A frequently neglected body area might provide insight into your overall well-being.
Let's talk about a vital yet often neglected part of the body: our feet. Just like your hands, they're attached to nerve fiber tracts from the brain, which lets you stand, balance, and move your toes. But that's not all. Your feet are also linked to your cardiovascular system through tons of blood vessels that start all the way from your heart.
Your feet's appearance and functionality can tell you a lot about potential health issues, from viral infections to disorders of the nervous system. Here are a few examples.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease
In case you haven't noticed, different parts of the body get affected by different types of infections. Measles, for instance, loves to show up on your face or in your mouth. But research hasn't found out exactly why this preference is the case.
Hand, foot, and mouth disease is caused by a virus called coxsackie. This illness typically produces raised, slightly pink-red spots that may blister and weep. And get this - it's not just limited to the areas in its name! These blisters can pop up on legs or buttocks too. If you spot these characteristics on your feet, your doctor might suspect HFM.
It's a common childhood infection that goes away on its own after a few days, so worry not. But be careful not to confuse it with foot and mouth disease. The latter is a condition that affects farm animals like cows and sheep.
A link to your heart
Your circulatory system is a network of vessels that delivers blood to every single part of your body - from your head down to your toes. After a while, the blood vessels become smaller and smaller, like twigs branching out from a tree.
And we all know the feeling of having chilly feet, especially while walking around barefoot or in colder weather. But your feet should never turn blue or get so cold that they're painful. These symptoms could be a sign of a rare condition called blue toe syndrome.
This syndrome occurs when tiny cholesterol chunks, called microemboli, get stuck in your feet's smaller blood vessels. It's a phenomenon linked to your heart's vessels, like aneurysms and atherosclerosis. These conditions occur when vessels further up in your body become enlarged or hardened. When you get these treatments, you risk having small pieces of your vessels break off and travel towards your feet, causing the microemboli. This blockage starves your feet of oxygen, which in turn can turn them blue and cause excruciating pain. Severe cases could even require you to have your toes amputated or your whole foot taken off.
Something's wrong with your ticker
Your circulatory system carries blood to every bit of your body, including your feet. So, any problems involving your biology's plumbing can show up in your tootsies.
When you put your feet in the cold, they often feel icy. But they shouldn't change color from what they usually are to blue or get so cold that they hurt. Widespread problems like trash foot - or blue toes - can indicate cardiovascular diseases. It happens when tiny cholesterol fragments, known as microemboli, get stuck in your toes' smaller vessels, blocking blood flow and causing the change in color.
This issue is often linked to aneurysms and atherosclerosis, which are problems with your vessels higher up in your body.
And there's more - your feet can also hint at heart infections. Red, raised patches appearing on your feet, along with your hands, could signal a heart infection called bacterial endocarditis. If these patches are painless, they're called Janeway lesions. Or they may be painful, if they're Osler's nodes.
Your feet talk to your brain
Feet and the nervous system also have a close relationship. We all remember "ER" doctors yelling "upgoing plantars!" during patient examinations. This is a reference to the Babinski reflex. A Babinski reflex happens when a doctor strokes the sole of your foot to check if the toes respond as they should.
Normally, your toes move toward the sole when this reflex is stimulated. In babies and other still-developing individuals, the toes can go up. It's totally normal in them.
But grown-ups should show a different response. If their big toe points upward and their smaller toes spread out, it's an upgoing plantar reaction, also known as the Babinski sign. This reflex could suggest a stroke is messing with the parts of your brain that control your feet.
Apart from certain conditions like multiple sclerosis and drug intoxication, there are other causes that can lead to a Babinski sign. Even in healthy individuals, this sign can occasionally appear during deep sleep.
However, it's not just limited to these causes. Diabetes, kidney problems, and even thyroid disorders can affect the feet. Hence, these signs are crucial indicators of our overall health. Hence, it's important to conduct regular foot checks and seek medical assistance if you experience any pain, discoloration, or rashes.
[Read more: Maintaining healthy teeth is a wondrous and priceless task ].
Dan Baumgardt is a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol's School of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience in the UK. He doesn't have any financial ties with companies or organizations that could potentially benefit from this article, and he doesn't have any other relevant affiliations apart from his academic appointment.
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Your feet's wellness can reveal a lot about your overall health. For instance, changes in the color of your feet, such as them turning blue or experiencing persistent coldness, could indicate a condition like blue toe syndrome, which is linked to heart health issues.
Establishing a consistent foot care routine and regularly checking for any signs of discoloration, rashes, or pain can help monitor your wellness and detect potential health issues early. Regular foot checks can serve as crucial indicators of our overall health.
Source: edition.cnn.com
