Understanding the overlooked causes of foot pain and arthritis

Foot pain is a common symptom in patients across all ages and is often related to mechanical causes, fatigue, altered foot biomechanics in patients with anatomical conditions such as flat foot, obesity, and inflammatory conditions such as heel fascitis and metatarsalgia. Other common pathologies seen in patients presenting with foot pain include inflammatory and degenerative conditions related to the tendinous structures, traumatic conditions, their sequelae, and sports-related injuries. While these are non-arthritic conditions, arthritic conditions are also a common cause for foot pain with the foot being a complex network of large and small joint articulations.

Different types of arthritis can affect the foot joints, osteoarthritis being the most common one, which is seen more commonly in older individuals. Small joints of the foot are also commonly affected by inflammatory arthritic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis related to hyperuricemia, and psoriatic arthritis. Inflammatory arthritis is more common in younger patients and tends to be more aggressive, characterised by pain, stiffness, and progressive deformities if not attended to in time. Another problematic foot condition that often gets neglected and presents late is the collapse and destruction of the foot joints related to diabetes. This can often be crippling and may require multidisciplinary salvage surgical procedures for reconstruction. Post-traumatic arthritis is another common entity in our setup due to improper treatment of ankle and foot injuries.