What Changes About Your Feet After Fifty

Some of it is ordinary ageing and not worth a second thought. Some of it is worth acting on early, and telling the two apart saves a lot of bother.

The padding thins out

There is a natural fat pad under the heel and the ball of the foot that acts as shock absorption. It thins with age. The result is that hard floors feel harder and standing for long periods becomes tiring sooner.

This is normal. It is also the single strongest argument for spending money on the shoes you stand in most, because the shoe is now doing work your foot used to do for itself.

Feet get longer and wider

The ligaments supporting the arch gradually relax, so the foot spreads slightly and flattens. Plenty of people are half a size larger at sixty than they were at forty and have never rechecked.

If your shoes have felt subtly wrong for a while and you cannot say why, get measured again before you assume it is the shoe design.

Nails grow more slowly and thicken

Toenail growth slows considerably with age. A toenail that took six months to grow out at thirty can take a year or more later on.

This matters mostly for expectations. Anything affecting the nail itself takes as long as the nail takes to replace itself, and no amount of effort speeds that part up. Thicker, more ridged nails are also common and are not in themselves a sign of a problem.

Skin gets drier

Skin produces less oil over time, and the heel is usually the first place it shows. Cracked heels are more than cosmetic, because a crack is a break in the skin, and skin is a barrier.

A plain moisturiser applied after a bath or shower, when the skin is still slightly damp, does most of the work. Avoid the area right between the toes, which wants to stay dry rather than moisturised.

Circulation and sensation can change

This is the one to take seriously. Reduced circulation means anything on the foot heals more slowly. Reduced sensation means a problem can develop without hurting, which is how small things become large ones unnoticed.

If you have diabetes, this is the reason you are told to check your feet. It is worth doing regardless once you are past sixty. Once a week, in good light, look at both feet including the soles and between the toes. A hand mirror on the floor makes the underside easy.

What is worth a professional look

Anything that appeared quickly rather than gradually. Anything painful. Anything that has changed colour, is spreading, is weeping, or has not healed in a fortnight. Any numbness or pins and needles that is new.

Gradual, symmetrical, painless changes are usually just the years. Sudden, one-sided, painful ones are worth someone else's opinion.