We Save Soles

Funny how life runs random events, and sometimes these random events run in synch.  Not 15 minutes after hearing on the radio that Luke Walton was suffering from sesamoiditis and would have to miss several games for the Los Angeles Lakers, did I have a patient walk into my office with the same problem!

Being as how the sesamoids are directly beneath your great toe, it would stand to reason that a basketball player would suffer from problems here.  With the constant leaping and landing, this area is going to take a pounding.  No surprise to me was that my patient was also a basketball player; just not at the professional level.

Understand that any time you add “itis” to any word, it must means that you have pain and inflammation of that word.  So, sesamoiditis just means pain and inflammation of the sesamoids.

Treatment involves immobilization of the foot for a period of time, often times in a cast walker boot. Ultrasound and whirlpool therapy can help with the inflammation as well.