ASICS FOOTWEAR REVIEW: RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND FOOTWEAR

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Footwear

Thanks to Asics for this latest footwear review from Anthony Ng.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory condition, causing foot pain with associated stiff and swollen joints. Consequently, this leads to foot and joint alignment complications with accompanying bone erosion. The key is to support the rheumatoid foot during active waking or running. Footwear plays a major role in reducing or avoiding structural and functional foot alterations. This will reduce the need for frequent visits to medical professionals or the need for orthotic devices.

Many RA individuals wear suboptimal footwear which can be detrimental to their foot condition. It has been proven that implementing correct footwear advice into your clinical practice offers one of the best long-term treatments. ASICS new lightweight alternatives the GELNimbus Lite and GEL-Kayano Lite offer the ideal support/flexibility/cushioning to decrease rheumatoid mechanical foot stresses. They provide optimal non-pharmacological foot management to prevent or reduce erosion and subluxation to improve foot function. This footwear can improve foot alignment. They achieve this by enhancing the controlling velocity movement caused by natural gait thereby reducing intrinsic muscle activation to delay or slow foot related progression. This is paramount for maintaining stability and pain reduction.

GEL-Kayano Lite offers enhanced internal supportive chambers which are configured to achieve optimal force displacement and midsole stiffness, therefore enhancing stability properties to reduce abnormal foot motion. These innovations are ideal for preventing early erosive

changes in newly diagnosed RA individuals. The GEL-Kayano has a wider plantar base which provides optimal balance to improve foot positioning plus allowing adequate space for the occurrence of foot swelling. Both offer enhanced cushioning, providing significant reduction of oxygen consumption, helping influence longer walking or running. The midsole density provides that spring like feel, to produce extra bounce on impact, generate more power for forward progression, reduce joint loading and counteract the likelihood of increasing foot deformities. These features aid in reducing pressure over rheumatoid nodules or prominent metatarsal heads. These shoes are designed to flex at the correct anatomical location. Both shoes incorporate deep flexion grooves promoting efficient motion across the metatarsal heads during propulsion. This combination of mobility and stability results in less energy required for forward acceleration thereby decreasing foot pain. These 2 shoes may play a substantial role in limiting the progression of foot pain and deformity due to rheumatoid arthritis. They meet fundamental clinical goals in allowing the foot to function more effectively during daily forms of exercise and locomotion.