Why feet grow with age and what to do about it

Imagine the following situation: you are fixing your shoes and you find a pair of boots that you haven’t worn in a long time and that are practically new. As you try them on, you start to think of an outfit that matches them, until you suddenly realize that they don’t fit your feet. But how is this possible, if only 2 years ago they were perfect? You insist and manage to get them on, but they are too tight, as if they were a size too small. You look at your feet, you don’t see anything strange, and you start to think that they really have grown. This thinking is not entirely correct, but it is not entirely wrong either.

Today the awesome.club wants to talk about how our feet “grow” with age and how they’re not the only part of the body that get bigger over the years. Read carefully until the end to understand what happens to your body as we age.

The feet are super complex organs and have a very intelligent structure. Although they are smaller than many other organs, they are responsible for important functions. Thanks to them we can, for example, walk and run. In fact, humans are the only living beings that are bipedal, meaning that they only walk on 2 feet.

If we look at the soles of our feet, we will see that they are not flat. There is a bow that fulfills a very important function: supporting the weight of the body. There are 3 points of support on the feet and the weight and energy of the entire body are distributed thanks to this arch, offering more support. The Romans used the arch structure in their impressive buildings such as the Colosseum.

Humans stop growing around age 21, and so do feet. As we age, what we think is growth is actually a wear and tear on the plantar arch. Over the years, the ligaments and tendons that form part of the anatomy of the feet lose elasticity.

As a result, the arch loses strength and decreases and the feet become longer and flatter. In reality, the foot doesn’t grow, it just ages. That’s why as we get older we may need shoes one or two sizes too big. However, there are other causes that can wear out the bow faster.

During pregnancy, the body produces a large amount of the hormone relaxin, which helps to give elasticity to the ligaments and joints of the pelvis, preparing the body for the growth of the fetus and then for delivery.

This makes other parts of the body more elastic as well, such as the feet. Therefore, it is very common for pregnant women to wear a larger shoe size. This may or may not happen, depending on each woman’s body.

If the feet have to support a heavier weight than normal for their age, the wear on the arch accelerates, and this also causes the feet to be more stretched out. That is, the plantar arch is lost and the foot becomes flatter. The greater the weight, the greater the wear. Obesity can cause other problems, such as calluses, which can deform the feet because they require incorrect support when walking.

Some typical foot conditions, such as bunions and corns, can cause the feet to become enlarged or deformed. People with a tendency to suffer from these problems tend to have other pathologies, such as diabetes.

Acromegaly, an injury to the pituitary gland, causes increased growth of the feet, hands, and other parts of the body. But this disease does not appear very often.

Although we cannot slow down the passage of time and prevent the feet from ending up a little bigger than usual, we can delay this phenomenon a little. For that, we bring some advice:

Exercise: There is a very simple exercise to strengthen the structure of the feet. You must turn your bare feet over a used tennis ball.

Footwear: it is important to wear suitable footwear, with cushioning, to facilitate correct walking. It is also important that the shoes are comfortable: neither too big nor too small.

Massage: Massage helps to relax and oxygenate the tissues of the feet, especially after standing for a long time.

Insole: It is important to use an insole that has good arch support.

Now that you know that feet don’t grow, it’s important to know that the process with the nose and the ears is a little different. These body parts grow with age and the explanation is quite simple.

What happens is that both the nose and the ears have more cartilage than bone. Cartilage is a tissue made up of collagen and fibers. With age, this tissue degenerates and loses elasticity. If we add to this the action of gravity and the inevitable stretching of the skin, we understand why the nose and ears get bigger. But rest assured, they grow less than the mirror appears to show.

Have you ever felt your feet suddenly grow? What was your reaction? Share your experience in the comments.