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Neuroma Pinch

A neuroma, also known as Morton’s Neuroma, is a common foot malady.  Essentially, it is the nerve that supplies sensation to your toes getting pinched or squeezed.  This squeezing of the nerve causes the burning-tingling-uncomfortable sensation that brings patients in. I chose this photo because it clearly shows how a nerve could get pinched.  As toes 2 and 3 are pointing outward abnormally,...

Even Luke Walton Gets Foot Problems

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...

Renewed Nail Review

Fungal nails are the bane of our existence. We as podiatrists see a lot of these thick and crumbly nails. It is a very difficult problem to treat with low cure rates. Along comes yet another new product on the market. This product is called “Renewed Nail”. It has caught the attention of this podiatrist for the following reasons: it is much less expensive than Penlac, or other topical...

Staph and Strep gone Wild

Be on the look-out for particularly virulent (toxic) strains of staph and strep.Staphylococcus and streptococcus are two infectious bacteria that can, and more commonly these days, become life and limb threatening. Largely due to the indiscriminate usage of antibiotics these days where a doctor over prescribes pills to treat “just in case”, massively resistant strains of infectious bacteria...

Ingrown Toenail Treatment-Follow Up Care

The most common way I treat chronic, ingrown toenail pain is with phenol.  This chemical induces a chemical burn at the level of nail matrix (where your toenail is made). Because this becomes a chemical burn, the dead nail cells need an open conduit to drain.  This drainage process can take anywhere from one to two weeks. For this reason, I tell my patients that it is very important that they soak...

Plantar Fasciitis Timeframe-Healing Expectations

One of the first things I tell my patients who come to see me regarding plantar fasciitis is that it’s going to take some time. Plantar fasciitis, especially when it gets to the point of forming a heel spur, is a long developing process.  The spur you are seeing is literally the bone being pulled away by the tight fascia.  As you can imagine, this is not an overnight process. Plantar Fasciitis...

Tired Feet? Morning Walker Review

Morning Walker In this day and age of fast results, with less work we are introduced to yet another miracle product. The Morning Walker! The Morning Walker is an aerobic exerciser for the entire body, designed by “the principle of a goldfish”, but never goes into detail about what exactly the principles of a goldfish are. Some of its health benefits include: improves digestion, weight loss,...

Flat Feet-A Rather Severe Case

This young lady has a severe flat foot.  Her foot is so severely flat that her heels are everted in stance.  What that means is that her heel cannot get to ninety degrees with respect to the ground.  A normal heel makes a perpendicular relationship to the ground. As you can see from this photo, her heels are pointing out or everted. Flat Feet This type of foot would require special modifications...

Achilles Tendon-Could you have danger brewing?

The subject of this post could be life-changing.  It really can be. One of the few things I remember from my biochemistry days in medical school (I mean who really cares about the Krebs cycle) was when we had a guest lecturer.  I think he was a cardiologist. Anyway, he said that we as podiatrists could alert a patient to something that could truly be life-threatening.  All it takes is a simple palpation...

Is it a wart of something else?

One of the more common presentations to a podiatrist would be that of a plantar wart. Or is it? Many such lesions get referred to me by a general practioner as “evaluate wart” when the lesion in question isn’t really a wart at all.  I cannot fault them for such; I wouldn’t know the first thing about a heart murmur (well maybe enough to be dangerous). Medicine has become just...