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Barefoot and 50: Steps to Avoid Arthritis
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Posted on: 01/16/2002
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Here's a new one for the Baby Boomers. People who are 50 years old and up step down with greater impact, especially with shoes on. This happens about the same time that hip and knee osteoarthritis increase dramatically. What's the connection? And what do shoes have to do with it?In the last ten years, scientists have made the discovery that joint arthritis isn't part of a natural aging process. For a long time, it was said that "wear and tear" from daily activities caused arthritic changes in joint surfaces. After years of study, researchers realize that this just isn't so. There are plenty of active people who never get osteoarthritis.Data collected over the years show that there is an obvious increase in hip and knee arthritis at age 50. This seems to occur whether or not the cause of the arthritis is known. Doctors measured the force of impact when stepping down off a step in a small group of men between the ages of 17 and 72. Impact remains the same until age 50, and then it increases. The increase is much greater when the person is wearing shoes than when they're barefoot.Around age 50 (considered late middle-age), people lose their sense of foot position. This means the foot isn't as fine-tuned about its location or position at any point in time. It has also been shown that softer shoes with flexible soles fail to absorb impact. This includes both running and walking shoes. The combined effects of aging on the foot and the shoes that are popular today may actually cause middle-aged adults to step down harder when walking. This may speed up the development of arthritis. Should we get rid of shoes on our fiftieth birthdays and go barefoot? A better solution may be to replace flexible, soft-soled shoes with firmer footwear. Wearing a shoe that can absorb impact may slow the process of osteoarthritis. Keeping up with strength and balance activities is also important.
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References:
Steven Robbins, MD, et al. Vertical Impact Increase in Middle Age May Explain Idiopathic Weight-Bearing Joint Osteoarthritis. In Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. December 2001. Vol. 82. No. 12. Pp. 1673-1677.
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