Blog
A couple of weeks ago a lovely lady presented to me with horribly bad heel pain. She has been putting up with it for a few months. She works in a hotel where she is busy attending to other people with little time for her to attend to herself.
She had seen a doctor whom sent her for an x-ray, the x-ray showed a spur and the doctor said there can’t be anything done. This doctor prescribed her pain killers and even though taking these she still felt pain. It wasn’t until she saw another doctor who gave a referral
Heel pain relief for chronic Heel pain patients are available at our heel pain clinic
to our clinic A step ahead foot and ankle care.
When looking at X-rays many times you can see spurs on the heel bone or calcaneus. Most people ,often including family GP’s don’t understand that a spur can exist without pain. It is most often the soft tissue structures that cause pain. When we examined the patient, we noted
her feet were very flat one of a few “biomechanical” issues (problems with her walk and running style and
posture). This often effects the soft tissue structures causing more strain to the structure called the plantar fascia causing a condition called “plantar fasciitis”. In this case after a series of tests and a detailed case history we discovered this to be her correct diagnosis.
We have started treating this patient,after one session of soft tissue therapy and taping she has already reported she’s no longer taking pain killers! We have also scanned her feet up for custom orthotics to correct her foot alignment with the aim of these custom made devices being to correct her poor foot posture.
For all your Foot and Lower Limb Care needs, come and see us at:
A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Care
24 Phillip Street, St Marys; or
Suite 4, 36 Woodriff Street, Penrith
www.astepahead.com.au
Blog, Ingrown Nails
My patient can’t believe it, well in fact she can’t feel it, which is what she is having trouble adjusting to. You see this lovely lady has had a painful ingrown toenail on her big toe for the last 5 years. Her doctor who thought he was doing the right thing continued to put her on multiple courses of antibiotics but to no relief. Antibiotic whilst obviously successful in treating the infection in the surrounding tissue does not remove the small piece of nail that has protruded sharply into the skin around the nail.
This nail had also been treated by another Podiatrist who recognising that the patient had this nail protruding into the skin removed the nail …….. well the nail that they could see! This is truly what is needed in many cases. A simple quick process of removing the offending piece of nail relatively painless and simple for most people. However in this case, as with others that suffer from this condition over many months or even years a nail surgery was required.
The patient had spoken to their Podiatrist about this a few times and had mentioned it again at their last appointment with the Pod however the Pod was sure that with regular treatment it would be manageable. After many more months this lovely lady justifiably lost patience and faith in her Pod. She was looking for a solution to her ingrown toe nail pain and wanted it NOW !
Nail surgeries are not new for podiatrist and are something we do on a regular basis. It is done in our rooms and is a relatively simple procedure. I often describe this as relatively pain free – it is wrong to say any surgical procedure is “pain free” but as procedures go our patients report very little if any pain. I recommend this procedure for patients with involuted or very curved nails, Nails with areas that seem to catch the skin on the side of the nail. Again nails that have a long history of infection or growing in.
The message – really is a solution and that you don’t need to be in long term pain. 5 years is a long time in pain!
For all your Foot and Lower Limb Care needs, come and see us at:
A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Care
24 Phillip Street, St Marys; or
Suite 4, 36 Woodriff Street, Penrith
www.astepahead.com.au
Blog
Heel pain combined with a practice of going bare feet will cause you more pain.
We recently had a gent come into the clinic with plantar heel pain or Plantar fasciitis to be exact. He had this heel pain for about 12 months and had visited a series of other health practitioners and doctors. To date he had visited a physiotherapist, a general practitioner, a massage therapist, a chiropractor and most sad to me another Podiatrist. Despite spending thousands yes thousands he had not resolved his pain!
Each practitioner had applied their craft – GP had given pain killers, the Physio some stretching , the chiropractor had done some manipulations, the Massage therapist the massage and the podiatrist had dispensed formthotic style orthoses.
Sadly none of these people amongst all of this had looked at the gents foot wear or for that matter discussed it with him. Seriously people if your walking around with an inflamed plantar fascia with no shoes on – worse still thongs (flip flops, Jandles …..dependent on your country of readership) – you will NOT get better any time soon.
Having treated now thousands of patients with chronic plantar heel pain it is my experience that changing into a lace up supportive shoe, preferably with a shank in the midsole, will significantly reduce your foot pain. It provides support for the damaged tissue immobilising the foot which in combination with other therapy provides a reduction in symptoms – your pain!
For all your Foot and Lower Limb Care needs, come and see us at:
A Step Ahead Foot & Ankle Care
24 Phillip Street, St Marys; or
Suite 4, 36 Woodriff Street, Penrith
www.astepahead.com.au
Dr Brenden’s White paper report on the “6 Reasons You Won’t Beat Heal Pain” outlines what’s stopping you from beating this and tips on how to stop it in its tracks!