Health

Day after day, our feet take a beating. Whether you’re a runner, a mom chasing after kids, or an office professional walking to and from meetings, your feet need special care.

The best way to address foot ailments is through preventative care. This means visiting a podiatrist regularly to ensure your feet stay healthy.

Heel Pain

When you experience pain or inflammation in your heel, a podiatrist Birtinya will perform a physical exam to assess the condition. They may also use X-rays to check for fractures, joint damage, or other abnormalities. In some cases, they will recommend an MRI or ultrasound to view soft tissue in the foot that X-rays cannot reveal.

Heel pain is a common problem that can interfere with your daily life activities, especially if you are an athlete. A podiatrist can help you manage this condition by teaching you stretching exercises and providing you with shoe inserts to support your feet and prevent overuse of the muscles and tendons that attach to the heel bone. They can also prescribe anti-inflammatory medications to ease the pain and swelling.

Your podiatrist can help you with a number of other issues as well, such as athlete’s foot or nail fungus. They can prescribe topical and oral medications to treat these conditions so that you can enjoy clear, healthy skin and nails. They can also teach you self-care techniques to help you avoid recurrence of these conditions.

Bunions

Bunions are a painful bony bump that forms at the base of your big toe, often causing it to stick out beyond the other toes. This enlargement of bone and tissue typically occurs as the result of pressure from tight shoes, which can lead to the toe joint becoming squashed, forcing your toes into an awkward position.

Podiatrists are experts at treating bunion symptoms, and they start with a physical examination of your feet and medical history. They also take a series of X-rays to better understand the cause of your bunions.

Once they identify the root cause, your podiatrist may suggest conservative methods of treatment. This usually includes wearing shoes with a wider sole to give the foot more room, padding the bunion with tape or medicated pads to minimize pain and taking over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories to help control the pain and swelling.

In more severe cases, surgery to remove the bunion and realign your big toe joint can improve comfort and reduce the risk of recurrence. This is known as a first metatarsal osteotomy or bunionectomy.

Ingrown Toenails

A common problem, ingrown toenails can cause a lot of pain and discomfort. They are caused by the edge of a toenail digging into or piercing the skin around it, which can be due to improper trimming techniques, ill-fitting shoes, or genetics.

If left untreated, ingrown toenails can lead to a severe infection. A podiatrist can treat this by numbing the area and using tools to remove the part of the nail that is ingrown. They can also recommend a special gutter splint that helps the nail grow freely.

If the toenail is causing severe pain, swelling, redness, or pus, it may need to be removed entirely. This is done in the office, and can be a painless procedure. A podiatrist can also recommend laser or chemical treatments to prevent the toenail from growing back, if needed.

Metatarsalgia

Usually located on the ball of your foot, pain from metatarsalgia can be sharp, dull, or burning. It can also feel like a pebble is in your shoe, and it often worsens when you walk, run, or stand for extended periods of time.

Metatarsalgia can be caused by a variety of factors, including: improper footwear (like high heels), being over-weight, participating in high impact sports, tight calf muscles, or medical conditions such as arthritis. Your podiatrist will diagnose the problem by taking a thorough history and examination.

The most effective treatment for this issue is often an over-the-counter pain reliever and ice packs. Keeping the ice pack on your feet for 10-20 minutes throughout the day will help reduce inflammation and swelling. If the pain becomes severe, or you are experiencing symptoms such as numbness or tingling, you should seek medical attention immediately. Your podiatrist will assess the condition and determine the best course of treatment for your feet. Depending on the injury or condition, your podiatrist may recommend an orthotic to help you correct any abnormal biomechanics and address the pain.

Neuromas

If you feel like there’s a pebble in your shoe or are experiencing pain and tingling in the ball of your foot, you may have a neuroma. This noncancerous swelling is caused by pressure or compression on the nerves in the ball of the foot and typically occurs between the third and fourth toes.

Podiatrists can diagnose neuromas by performing a simple test called Mulder’s sign, where they press on the sides of your foot and feel for an enlarged area of the nerve sheath. They can also order diagnostic imaging or perform an ultrasound to further evaluate the area.

Oftentimes, podiatrists can alleviate neuroma symptoms with conservative treatment methods. They can provide custom orthotics or shoe inserts that redistribute the weight of your feet and decrease stress on the nerve sheath. They can also recommend avoiding activities that place constant pressure on the area, provide ice packs to reduce swelling, and advise patients on proper footwear with a roomy toe box and adequate arch support.

If conservative treatments fail to relieve your symptoms, a podiatrist can perform a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove the portion of the nerve that is enlarged and permanently end your pain. Schedule an evaluation at City Podiatry in Midtown Manhattan today to see how a podiatrist can help you get back on your feet.

When you have pain or discomfort in your feet, it can affect your entire body. Custom orthotics can dramatically improve your quality of life so you can walk, run and move around with confidence and ease.

Your feet are like a kinetic chain – even minor problems can throw off the balance of the whole system and cause pain or discomfort in knees, hips and back. Orthotics can help rebalance your foot and ankle biomechanics to reduce pressure on other joints.

Reduce Pain & Discomfort

For people who suffer from foot, ankle or knee pain that limits their mobility, orthotics may offer significant relief. they have been shown to reduce discomfort from foot problems like hammertoe and the thick band of tissue that runs from the heel to the base of the toes (plantar fasciitis).

By helping the feet move properly, orthotics help to ease the stress on other muscles, tendons and joints throughout the body as well. This is especially true for those who have long periods of time on their feet as part of their jobs or lifestyles.

Orthotics can help relieve pain in the ankles, knees, hips and back. They can also relieve the discomfort that comes from a faulty gait caused by issues such as flat feet or high arches.

Keep in mind that when you first begin wearing orthotics, it can take a while to adjust to their weight and the increased pressure on certain areas of your feet. This is normal and is why it’s recommended that you start by wearing them for an hour or less each day, gradually increasing the amount of time you wear them each week until you are able to comfortably wear them all day. If you are experiencing significant discomfort, it’s important to consult a professional for assistance. They can prescribe a different pair of orthotics that will better accommodate your specific needs.

Stabilize & Align Your Feet

Your feet are an amazing foundation for the rest of your body. They have 26 bones, 33 joints and over 11 muscles, tendons and ligaments that support you in everyday life. But if even a minor imbalance or injury occurs in the foot, it can throw off the whole biomechanical system of the ankles, knees and hips and lead to pain and discomfort.

For example, a slight problem with the foot arch can cause a person to choose one leg over the other while walking, which can cause them to develop an unnatural gait that affects their overall posture. Ultimately, this can lead to lower back pain and other issues. Custom orthotics can fix these problems and improve your overall posture.

Orthotics can also stabilize and align your feet so that they stay in a healthy, functional position without any unnecessary stress or pressure. This helps to reduce the risk of conditions like plantar fasciitis, arthritis and other foot problems. It can also help to reduce fatigue and enhance athletic performance by ensuring that your weight is evenly distributed across all the surfaces of the feet, which can reduce strain on other areas of the body such as the ankles, knees and hips. In addition, orthotics can help to absorb shock and redirect the pressure from the sensitive parts of your feet.

Increase Flexibility & Stability

Your feet are the foundation for all of your joints, bones and muscles. If they aren’t in their optimal functional position, it can cause pain and stress throughout your entire body. With the help of orthotics Essendon, you can put your feet back into their proper position. This rebalances your biomechanics and alleviates pain and stresses throughout the rest of your body.

Over time, a lack of proper foot support can lead to painful conditions like flat feet and over-pronation (also called over-supination). It can also lead to the development of hammertoes or other foot problems that affect your ability to stand, walk, run and play sports. Orthotics can help prevent these issues from developing and increase the strength of your ankles to protect them against injury.

Aside from reducing stress and pain, the right pair of orthotics can actually help you to improve your performance in sports. If you’re an athlete betrayed by your mechanically flawed feet, a good pair of orthotics can change everything! They’ll enable you to work harder and push yourself just a little bit farther with every single step.

Improve Your Performance

For athletes, orthotics provide the stability and support necessary to improve their performance on the field or in the gym. Whether it’s cutting around a defender, shifting laterally on the tennis court, or leaping into the air to dunk a basketball, all of these movements require nimble feet and legs that are able to transfer weight and force in an efficient manner. Without the proper foot support, even a small misalignment can throw off the entire biomechanical system and put a strain on other joints in the hips or knees, which can lead to injury. Custom orthotics help to correct these problems and keep the whole body moving in alignment.

In addition to improving balance and comfort, orthotics are also used for preventive purposes, such as preventing falls. This is because they enhance stability and help to correct abnormal pronation that can cause a person to fall more easily.

Athletes who wear orthotics are able to train and compete longer and harder without the fear of sustaining an injury, which allows them to reach their athletic potential. They can also rely on their orthotics to offload pain-causing areas of the foot, reduce stress on specific tendons and muscle groups, and improve overall gait efficiency. This means they can focus on the game instead of worrying about pain and fatigue.

Nearly two-thirds of warts disappear on their own over 12-24 months. That’s because most people’s immune systems eventually fight them off.

If your warts hurt, bleed or change shape or color, talk to your healthcare provider. They can often diagnose them by looking at your skin, including a shave biopsy.

Causes

Most warts are caused by viruses, especially HPV. Those viruses are contagious, and they can spread to other parts of your body — especially your face and genital area. It is more common to get HPV on these areas, and it can be easier to spread the virus there, too.

Almost everyone gets warts at some time in their lives. They can be painful and unsightly, but they are usually harmless. In most cases, your immune system will fight them off. It may take months or even years for your body to break them down, though. And some warts never go away, no matter what you do.

The most common treatment for warts is called cryotherapy. It involves a doctor freezing the wart using liquid nitrogen. This treatment can cause dark spots in people with dark skin, and it often needs to be repeated. Electrosurgery, curettage (scraping off the wart with a tool) and excision are other surgical options for removing warts.

Non-prescription salicylic acid products, including gels and plasters, can help remove some warts. They are available in most pharmacies. But more research is needed on these products, because they haven’t been well tested.

Symptoms

A wart looks like a small bump or raised skin lesion. It may be black in color and have a cauliflower-like appearance. They can grow anywhere on the body, but are more common around the fingers and near nails, and especially in areas with broken skin. Some people have a stronger immune system and don’t develop warts, while others get them more easily, such as children and those with diabetes or weakened immunity due to HIV infection.

It can be hard to diagnose warts by looking at them, but they often disappear on their own over time. Your podiatrist will usually examine the area and ask about family history before deciding on treatment. If there’s a lot of bleeding when the wart is touched or the area hurts, it’s important to see a podiatrist in Albany, WA right away.

The health care provider will probably order a blood test to check for HPV or other viruses that can cause warts. They may also remove a small piece of the wart (biopsy) to study it under a microscope.

Most warts can be treated at home by rubbing them with salicylic acid solution. This can be purchased without a prescription at most pharmacies. The medication is applied to the wart several times a day over the course of weeks to gradually dissolve it.

Diagnosis

The HPV virus that causes warts varies, and different strains trigger different types of warts in different parts of the body. People with weakened immune systems have a higher risk of developing certain kinds of warts, including genital warts that can be transmitted through intercourse.

Over-the-counter medicines in liquid, gel and pad form may help to treat warts at home. These contain salicylic acid, which softens abnormal skin cells. Liquid nitrogen products also are available to kill a wart by freezing it. It may take a few weeks or months for home remedies to work, and even then the warts often recur.

Doctors can treat warts with wart removal Albany or minor surgery. Some doctors use a special acid called trichloroacetic acid to remove warts. This treatment requires a special tool, such as a wooden toothpick, to apply the acid directly to the warts. It can be painful and stinging. Doctors also can use pulsed dye laser treatment to burn (cauterize) tiny blood vessels in the warts. This is effective, but it leaves scars in the treated area.

There are no ways to prevent common warts, but you can reduce your risk for them by not touching or picking at your warts. You can also try not to share towels, washcloths and shoes, and avoid walking barefoot in places like public swimming pools and locker rooms.

Treatment

Warts can be unsightly, but they’re usually harmless. Most clear up on their own. Some are more stubborn, especially those on the soles of your feet.

There are over-the-counter wart treatments that can help get rid of some types of skin warts. Those include salicylic acid solutions that you put on the warts several times a day over a few weeks to gradually dissolve them. They’re available without a prescription at pharmacies. You should avoid using them on your face or genitals, because the same type of virus that causes skin warts can also cause HPV-related cancers in those areas.

Doctors have several other ways to treat warts. They may try shaving away the warts with a blade or burning them with electricity (cryotherapy). This can hurt and leave scars, but it’s usually the most effective treatment. Doctors can also inject you with medicines that stop the warts from spreading, such as bleomycin for common warts or interferon for genital warts.

Surgery is used only if the warts won’t go away with other treatment. This can involve cutting them off or burning them with electricity. Your doctor will give you a shot of anesthetic first to prevent pain. You should not have this treatment if you have diabetes or nerve damage in your feet, such as from Raynaud’s disease.

Our feet take a beating, with 28 bones, 33 joints and over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments working together to keep us moving. A podiatrist – sometimes called a chiropodist – is the specialist who treats these all-important structures.

A common foot injury is plantar fasciitis, a pain in the heel that affects anyone who overdoes it. Another is a neuroma, a painful nerve problem that strikes women who wear impractical high heels.

Treatment

Podiatrists can perform surgery on the foot and ankle to treat a variety of conditions. They can also prescribe medication, insoles or special shoes and can provide physical therapy to treat a wide range of problems, including ingrown toenails, pain in the heel and arch area and medical conditions like arthritis and diabetes.

After completing podiatric school, podiatrists work in a hospital for three years as part of their residency program. They are well trained to handle injuries to the feet, ankles and lower legs, and they can work in tandem with orthopedic surgeons, primary care doctors, rheumatologists and physical therapists to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients.

Podiatrist Bundoora can perform many procedures right in their office. They can use syringes to inject pain medications, nail trimmers and nail files for trimming and filing, and devices such as nail anvils, corns and calluses removers. They can even use cryotherapy equipment — liquid nitrogen — to freeze off warts.

A podiatrist can also help with hammertoes, which are bending deformities in the joints of one or more toes. They often occur in the second through fifth toes, and women who wear tight or high heels are most at risk of developing this painful condition. The podiatrist can recommend a treatment plan, which may include steroid injections or surgery.

Prevention

Whether or not you are experiencing pain in the feet, regular visits to a podiatrist can help keep you healthy. They can identify and treat problems as they develop, such as ingrown toenails or circulation issues, and work with other think physicians (such as primary care doctors, rheumatologists or physical therapists) to ensure that the entire health of the foot is addressed.

A foot expert can also spot signs of diabetes and other conditions that may impact the feet, such as peripheral neuropathy. They can help people manage these conditions, reduce discomfort and improve balance to optimise overall quality of life.

The feet contain 26 bones and countless joints, muscles and ligaments that work together to support the weight of the body. Because the feet are constantly subjected to pressure, they can also be susceptible to injury and pain. Symptoms such as a broken toe bone, for example, might need time and rest to heal, but they may also need surgery or a splint to reduce the amount of stress on the bones.

A podiatrist can recommend exercises, medications or a special shoe or insert to relieve the pain and reduce the risk of further injury. In some cases, a podiatrist will also recommend additional tests, such as bloodwork, to rule out other conditions or illnesses, including cancer or autoimmune diseases.

Diagnosis

A podiatrist can tell if your heel pain is from wearing narrow shoes, a stress fracture or some other medical problem. He or she can also help you trim your toenails safely and correctly and suggest different shoes to wear.

During your first visit, a podiatrist will review your past health history and symptoms, then perform a physical exam of your feet. This includes looking at the bottoms of your feet and toes, checking the skin for redness or discoloration and feeling the pads and bones in your feet. In some cases, a podiatrist may recommend X-rays or other imaging tests to get a better look at your foot and toes.

If you have diabetes, a podiatrist can help manage your condition by examining your feet regularly for signs of neuropathy (numbness or pain) and poor circulation. He or she can also advise you on proper footwear and give you prescription orthotics if necessary. A podiatrist can also treat bunions, hammertoes and other conditions that develop due to repetitive stress or normal aging, such as flat feet (also called fallen arches). He or she can help you manage the pain by providing shoe recommendations, injections and other non-surgical treatments. In severe cases, surgery may be recommended. A podiatrist can also diagnose and treat nail fungus. They can prescribe antifungal medicines, or use laser treatment for severe infections.

Surgery

Podiatrists are not only medical doctors, but they receive extra specialized training in the feet and ankles. They spend their entire residency studying the feet and ankles, learning how all of the elements — bones, musculature, nerves and other systems — work in tandem to make your feet function.

This knowledge of the feet allows podiatrists to diagnose and treat many different foot issues. Whether you are experiencing pain, discomfort, a deformity or a complication from an ongoing health condition like diabetes, your podiatrist can help.

Your first appointment will begin with the podiatrist reviewing your medical history and current symptoms. The podiatrist will then conduct a physical examination of your feet, looking for any signs of injury or disease. They may also order X-rays, CT scans or MRI to get a closer look at your feet and lower leg structures.

A common problem is plantar fasciitis, a painful condition in which the ligament that connects your heel to the balls of your feet becomes tight. This overuse injury can affect people of all ages, but it is especially common among runners and other athletes. A podiatrist can prescribe stretches and splints to ease the pain, and recommend modifying your footwear to help prevent future injuries. Other conditions that require the attention of a podiatrist include bunions, hammer toes and neuromas. The latter are non-cancerous tumors that develop on or near the toes and typically cause a burning, tingling sensation. Women who wear high heels are more prone to developing this condition, which can lead to permanent damage if left untreated.