How does osteoarthritis affect the foot?

Osteoarthritis has become a considerably prevalent disorder in modern society, especially as the human population ages. Any joint in your body could be impacted. The effect of that osteoarthritis is far more intensely experienced within the weightbearing joints and none more so than the foot. We want the foot to move around on therefore if the foot is impacted then the effects on the quality of life may be large. A recent episode of PodChatLive was dedicated to the issue of osteoarthritis and the foot. PodChatLive is a live on Facebook with a couple of hosts who have on an expert monthly to discuss an array of topics. It is later accessible as a podcast and uploaded over to YouTube.

In the episode regarding osteoarthritis, they talked with Jill Halstead regarding the concept of osteoarthritis and also, more to the point, the use and type of language used around the word. They reviewed the occurrence of osteoarthritis impacting the foot as well as the relation which it has to load and what the therapy possibilities of its manifestation in the feet are. Dr Jill Halstead is a podiatrist in the UK and she has worked in the area of foot osteoarthritis for over 10 years largely at the University of Leeds along with Professors Redmond, Keenan and other top rheumatologists. She started out her work in 2007 as part of her master’s study which investigated midfoot osteoarthritis and Charcot’s foot and published her very first paper in this field in 2010. Since that time she completed her PhD in 2013 which looked over midfoot pain and the role of foot orthotics in prodromal osteoarthritis. She was in a position to expand this model to radiographic midfoot osteoarthritis. Jill's primary focus is in the clinical symptoms of midfoot osteoarthritis, which are the functional biomarkers of foot osteoarthritis, what exactly is the association between MRI results and pain and the clinical interventions for osteoarthritis with foot inserts.