What is the cause of edema of the elderly feet? How should edema of old people's feet be eliminated

Friends with elderly people at home usually need to learn some nursing knowledge. Because of the decline of physical function, the elderly will feel all kinds of discomfort, and edema of legs and feet is a common problem of many elderly people.

My legs and feet are swollen, and I feel uncomfortable without strength, let alone walking. It hurts the mobility of middle-aged and elderly people and reduces their quality of life. It doesn't look like a serious illness, but it will bring a lot of trouble to the life of the elderly.

There are many reasons for foot edema in the elderly. Long-term malnutrition or anemia is easy to form edema of lower limbs and even edema of the whole body. Old people have a heavy taste, and eating hot and sour food often causes edema. Need to control salt intake and blood pressure. What is the reason for the edema of the elderly feet?

Leg edema in the elderly is partly related to heart, kidney, liver and endocrine diseases, and a considerable part is idiopathic senile edema. This edema is mostly caused by the loose subcutaneous tissue space of the elderly and the easy infiltration of water into the tissue space.

Foot edema is a common phenomenon in the elderly. There are many reasons for swollen feet, many of which are precursors of diseases. Today, I'll tell you what caused the old man's swollen feet. Let's have a look.

There are many reasons for foot swelling in the elderly. First of all, thrombosis is a very important cause. Among middle-aged and elderly people, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases is very high. Most patients with cardiovascular diseases have vascular embolism, especially venous embolism of lower limbs, which will cause swelling of legs and feet.

Secondly, kidney disease can also cause swollen feet. With the increase of the age of the elderly, the decline of heart, liver and kidney function is the most obvious, which further affects the stability of endocrine system, leads to the improvement of vascular permeability, and is easy to accumulate water in tissue gaps, causing foot swelling.

There is also idiopathic senile edema, mostly because the subcutaneous tissue space of the elderly is loose, which leads to the infiltration of water into the tissue space to form subcutaneous edema.

In addition, excessive physical activity for a long time, long-term walking or standing, improper sitting posture, and shoes that don't fit can also cause edema. Generally, such edema is relatively easy to improve, and it can subside after a rest.

Therefore, if the elderly with cardiovascular disease or kidney disease have edema in their legs and feet, they still need to see a doctor for drug treatment, which can relieve discomfort more quickly and effectively.

In addition, the coordination of diet is also important. Many elderly people have a heavy taste. Eating too much sodium will cause vasoconstriction, high blood pressure, increase the burden on the kidneys, aggravate the symptoms of edema, and also hinder the absorption of calcium. Therefore, a light diet as far as possible can effectively avoid edema of some legs and feet, which is also conducive to overall health.

Also, it is important to pay attention to potassium supplementation. Potassium can dilate blood vessels, reduce vascular resistance, increase urinary sodium excretion, resist high sodium pressure, reduce sodium ion intake and relieve edema caused by excessive sodium intake.

Finally, proper foot massage, foot soaking and certain exercise are also beneficial to the blood circulation of the feet, maintaining the mobility of the elderly, avoiding edema and delaying aging.

What are the symptoms of swollen feet?

The clinical manifestations of foot swelling in the elderly are different due to different reasons.

1. If it is caused by gout, the big toe, heel and knee will suddenly become red, swollen and painful, and the joints will be hot and the pain will be unbearable.

2. If it is caused by renal failure, there will be swelling of eyes and face. If you press lightly on the heel and instep, the swelling will sink in and the muscles will lose their elasticity.

3. If the foot is swollen due to cardiogenic diseases, the elderly will still have symptoms such as palpitation, asthma and suffocation.

What is the cause of swollen feet?

gout

If your feet, especially your big toes, heels and knees, suddenly become red, swollen and painful, and your joints are hot, you will almost jump with pain when you move. Maybe you have gout. The main reason is that uric acid is too high in the body can't be excreted through defecation, so uric acid travels around the body, and most of it enters the joints, causing inflammation. The prevention method should start with diet and avoid eating fat and high cholesterol foods and animal offal.

rheumatism

If your joints are often swollen, you feel indescribable pain and inconvenient to move, but the swollen part does not sag when you press the button, it may be rheumatic swelling. The cause of rheumatism is complicated, mainly due to long-term deficiency of qi and blood and feeling cold.

Thyroid disease hypothyroidism can also cause leg swelling, fatigue, fear of cold, muscle paralysis, dry skin and constipation.

be overweight

Excessive body fat can also prevent body fluids from spinning out of the legs.

Heart problem

When the heart muscle is weak and can't pump blood to all parts of the body normally, there will also be swollen feet and legs.

Edema caused by organs

If you gently press the heel and instep, the swelling will sink in and the muscles will lose their elasticity, which is edema. The cause may be the decline of renal function, so that water is stored in the body and cannot be excreted.

pleural effusion

Even if water leaks from blood vessels and accumulates in the lungs, it will affect breathing and cause edema. In addition, if a large number of liver cells die, liver cirrhosis will be formed, which will also lead to other diseases, such as ascites and swollen feet.

In addition, foot swelling caused by excessive sodium intake, improper medication and local infection, such as beriberi, is also very common in the elderly.

What about swollen feet?

Old people with swollen feet should go to the hospital first to find out the cause of swollen feet before they can prescribe the right medicine.

If the foot is swollen and accompanied by severe pain, you should go to the hospital for orthopedic examination. If the face is swollen, you should go to the nephrology department for examination. If you are accompanied by palpitation, asthma and breathlessness, you should go to the cardiology department for examination. If other symptoms are not obvious, the elderly should go to the hospital for geriatric examination.

Do not smoke, avoid a large amount of sodium and salt intake, pay attention to washing feet, keep warm, and have a comprehensive nutritional intake. Too salty food and greasy and sweet food are not conducive to digestion.

Avoid standing for a long time at ordinary times and increase local exercise appropriately. If swollen feet are accompanied by severe pain, the elderly should do some static exercise to avoid climbing mountains and lifting weights to prevent the symptoms from getting worse.

Pay close attention to controlling the side effects of drugs. If your feet swell after taking the medicine, you should go to the hospital immediately.

Pay attention to protect the kidney, except for regular renal function examination, general drugs should not be used to reduce the burden on the kidney.

Eat more foods that help to reduce swelling, such as adzuki beans, wax gourd, watermelon and gourd.

When sleeping, the lower limbs should be raised appropriately, and the chair should not be too high to reduce the time for the lower limbs to droop. Don't wear too tight clothes, pay attention to protect the blood circulation of the waist and lower limbs.

Appropriate activities to promote blood circulation. Because of too much activity, lower limb fatigue will aggravate edema. If you are inactive, your qi and blood will be blocked, and you will be more prone to edema.

Eat more foods containing potassium, such as bananas, watermelons, grapes and grapefruit.

Vitamin B 1 can improve the fatigue and even edema of legs. Vitamin B2 can accelerate the metabolism of fat. So eat more vitamin B groups, such as seaweed, sesame seeds, peanuts and so on.