Aching feet

March 19, 2018 1:25 PM

My feet and lower legs often/always feel quite achy -- it's not especially severe, but it's noticeable. It feels a bit like my feet are swollen, maybe, and like my ankles/calves need stretching? A foot massage helps a lot (especially while the massage is happening), but I'm wondering if there are other things that I can do to prevent/help this achiness. (Compression socks? Elevating my feet? Soaking them? Drinking more water?)

Has anything worked for you? For the record, I always wear "comfortable" shoes -- sneakers or clogs -- and I often wear sock feet during the day, as I work from home. I have one of those wooden foot roller things, but it is a bit on the ticklish side for me.

Thank you!

posted by cider to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Best answer: You're probably going to have to try each of those options in order to troubleshoot the issue. You might also measure around your ankles and arches in the morning and again in the evening to see if water retention/swelling is an issue.

To add to your troubleshooting list: standing up/moving around once an hour, adjusting your chair height, using a foot rest, adjusting your chair height so you use a foot rest, trying an ergonomic seat cushion.

I can tell you anecdotally that I (also working from home) sit very high and straight in my chair (I'm tall, so that means chair all the way up plus a cushion) so that my feet naturally rest flat on the floor slightly forward of my knees, and I can do that at length without any leg pain, and only get any real swelling when I pull an extra-long shift. Occasionally on the weekends I work in a different room at my husband's chair with the broken pneumatic lift so that it is all the way down and will require leg rubs, elevation, and advil to be able to sleep that night even if I only sit there 3-4 hours.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:32 PM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I had this problem in college and it was too much salt. They were just ever so slightly swollen, I knew something was weird but if another person looked at them they wouldn't have seemed odd at all. I cut back on prepared foods and it helped.
posted by Bistyfrass at 1:36 PM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Use a golf ball and/or lacrosse ball to massage your feet whenever you want. Search youtube for "feet smr" to find a million demonstrations. Here's one.
posted by callmejay at 1:38 PM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: It's also worth going to the doctor and getting some bloodwork/blood pressure/etc work done, if you haven't done that in a while. If you really do have some swelling there, it may be because of an underlying circulatory issue or arthritis or something like that.

If you find heat helps, a paraffin foot bath can be a godsend. (I have arthritis, and that kind of enveloping heat is soooo nice.)
posted by restless_nomad at 1:44 PM on March 19, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Soaking them?

Yes, in epsom salts! It feels amazing.
posted by capricorn at 1:44 PM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: Seconding checking in with a doctor about this. It could be there is some underlying issue. (My feet ached all the time when I had an untreated autoimmune disease.)

Other ideas:

How much are you on your feet at home? Maybe you need more support all day long... I wear Haflinger slippers at home all the time because they are so supportive.

Have you tried a stretching routine and doing it regularly? Stretching your calves, rotating your ankles and pointing and flexing your feet might help and would only take a few minutes.

You might try rolling your arch with a tennis ball instead of the wooden foot roller. Tennis balls are a bit softer and the one point of contact (rather than multiple) means less ticklish for me.
posted by purple_bird at 2:11 PM on March 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, make an appointment with your doctor. No emergency or anything, but if there's something going on with your circulation then you want to know about it.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:15 PM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: I don’t know how old you are, but once I was in my 50s, my feet became extremely sensitive to diet. In my case, going mostly low-fat vegan made a big difference. Once I started chemo, I had to go completely low-fat vegan to eliminate swelling and neuropathy. Now I don’t know exactly what about this diet works for me - it might be related to salt, which I’m sure is less because I’ve cut out processed meats and greasy restaurant meals. I had other reasons for going vegan, so in my case, that made sense as a strategy. See a doctor first to make sure there isn’t something else going on, but once you get checked out, experimenting with diet can really pay off.
posted by FencingGal at 2:24 PM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: As counter-intuitive as it may seem... get a standing desk! It took me 3 months to build up the strength and stamina to stand all day, but after that.... oohh la la!
posted by at at 3:18 PM on March 19, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: See your healthcare practitioner in due course, explore whatever of the above options you're curious about, but compression socks will give you immediate, blessed relief.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:32 PM on March 19, 2018

Best answer: Lady here. And not a frumpy one.

I ditched the trouser socks and regular socks years ago and only wear Futuro brand compression stockings (which look just like the trouser socks! Both black and nude!) Years ago under work pants. What a difference! This with some of the more professional Dansko pumps and/or dress boots (not the nursery looking clogs) and I'm in foot and leg heaven. No one can ever tell the difference honestly. I just get them at Rite Aid.

Yes, I am in my mid 30s and yes, I also just realized what I ACTUALLY just wrote.
posted by floweredfish at 6:39 PM on March 19, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Nthing getting some blood work done, including your B vitamin levels.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 9:37 PM on March 19, 2018

Response by poster: Thank you, everyone! I made an appointment with my doctor, bought some compression socks and epsom salts, and am fiddling with my chair settings. Best answers for everybody!! I'll report back if I get a better sense of what's going on.
posted by cider at 5:34 PM on March 21, 2018