to walk on can mean a stress fracture

If you feel like your feet may be sending you a warning sign, talk to your healthcare professional. They may be able to give glues into an underlying problem.

 

Image by Shawn Hayes. (2009). Feet. Flickr.