Inflammation on the foot

The foot is a complex structure made up of a multitude of bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments that all interact with each other. Its structure is similarly complicated as the hand. Each of these structures can therefore lead to problems and complaints. The foot can roughly be divided into three parts: Forefoot (consisting of the five toes), metatarsus (consisting of the five metatarsal bones) and hindfoot (consisting of a multitude of tarsal bones).

Symptoms

Symptoms of inflammation of the foot can have exactly the same characteristics as any other inflammation of the body. The classic signs of inflammation are swelling (tumor), redness (rubor), overheating (calor), pain (dolor) and functional impairment (functio laesa). Depending on the location of the inflammation in the foot, the restrictions and symptoms can be quite different.

If an inflammation is only in the forefoot, almost normal walking is most likely possible. The further the inflammation is located in the direction of the heel, the greater the restrictions in walking can become. Not only the localization leads to different symptoms, but also the cause of an inflammation.

While the classic signs of inflammation determine the clinical picture in bacterial nail bed inflammation, a fungal nail bed inflammation often results in a weeping wound. In addition, the affected nails are yellowish discolored, thickened and crumbled. However, if the nail bed is affected by a viral inflammation with a herpes virus, redness with blisters is the most common symptom.

In addition, the patient often experiences a burning sensation and pain in the area of the nail bed. A sudden severe pain, which occurs especially at night or after meals with a particularly high meat content at the metatarsophalangeal joint of the big toe, is typical of gout, which has its origin in a metabolic disorder. With rheumatoid arthritis as the cause of inflammation in the foot, patients complain above all of increasing joint stiffness in the morning, which improves with movement.

A symmetrical occurrence of the joint complaints is typical here. Often both hands or both feet are affected. In the course of the disease, the joints become increasingly deformed and destroyed, which significantly impairs mobility. In addition to the severe pain from which rheumatics suffer, symptoms such as tiredness, fever and a general loss of strength can occur.