Your feet is probably the least cared part of your body, but simple signs and issues with them could be telling us about issues in our body. Cracked heels, flaky underfoot, and brittle toe nails? Here’s what your feet, and the other simple body conditions, are trying to tell you.
Dry, Flaky Feet: When was the last time you got your thyroid checked? When the gland throws a fit, causing unbalanced levels of the hormone in your body, your feet suffers the demise too. Not alone the feet, but your metabolic rate, blood pressure, tissue growth, skeletal, and nervous system development also gets affected. When you see cracking feet, which your moisturizer is not able to heal, you should be making an appointment to get your thyroid checked.1 2
1. Bald Toes
Decreased hair growth on the feet and ankles, purplish toes, thin and shiny skin are symptoms trying to indicate the poor condition of your arteries. Peripheral arterial disease can cause poor blood circulation, leading to a poor state of your body and feet too.
2. Stubborn Ulcers
It could be the D. Uncontrolled glucose levels generally are the reason for diabetes, which can damage nerves and causes poor circulation, depriving the feet from enough blood. Ulcers that don’t heal, or wounds on your feet that take longer to disappear, are some of warning signs of diabetes.
3. Swollen Toe
What you ate last night made your toe fat. If you’ve have gorged on wine and steak, this aftermath could be a gout, a kind of arthritis that affects joint of the big toe. Foods rich in purine, especially found in red meats, fish, and certain alcohol, raise the levels of uric acid in the body. The uric acid generally deposits in the big toes or the ankle. Anti-inflammatory foods are the best option for a long-term prevention.
4. Red Streaks Under Your Toe
Red streaks under your toenails or fingernails are a result of broken vessels commonly known as splinter hemorrhage. These happen when small blood clots damage the tiny capillaries under the nails. They are signalling to endocarditis, an infection in your heart’s inner lining. This infection can result in heart failure if not treated.
5. Clubbing
It could be trying to draw your attention to lung cancer or heart disease. It appears both on toes and fingers. Clubbing is often associated with lung cancer. Lung cancer and heart disease decreases vascular resistance, which means blood flow to the small arteries in the toenails and fingertips will increase.
6. Pitted Toenails
Are you sure it’s not psoriasis? If you find tiny holes, grooves, or ridges in your toenails, there are chances that you have nail psoriasis. There are chances that you also are suffering with skin psoriasis.
7. Spooned Nails
The reason could be anemia or lupus. If you have a depression in the toe nail deep enough for it to hold a tiny drop of water, you are anemic. Spooned toenails are a clear sign of iron deficiency. And lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks cells, tissues, and organs. Maybe you should go for a blood check-up soon.
8. A Straight Line Under Your Toenails
A dark, vertical line under your toenail could be hidden melanoma, or skin cancer, which occurs in concealed parts of the body. You should see your dermatologist soon.
9. A Sudden Arch In The Heel
See that sudden high arch in the heel? It could be telling you about a nerve damage that you haven’t found out about yet. These nerve damage could lead to change in gait, numbness in the feet, difficulty in balancing, loss of muscles in the lower legs, etc. See your doctor if you notice any such abnormalities.
References
