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The Use of Specially Padded Hosiery in the Painful Rheumatoid Foot

Published in The Foot, International Journal of Clinical Foot Science Vol. 1, 1992.

Eighteen patients (seven males, eleven females) with rheumatoid arthritis and painful feet, ranging in age from 30 to 71 and with an average of nearly 12 years of duration of the disease, participated in a six-month study. Participants wore one type of clinically-tested padded socks for three months and then switched to the other type for the remaining three-month period. Each group wore both heavy density clinically-tested padded socks and another clinically-tested padded sock made for walking. In the study population, the results were as follows:

  • Significant pressure relief was experienced during walking and standing with the clinically-tested padded socks.
  • Painful symptoms were reduced 51 percent while wearing clinically-tested padded socks during walking and standing (as measured on a subjective pain reporting test).
  • Painful symptoms were reduced 45 percent while wearing the walking-specific clinically-tested padded socks during walking and standing (as measured on a subjective pain reporting test).
  • Both products performed satisfactorily over a long period of regular use.

 

Conclusion: Clinically-tested padded socks are useful in providing pressure and pain relief in the painful rheumatoid foot.

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