5 tips for fungus-free feet this summer

5 tips for fungus-free feet this summer

Blog, Fungal Nails

5 tips for fungus-free feet this summer - 1

5 tips for fungus-free feet this summer

Despite the fact that fungal nail infections are notoriously tricky to get rid of, they’re thankfully quite easy to avoid—if you know how, of course!

Fungal infections are seriously easy to contract and super contagious, so it pays to have a few tips up your sleeve to beat a fungal skin or nail infection.

Top 5 tips for fungus-free feet

1.Boil your socks

We’re not kidding; regularly popping your socks in a pot of boiling water can help stop you from getting fungal nail and prevent friends and relatives from catching it (if you’ve already got it!).

Why? Fungus can’t survive extremely high temperatures. Boiling your socks for 10 minutes at 55-60 degrees will kill off any fungus that might be lurking in your socks. But remember, simply washing your socks on a regular (40-60 degree) wash cycle will do nada to nuke fungal spores.

2.Don’t share showers

Communal showers are a breeding ground for fungus. This is because fungal infections are extremely common and public showers are high-traffic areas; lots of feet means a much greater chance of catching a fungal infection! Think Gyms, swimming pools, beach side change rooms!

Super tip; If you must share a shower area, be sure to wear thongs to help minimise the risk of picking up fungal spores.

3.Be nail salon smart

A professional pedicure can be a relaxing way to prep your feet for summer—but not if you go home with more than you bargained for. Busy nail salons can be a breeding ground for fungus, so make sure you seek out a reputable nail bar. Ensure a new set of tools is opened just for you and the foot basins are lined with plastic protectors that are replaced at every use.

Super tip; If you want to be super vigilant, take your own nail file.

4.Shower outdoors

If you’re at the beach or swimming pool and there are outdoor and indoor showers—take the outdoor option.

Indoor showers are darker and might not have the drainage that the outdoor showers do, which means that water can collect. This creates a dark and wet environment—the perfect place for a fungal spore party!

Super tip; Outdoor showers on the other hand have the benefit of UV rays, which dries the shower area and reduces the likelihood of a fungal infection.

5.Keep feet dry

Fungal spores love dark, damp places—just like between the toes of sweaty feet. An easy step to stop fungal infections in their tracks is to make sure feet are washed and thoroughly dried on a daily basis. Sounds easy right? Yet if it were really that simple, fungal infections wouldn’t be so commonplace.

Super tip; Help protect your feet from fungus by using an antibacterial foot powder or spray in your shoes and on your feet, changing your socks daily and washing your feet after exercise.

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Facing up to fungus

Fungal spores are invisible to the human eye, so it’s important to be able to quickly recognise the signs of a fungal skin or nail infection. Symptoms include:

  • Dry skin or white patches around the toes that remain even after moisturising
  • Callused skin – people often think its just dry skin, look for the other signs
  • Small blister like patches on your skin.
  • Discolouration of the toenail (usually white, yellow or brown streaks)
  • Thickening of the nail
  • Crumbling nail

Let’s face it, sometimes fungal spores will get the better of us. The trick is to treat a fungal skin or nail infection at first sight.

You can start by trying a broad-spectrum antifungal cream or ointment containing the active ingredient terbinafine, which can help kill the infection. Yet despite being widely available, antifungal ointments, paints and creams have a very low success rate.

Our Podiatrist Dr Ryan explains that this is why A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care are fighting more and more cases of fungal nail with laser.

“Laser works by penetrating the nail, heating up the nail base and killing the fungal spores.

“To ensure the best results we always treat all ten toes so that every single spore is busted. We also use a mirco drill, which makes tiny holes in the toenail and enables the laser to successfully reach the nail bed. It can help with post-laser treatment too, as any creams applied will also make their way into the nail bed for better results.”

Added benefits of fighting fungus with laser include:

  • Laser can beat even the most stubborn fungal spores
  • 80% of patients only require a single treatment
  • Treatment can take less than an hour
  • There are minimal (if any) side effects
  • No referral is required

Want to know more? Check out fungalnaildoctor.com.au or contact A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care

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Heel pain – A patient’s experience

Heel pain – A patient’s experience

Blog, Heel Pain, Shockwave, Sports Care

How Fiona beat Heel pain!

woman kicking water at beach

Fiona is a 43 year old lady with two teenage daughters and a busy household. In the past six months she has returned to exercise by joining a gym, which she is …. or was really enjoying.

Lately she has been waking up in the morning, placing her heels on the ground, only to get what she describes as "excruciating pain". She feels the same pain if she sits for long periods and tries to stand: the pain, while not as bad as those first few step in the morning, can make her hobble. This is now a BIG problem as she was really enjoying her return to fitness and wants to see what she can do to rid herself of the pain.

Is it really a heel spur that causes the pain?

A visit to the GP

She visited her GP who spoke to her about a heel spur, he took x-rays and indeed there was a heel spur in the picture. He explained to her that generally very few surgeons will operate on heel spurs and there is little she can do but wait out the pain which on average would go away after about 18 months! He did give her some general stretches and said he could try an injection if she really wanted, but it was painful!

Fiona also went to the chemist to try to buy some heel pads to take pressure of the heel. She tried these for about a month. While they worked for a short while, the pain quickly returned.  She also tried some very cushioned shoes, again while this was comfortable at first within a short period of time this very expensive pair of sneakers gave little relief.

On attending an appointment at A step Ahead Foot and Ankle care Fiona was just about to give up. A friend referred her after they had suffered a similar pain and our podiatry team had made her pain free.

A diagnosis

Our Podiatrist, after a thorough assessment, diagnosed Fiona with plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis is a soft tissue condition of the underside of the foot starting at the heel, where much of the pain is located, however the pain can radiate out towards the toes where the fascia again ends. The pain can begin quiet subtly at first and can last on and off for many patients for many years.

Shock wave is a new and highly effective treatment.

Shock wave is a new and highly effective treatment.

Treatment

We discussed a treatment plan with Fiona to rid her of her heel pain, this included looking at some new more appropriate runners, a series of stretches, and soft tissue treatment options. Our Podiatrist provided Fiona with options which included:

  • Deep connective tissue massage – This is a firm to hard massage which is in this condition under taken on the base of the foot around the heel and into your calf muscle as this is almost always also tight. These session can range from as short as one a week for 3 weeks but up to 12 – 18 weeks long, dependent on how long your pain has been present.
  • Shockwave Therapy (Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT)) – Shockwave is a relatively new treatment which we have found very successful.  The basic principles behind shockwave therapy are the high pressured acoustic shockwaves that travel through the skin to stimulate pain relief and tissue repair. We have found this treatment very successful and sees patients recover quicker. Most patients like Fiona recover within 6 to 9 weeks. This treatment is often recommended by sport physicians and orthopaedic surgeons. (Be warned - How long has your Practitioner been using this?)
  • Orthotic therapy – Orthoses are designed to hold your feet in a “corrected position”. Feet that are in poorly positioned or have poor foot posture have to over work which in turn causes muscles to over work and is most often the reason why people develop foot pain. While there are varying devices that do this there is no replacing custom made orthoses. These devices are made to match your foot exactly. - HARD RIGID orthotics can cause you MORE PAIN!! Soft pliable devices are the way to go!

A choice

In this instance Fiona opted for the quicker Shockwave therapy and orthotic therapy. Her podiatrist helped her select the correct foot wear to purchase from a footwear retailer. We then also provided her with an Isometric Strength exercises - NO NOT STRETCHES! that's right NOT stretching! Our team worked with Fiona to build up her strength readying the surrounding muscles for its work ahead at the same time as repairing the damaged tissue. On each occasion of shockwave reviewed these and provided supportive sports tapping to further support her foot.

A recovery

Fiona attended for shockwave over a period of five weeks and made good progress over that time with her pain dropping slowly over the first two weeks and then quickly once combined with her orthoses and more appropriate footwear.

At week five it was decided to push her appointments out to fortnightly and then when this was found successful out again another month. In total Fiona attended a total of seven times before her pain was relieved completely.

We introduced Fiona slowly back to attending the gym, with strict instruction on stretching and appropriate footwear for her foot type.  Fiona made a full recovery and with a month had returned to three gym sessions a week and a walk with friends for exercise on weekends.

Interested in more information? How about the common myths around heel pain?

Try our Dedicated Heel Pain Doctor site. HEEL PAIN DOCTOR.COM.AU

Or call our helpful team who are used to speaking to literally thousands of patients with heel pain! Our number is 02 9673 2987. We would love to help!

Heel Pain doctor Heelpaindoctor.com.au

Heel Pain doctor a dedicated site to the reduction of complex heel pain!

Book an Appointment Today

Growing Pains- More than just pain from growing – A case study

Growing Pains- More than just pain from growing – A case study

Blog, Growing pains, Kids Feet

Growing Pains- More than just pain from growing - A case study - 1

Growing Pains- More than just pain from growing – A case study

Sam is 10-years-old. He’s a great kid who loves being active, but there’s a problem and it’s getting worse. Sam plays football in winter and, in summer, he’s a cricket fanatic. Apart from these regular sports he’s running about at school and is, yes your average Aussie kid!

Sam’s mum and dad brought him into A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care because, despite being a very happy and active kid, Sam is waking up a couple of nights a week with pain in his lower legs. When he wakes he wants his mum to rub his legs because they ache and are sore. Sam’s mum Beth has used heat packs and paracetamol which does take the pain away after a while but, as Beth says, “They aren’t fixing the cause”.

A key factor is that fact Sam’s parents recognised that the pain sometimes came on in the night after Sam had quite active days, like sports days or family activities with lots of walking.

Visiting the GP, Physio and Dr Google

Sam’s parents took their son to a GP who sent them to see a Physiotherapist. While the physio was nice and showed Sam some stretching and did a couple of massages, these again helped at the time but didn’t stop the problem from coming back. After chatting to the GP their opinion was that this was “Just growing pains”—something Sam would have to get used to, and that he would simply “Grow out of it”. Frustrated with a fantastic but upset little boy, Sam’s parents felt they needed another opinion.

Sam’s mum Beth jumped onto Dr Google and found herself even more confused. Some parents were recommending vitamin supplements, others recommended oils and others suggested all kinds of home remedies. She then found herself on Facebook asking other parents for help. This is where a friend of Beth’s recommended our practitioners at A Step Ahead Foot and Ankle Care.

Growing Pains- More than just pain from growing - A case study - 2

Finally some answers

When our practitioners assessed Sam it became pretty clear there was more than just some kind of phantom pain going on. We undertook a detailed walk and run assessment, along with some measurements and testing on Sam’s muscles. Nothing was invasive and everything we do is done in a fun, friendly and non-confronting environment. After a short while we established that Sam’s feet were rolling in a lot and his arches where a little flat. In essence Sam had pretty poor foot posture. What this meant is that the muscles in Sam’s lower legs were over working to try and give his poor foot posture support.

This meant that a big day on his feet, like a family outing, a busy day at school or doing sports caused his muscles to work even harder. This led to them getting sore, not necessarily at the time of the injury, mostly at night several hours after the muscles had rested.

Helping fight “growing pains”

To help Sam we gave him a custom-made pair of orthotic insoles. These are made from a soft material so are very comfortable to wear but provided support for the rolling of his ankle. We took a 3D scan of Sam’s foot and video recorded his walking patterns using our specialised assessment software. The orthotics are then designed using our computer-aided design software. Next step is to make the orthotics, which is done in our on-site Orthotic laboratory by our technicians and overseen by our podiatrist.

After fitting his new orthotics into a new pair of runners that we recommended, Sam headed on his way feeling comfortable to return in a couple of weeks. We prescribed some stretching to work with his orthoses and suggested that we may need to follow this up with a specialised massage to relax his muscles as his orthoses took over and began doing their job.

Pain free!

A couple of weeks later a very relieved set of parents and Sam returned to our clinic. In a little over two weeks the orthoses had started to do their thing. Sam had only had pain in his legs once since starting to wear his orthoses and this was after a very big day, his school athletics carnival! After only a couple of weeks we expected this to decrease so we asked them to return in another month at which time they reported Sam to be pain free!! Sam’s parents also reported that he was much more comfortable at sport as well. They were overjoyed; they had their happy, healthy little boy back!

Growing pains ARE TREATABLE in most cases. While many well-meaning health practitioners may say you have to wait and outgrow growing pains, there are alternatives. Our practitioners have had the pleasure of helping many kids with this same problem. It’s what we love to do! Helping kids become pain free, happy, healthy and active is a privilege. If you would like to help your little one to become pain free, please give our helpful reception team a call on +61 9673 2987 or 4732 2007. You can also see find us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/podiatristsydney