Foot & Ankle

Because your feet and ankles are at the base of your body, they bear the pressure of your weight.  The stress of weight-bearing, combined with poorly fitting shoes, heredity, aging, or disease may cause or add to the development of problems.

Common Ailments

The most common foot and ankle problems are fractures and sprains.

Fractures occur when bone is not able to withstand outside forces that are applied to the bone, subsequently resulting in failure.  Crack, break or fracture is the common phrases that you will hear related to this type of injury.

Sprains and strains can be caused by sudden movement that results in the tearing or stretching of ligaments. Discomfort, pain, bruising and swelling are some of the symptoms associated with this injury.  Strains and sprains will vary greatly due to the severity of whether the ligament has been torn or stretched.

Sports injuries: In most instances, this term is associated with injuries incurred during rigorous physical exercise or sports.  Many factors can be attributed to a sports injury, whether it involves an unforeseen trauma or accident; or results from insufficient stretching, warm-up exercises, inadequate equipment, lack of proper conditioning or overall poor training techniques.

Arthritis and joint diseases: Joint pain is unmistakably the most common complaint among patients that suffer with arthritis.  Their joint pain may be localized to the specific joint affected and in most circumstances remains constant.  Arthritis pain can be attributed to many factors that are occurring; inflammation around the joint, damage from the disease to the joint, everyday wear and tear, strains to the surrounding muscles from movements against painful and stiff joints combined with the overall fatigue associated with arthritis.>

Nerve disorders: Peripheral nerves, located outside of your spinal cord and brain, if impaired will interrupt or distort the messages between your brain and the rest of your body.  Diagnosis of nerve disorders is aimed at finding the underlying medical issue in order to control the symptoms, while offering the patient relief from pain and discomfort.

Common Treatments

Arthroscopic Foot Surgery - Foot surgery involving tendons, ligaments and muscles can include tumor removal as a result of an injury and a ligament tear. Bone surgery of the foot may involve amputation of the foot or toes. Pins, screws and plates are used in many cases to correct bone alignments.

Arthroscopic Ankle Surgery - Arthroscopic surgery may be helpful in the early stages of arthritis. Small instruments at the end of the arthroscope, such as probes, forceps, knives, and shavers, are used to clean the joint area of foreign tissue, inflamed tissue that lines the joint, and bony outgrowths (spurs).

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