Services

If you are suffering from an ankle or foot fracture or sprain, time is of the essence. The best results are achieved when the fracture is tended to immediately. It is imperative that you contact our office as soon as possible so that emrgency care can be provided. Our doctors will evaluate the extent of your condition and administer the appropriate treatment.

Not all calluses cause discomfort. A callus may be small, medium, or large in area but thin and diffuse in thickness. These are normally non-painful and can be effectively dealt with by paddings, insoles, and certain types of abrasive treatment procedures. On the other hand, calluses may become deep and punctuate with circular type cores in their center. These are the ones that can indeed cause grief and most often will lead to a visit at the local foot doctor’s office. This painful type of callus may be due to an underlying problem in bone structure, a particular type of skin condition, or perhaps a response to a foreign body. Various treatment methods are available by the foot specialist that are geared towards re-establishing proper balance and weight distribution. As with many problems of the foot one could try to accommodate these lesions with padding, try to control foot strike and function by an arch supportive device or correct the orthopedic condition that exists. These problems should be seen as early as possible so as to minimize the necessary treatment involved.

It seems obvious that with most any existing ailment of the body, one of three things can happen. The condition can improve and go away, it can stay the same or it can become worse. Corns are an orthopedic condition and either one has to accommodate the deformity to try to make it go away or correct the deformity. First of all, it is essential to check and modify if necessary, one's shoes so as to minimize excessive pressure at the area involved. Quite often, wearing a better-fitted shoe is enough to remedy the problem. Secondly, one should stay away from store bought medicinal pads and sharp cutting instruments as possible remedies. Self-abuse through the improper use of these items can often result in more serious damage to the skin. A third and most important suggestion for the person with a painful corn is that he seeks professional care.

Appropriate care for this problem is often necessary in order to correct or at least, prevent further progressive changes. Treating one's own foot problem is not necessarily detrimental when performed carefully and under the right conditions. The diabetic, the older aged individual, or the person with obvious circulatory problems are certainly in need of professional care and should not attempt self-treatment procedures. There are some surgical approaches to the treatment of corns to attempt to permanently correct the condition. Everyone can live with a non painful corn, but when the pain interrupts one's daily walking, it often requires professional management.

Some foot conditions not only cause patients discomfort and pain but are often unsightly and cause embarrassment. We treat many of these with cosmetic surgery.

In most cases, the treatment of the pronated flat foot involves prescribed orthotics or foot and ankle supportive devices. These effectively reduce the in-rolling tendency and help to support the foot and ankle during gait. Other less frequently used approaches in the management of various flat foot conditions include shoe modifications, injections, oral anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy and if all else fails and the pain persists, surgery. A foot specialist will carefully evaluate this condition in order to identify its probable type, cause and to select the most effective therapy plan available.

Adequate prevention of ingrown nails can be accomplished in most cases by proper trimming and judicious self-care. The nail plate should be carefully trimmed so as to follow the fleshy curve at the end of the toe. Under no circumstance, should a sharp instrument be used or inserted to cut diagonally back into the corners of the nail. Leaving a jagged nail edge, a loose piece, or inadvertently cutting the skin can predictably lead to problems. In those cases where injury has occurred with a subsequent ingrown nail, professional assistance by a foot specialist is suggested. The doctor is well trained and equipped to treat such a problem and with little to no discomfort to the patient.

What are they?

Foot orthotics are supportive devices that are designed specifically for the purpose of controlling foot motion, improving one's postural stability, reducing shock impact, and/or improving weight distribution. In most cases, these devices are functional in the sense that they also improve one's biomechanical performance during gait. A plaster impression is taken of your feet and used in the selection and fitting of a prescription orthotic. The particular information regarding anticipated cost, durability and use may vary depending upon the type of orthotic and should be discussed with your foot specialist.

What do they do?

Imagine if you will, standing barefoot in moist sand with the arch being filled by the smooth sandy undersurface. The heel and ball of the foot leaves a mild depression in the sand while the toes grip the ground without resistance. If one could stand like this for lengthy periods of time, he or she would probably not have sore feet, would experience less fatigue and probably would not have many of those commonly encountered forefoot skin problems such as corns, calluses and ingrown nails. The problems come from standing on cement, asphalt or other non-yielding surfaces. Other causes for foot problems include wearing confining shoes, which further limit foot flexibility, and from lengthy periods of ambulation, which add fatigue and strain to one's body.

Orthotics assist in restoring supportive comfort by bringing the ground surface up to the foot. They serve to improve postural stability, distribute one's weight more evenly and improve the mechanical functioning of the foot and ankle. Although orthotics do not cure every ache and pain in the foot, they are a wonderful approach in providing maximum comfort through improved biomechanics. Standing comfortably in sand is not necessarily an unreachable feeling even while wearing your everyday shoes.

The treatment of a plantar fasciitis condition initially includes stretching exercises, shoe modifications, foot taping and padding, possible injection of an anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, and the use of oral medications. Orthotics, which provide support and stability to the foot and ankle, improve weight distribution, and increase lower extremity function are in most cases, an essential part of therapy. Controlling the arch during weight bearing along with conservative care can make 90% of true plantar fascial pain become asymptomatic. In certain cases where conservative care has failed to relieve the involved discomfort and disability, surgery might then become a consideration.

Warts that appear on the hands and fingers are usually more responsive to therapy than are those on the feet. The professional methods of treatment available for plantar warts include just about everything from chemical applications, surgery to putting duct tape over the wart. Because there are so many treatments it tells us that sometimes the treatment works and sometimes it doesn’t. Some warts respond quickly and some do not. Each foot specialist seems to have his or her own favorite treatment methods that prove effective in the majority of cases. Usually the initial treatment is to try topical medication over a 6-10 week period. During that time it is important to keep the feet dry. There are certain medications that are giving to try to stop the feet from sweating. If topical treatments don’t seem to be working or the warts are starting to spread then there is always trying to excise the warts.