One morning I woke up with intense pain in one of my feet in and around the big toe. My foot was very bruised and very swollen. Before this, I never had any issues what so ever. I assumed wrong that somehow, I had broken or cracked the bones in my foot. How? I have no idea, but having experience with broken bones, it was pretty close.

I had to see my doctor that morning regarding this problem and he took a ten second look at it and told me that I was the proud owner of gout. Great. What is gout? A new type of broken foot?

Gout is caused by elevated uric acid levels in crystalizing in your joints. Normally, the joints affected are joints previously damaged or bruised. My toe happened to have had a serious sprain when I was younger and my one hand was broken. Gout now affects either of those joints at will.

Many of the causes of gout are summed up with diet, but I’ve noticed another cause of gout. Your footwear. I was in the military at the time and the shoes I had to wear were of a thick leather sole. For some reason, I suffered a lot while wearing those shoes.

After I had left the military, I also left behind leather soled shoes. Since then, I’ve had maybe two or three minor gout attacks in my foot. So, I would definitely rule out improper footwear for you first.

So, what is gout? Gout is painful. Gout strikes again and again. And gout can cause serious long term damage.