Podiatry for older adults

With age the foot changes: the fat pad under the sole thins, so there is less cushioning where you land, and the joints lose some of their range, so the foot absorbs less. None of that is an illness, but together it means the same step lands harder than it used to.

There is a second reason to look after it, and it is the one that matters most: a foot that hurts changes the way you walk, and a changed gait is less stable. Much of what keeps an older person steady on their feet begins at the feet.

A foot that hurts is a foot that walks differently, and walking differently makes a fall more likely. It is worth treating discomfort rather than putting up with it.

What the unit does

A biomechanical assessment of how you walk and how you distribute your weight across the foot, and, where it helps, custom orthotics to spread that load better.

The aim is not only comfort. Redistributing pressure away from the points that hurt changes how you walk, and walking without pain is what keeps you moving — which is the thing that matters most at this stage of life.