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Sydney’s Macquarie Street is difficult to get to, has no parking and is full of toffs! Guess what ? Western Sydney is taking its place for quality health care!
For years we have all heard of people heading into Sydney’s Macquarie Street for a specialist appointment. It was reported to be where all the good specialists practised and somehow by word of mouth and myth became the centre of Sydney’s health specialist community. But is it true?
While Macquarie Street has that reputation it also has NO parking and very poor public transport as well! Specialists aren’t chosen to practice in Macquarie Street they simply pay more rent and guess what that means – YOU PAY HIGHER FEES!
We have noted a change in peoples thinking of late, as we have become more popular and sought after by the Sydney community. Despite the fact that the Podiatrist at A Step Ahead are regulars experts on TV shows like the Today Show and have appeared as experts in Men’s Health Magazine, New Idea, Prevention magazine and Women’s Health to name but a few we practice quite happily in Penrith in Sydney’s western Suburbs!
Patients are now wising up to the hectic and unfriendly Sydney central with one of our patients recently telling us “I am tired of travelling to Sydney for specialist when we have great health practitioners here in Western Sydney”
With wide streets, hassle free motoring and easy parking, on most occasions right out the front of the door of your doctors rooms why battle the city? 
Public transport to Western Sydney is regular and reliable, so you have to ask yourself why others haven’t cottoned onto this? Well our experience says that they are!
In the past month A Step Ahead has seen patients themselves coming from Sydney’s Eastern suburbs making appointments to see us. We have also had patients travelling from Lithgow and Sutherland and from as far away as Tasmania within just the last week of the date of writing this. We must be doing something right?
So if you haven’t, is it time you made a change?
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Heel Pain
Heel pain relief for chronic Heel pain patients are available at our heel pain clinic
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle care has been helping people to recover from heel pain for over a decade now and we thoroughly enjoy it! Being able to help people get back to active lives achieving the things they hope to do is what we both do and love!
Heel pain can be debilitating and hinders people to do daily activities including anything from regular shopping outings to exercise.
Most people suffer from a slightly varying combination of Symptoms including:
- Pain on placing the heel on the ground after sleeping or raising from a chair.
- Pain may relieve slightly, only to increase again later through the day
- Pain is located towards the back of the heel in many cases, however may progress towards the front of the base of the foot.
On many occasions people are told by their well-meaning health practitioner they cannot treat this, or that it will get better by itself or to try stretching or soft padding in shoes. Frustrated most people have nowhere else to go and put up with this debilitating pain.
With over a decade of experience and a passion for making people feel better A Step Ahead have developed a highly successful regimen of treatment which is delivering excellent results for patients.
Using a combination of therapies including specific stretching techniques, Specialised soft tissue therapy, custom designed and 3D cad cam designed insoles and our new Shock wave therapy. A Step Ahead is delivering relief of long standing heel pain treated unsuccessful by other practitioners.
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Did you catch our Podiatrist Dr Brenden Brown on the Today show? Brenden is an expert when it comes to Kids feet and the Today show called on him to review the best School Shoes for 2014.
Podiatrist Dr Brenden Brown reviews the best school shoes for 2014
Watch the clip below and see what Brenden says will help keep your kids healthy happy and active.
Due to the magic of TV (meaning its pretty quick and you don’t get all the time you’d like on TV) Brenden doesn’t get to mention all of his TOP 4 see our other blog post HERE
where Brenden reviews all his favourite school shoes for your kids.
http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/best-back-to-school-shoes/xtqh7cf
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Dr Brenden’s top school shoe picks for 2014.
Back to school has hit us again, it’s time for kids to head back into the class rooms and not only hit the books but also hit the school yard in their new school shoes!
Kids spend over 30 hours a week in their school shoes and while most of us think of them simply as a school shoe they also, at school, may become a netball shoe, a handball shoe, a soccer boot, a cricket shoe or even a get chased by a bully shoe!! Needless to say it’s essential that these shoes are tough and sturdy to undertake all this work.
As a parent of two kids myself I understand while we all like to make sure we get the best for our kids we also have to think about the money that its cost to send our kids to school and it all adds up. Many parents hope to get a full year out of a pair of shoes for their child so that’s approximately 40+ weeks of school for most kids. Considering a 40 week year for most shoes we have split up the cost to consider how much that school shoe is costing us each week for our kids. So you can get shoes from as little as 75 cents a week up to worth 3.20 a week more expensive but I believe still a reasonable price to pay for keeping your kids healthy and active!
I have reviewed what I think are some of the school shoe picks of 2014. Some are more expensive and others I have looked at with those on a budget in mind. In essence you get what you pay for but we were pleasantly surprised with one or two of the cheaper models.
I have reviews both traditional school shoes and my favourite runner or sneaker style shoe in all black leather so people get an option as I know a lot of kids love these as well.
I have listed these from my favourite down however the bottom shoes are by no means terrible and in fact are in many respects good shoes.
BEST NEWCOMER!
Start-Rite York
- · School-style shoe
- · Unisex
- · Firm heel counter
- · Bends at the toe
- · Doesn’t twist
- · Doesn’t flex at the middle
- · All leather
- · Black lace-up
· Priced at $129.00 about $3.20 a week
Brenden Says: This is a relative new comer to my list I have not reviewed this shoe before and I have been really impressed with its appearance on the market! All the qualities I look for in a shoe and to me looks like a tough all-round school shoe!
BEST OF THE BEST – Brenden’s top 4!
ASCENT – SCHOLAR and APEX 
- · Firm heel counter
- · Runner style sole
- · All leather shoe
- · Removable insole for orthotics
- · Bends at toe
- · Doesn’t twist
- · Female / youth
- · Available in 4 widths
From $109.95 (junior size) to $129.95 (adult size) Kids sizes about $2.75 a week
Brenden Says: I have been watching these shoe’s develop and I really feel they are great shoe’s I think Ascent as a brand are developing some excellent quality shoes. Yes I know I am cheating here that this is in fact two shoes but I like these equally and believe they both deserve a mention. I like the School shoe look but the almost sneaker style shoe base. Bends at the toes in all the right places but is strong in the middle and heel where it is needed.
Start-Rite York
- · School-style shoe
- · Unisex
- · Firm heel counter
- · Bends at the toe
- · Doesn’t twist
- · Doesn’t flex at the middle
- · All leather
- · Black lace-up
· Priced at $129.00 about $3.20 a week
Brenden Says: Yes the newcomer makes the top 4! As I said above I think this is a relative new comer has all the qualities I look for in a shoe and to me looks like a tough all-round school shoe! Firm heel counter and solid shank to support kids feet!
CLARKS – 24 SE7EN
- Firm heel counter
- Runner style sole
- All leather shoe
- Removable insole for orthotics
- Bends at toe
- Doesn’t twist
Priced at $124.95 about $3 a week
Brenden Says: A good shoe that has been doing a good job for kids for a number of years. I think kids will like this shoe it has a chunky see through sole that kids seem to love. It has a firm heel counter that is essential to good footwear. Bends and flex’s in the right spots!
Asics Gel-510TR G
- Firm heel counter
- Bends at the toe
- Doesn’t twist
- Doesn’t flex at the middle
- Running style
- All leather
- Black lace-up
· Price point is RRP of $100 about $2.50 a week
Brenden Says: As a sneaker based shoe this is by far my favourite. I recommend it to any parent looking for a sneaker style school shoe. Its leather based with all the properties of a good quality running shoe. In my experience it seems to last a school year really well which I have noted not all sneaker style running shoes do. A winner for me.
ON A BUDGET. –
GRO-SHU – LEARN
- Firm heel counter
- Removable insole for orthotics
- Bends at toe
- Doesn’t twist
- Leather lined
$39.99 @ Payless Shoes about $1.00 a week!
Brenden Says: This is a good shoe for its price point. While it doesn’t have all the stability I like to see in a school shoe for those on a tight budget at 39.99 I think it out weights others in its class. No you are not getting all the features of the top 4
GROSBY DURABLES – SCHOOL
- Firm heel counter
- Removable insole for orthotics
- Bends at toe
- Doesn’t twist
- Leather upper
$30.00 Big W about 75 cents a week!!!!
Brenden Says: At this tiny price you can afford a few of these a year compared to some of its more heavily priced competitors. In kids small sizes this is a good shoe. It’s not the strongest and it may not last as long as some of the others but at that price you wouldn’t expect it to. As this shoe get bigger in size it loses some of the stability I prefer in the more expensive models but as a Jnr shoe on a budget it’s a good alternative.
Tips when choosing shoes:
- Thumb width’s room between the end of the shoe and the end of the longest to
- The fastening mechanism (lace-up, Velcro or buckle are best!) should hold the heel firmly in the back of the shoe
- The back part of the shoe ‘heel counter’ should be strong and stable
- The shoe should flex across the ball of the foot (not in the middle!)
- The sole should not twist!
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Kids do much more than just go to school each week! What did your kids feet do this week?
Kids feet do much more than just 30 hours a week at school – they play handball – run races – play basketball – touch footy – practice ballet – play rugby – skip………. But are they ready to do all that activity and more?
Many times children won’t tell Mums and Dads about foot pain till its too late and it becomes a bigger problem.
- Growing pains
- Tripping and falling
- Clumsiness
- Wearing out shoes
- Tiring easily
These are all signs that something maybe wrong with your child’s feet. Having your child’s foot posture and walking patterns by our Podiatrist who can quickly and safely help to find pain free solutions.
Every year we get to treat hundreds of kids! We love it not only are we getting to meet and have fun with some pretty cool kids we get to see them become happy healthy and active again. We’d love to be able to help your family as well!
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!