How foot symptoms of MS affect my balance, quality of life
Curiously, I can't tolerate wearing socks
Most people take for granted the feeling of stability while standing on their feet. My invisible multiple sclerosis (MS) symptom is unsteady gait, one of my biggest struggles, but you likely wouldn’t know it just by looking at me. My unsteady gait is associated with the effect that MS has on my feet.
I do well walking on a flat surface, except occasionally bumping into things or people. Walking in a straight line is difficult, though, as I tend to slightly weave from side to side.
If the surface is uneven, I don’t feel stable. It affects my balance, and my gait becomes unsteady. I feel even less stable when I’m walking in the dark. A common fear of mine is that I’ll fall in these situations.
Where’s my toe?
When I was diagnosed with MS, my physician referred me to a physical therapist, who performed an evaluation where I closed my eyes and she moved my big toes up and down. She asked me what direction my toes were being moved toward. To my shock, I didn’t know. I knew my toes were being touched and moved, but I had no idea in which direction.
This is called impaired proprioception. Proprioception is the body’s ability to sense or identify movement, action, and location. My feet can’t sense movement or direction, which causes some of my balance issues and unsteady gait.
I compensate for this deficiency with my eyesight. If I’m walking my dogs on the sidewalk during the day, I look pretty normal. If I walk in the grass and can’t see the uneven terrain or it’s dark out, my balance and gait become significantly worse, and you can tell something is wrong with me.
Another issue is that I can’t tolerate wearing socks. Before my diagnosis, I could wear socks without any problems.
Typically, you put on socks and don’t feel like you’re wearing them. When I wear them, I feel them constantly. Sometimes, they feel too tight when they fit just fine. Other times, it feels like the socks are too big and I’m walking on wrinkled material. This sensation is tough to explain, and I don’t know if there’s a scientific term for it. My solution is to avoid wearing socks if I can. I’m most comfortable at home and prefer to be barefoot.
Now let’s talk about shoe shopping. Surprisingly, I don’t get the same sensation from wearing shoes that I get from socks, which I find strange, but I’m not complaining. When I was younger, I bought and wore shoes that were fashionable, regardless of whether or not they were comfortable or gave me blisters. I always had trouble wearing high heels, but I blamed it on general clumsiness. In retrospect, misdiagnosed MS was to blame.
As I got a little older, comfort became more important, especially with the shoes I wore to work.
Since my diagnosis, not only is comfort important in footwear, but I also want to feel stable. Casual shoes and flats that meet these requirements are easy to find. The challenge is finding dressy shoes. Thank goodness block-heeled or chunky-heeled shoes came back in style a few years ago. I don’t feel 100% stable in this type of shoe, but I also know that my chance of falling is less than if I wore kitten-heeled, stiletto, platform, or wedge shoes. Shoe shopping has become more challenging since my MS diagnosis.
MS can cause other foot problems as well, including foot drop, weakness, muscle fatigue, numbness, pain, spasms, and spasticity. I have all of these issues except spasms and pain. I have mild left-sided weakness with a slight foot drop on that side, and numbness, fatigue, and spasticity in both feet.
The weakness and foot drop are residual effects from my first experience with MS in 1996. Since then, they haven’t worsened and have remained stable.
These symptoms are present when my MS clinician evaluates me, but I don’t feel like they negatively affect my mobility to a significant degree. I notice the numbness, fatigue, and spasticity more in the evenings, and sometimes they’re severe enough to cause insomnia. At bedtime, I take tizanidine, a skeletal muscle relaxant, to manage the spasticity.
Foot health and its effect on quality of life have rarely been studied in people with MS. Only one study that I know of has evaluated it and found that people with MS and foot health issues (such as foot function, general foot health, general health, physical activity, and vigor) have poorer quality of life compared with healthy individuals. As someone living with MS, I don’t find the results of this study surprising, nor do I take my foot heath and its impact on my life for granted.
Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Multiple Sclerosis News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis.
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