Foot pain impairs balance and functional ability in community-dwelling older people

Foot problem assessments were performed on 135 community-dwelling older peo ple in conjunction with clinical tests of balance and functional ability. E ighty-seven percent of the sample had at least one foot problem, and women had a higher prevalence than men of foot pain, hallux valgus, plantar hyper keratosis, lesser digital deformity, and digital lesions. Postural sway did not differ between older people with and without each of these foot condit ions. However, the presence of specific foot conditions impaired performanc e in a more challenging balance test and in some functional tests. In parti cular, older people with foot pain performed worse in a leaning balance tes t, stair ascent and descent, an alternate step-up test, and a timed six-met er walk. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses revealed that foot pain was a significant independent predictor of performance in each of these tes ts. These results show that the presence of foot problems, particularly foo t pain, impairs balance and functional ability. As foot pain is amenable to treatment, podiatric intervention has the potential to improve mobility an d independence in older people.