How can the Holiday’s affect your feet?

No matter what holiday you celebrate caution should be taken so you don’t have problems with your feet. Most holidays are filled with family, prayer and of course eating too much food.  Many of these activities can lead to problems with feet.

To start off many people go to pray with their family during the holiday, which means people will dress in their Easter best. Most times this means that shoe gear is more about appearance than comfort. I agree that it is okay once in a while to wear stylish, not so comfortable shoes, but if someone isn’t used to this type of shoe they may run into problems. As the weather is warming up and Easter/Passover is upon us many people will wear high heeled open toe shoes. I would like to warn those high heel open toe shoe wearers to be careful about developing blisters or wearing shoes that are too tight. Most importantly, twisting ankles is a common occurrence for the novice high heel wearer. A good suggestion would be to wear comfortable shoes to the event and perhaps change into a high heel shoe once at the location.

The second aspect of a holiday weekend for people to be aware of is the eating aspect of it. Most holidays are centered around families sitting and eating large quantities of food. The two groups of people to be concerned about this are diabetics and people who suffer from gout. Diabetics who over indulge are concerned about elevated blood sugar levels. As I have spoken about in past blogs, long term elevated blood sugar levels can lead to neuropathy, diabetic wounds, infections and a multitude of other problems.

People with gout can exacerbate their condition or bring on a gouty attack with certain foods. Therefore, they should be careful not to eat large quantities of meat, seafood or drink too much wine. If someone with gout has questionable symptoms of an attack they should seek attention with their physician. Remember the most common place for a gouty attack is the big toe joint of the foot.

In conclusion, holidays are times to spend with loved ones, but be careful because anything in excess can cause problems down the road.

For more information, please visit our website at footnj.com

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What does warmer weather mean for your feet?

As this long and snowy winter finally comes to an end, everyone cannot wait to get out of their boots and into slippers, sandals and flip flops. But are sandals bad for your feet and what can you do to wear open toe shoes in the summer without any problems?

In the summer most people, including myself, like to expose their feet in some sort of open type of shoe, but before doing this think of the risks that this may involve. If you are a diabetic or have peripheral vascular disease, wearing an open type of shoe can be a disaster. If you are a diabetic with neuropathy (see earlier blog for definition) and you are wearing open toe shoes and get a cut on your foot, it can get infected and by the time you notice it there can be an infected wound. Therefore, it is highly recommended for diabetic and people with PAD to wear closed toe shoes throughout the entire year.

Another problem with wearing open toe shoes is that many sandals and flip flops that are sold in the summertime have no support built into the shoe. Therefore, many people in the summer tend to spend long hours outdoors exercising, walking and doing leisurely activities. This means that people spend more time on their feet with less support than during the winter. If someone wears a shoe with no support for hours at a time they are more than likely to begin to get achy, sore feet. Many patients actually spend weeks of the summer suffering with painful feet and by the time they seek help it is the beginning of fall and they are returning to supportive shoe gear. At the Foot and Ankle Center in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, we have a solution to this problem. We sell Spenco sandals/flip flops. Spenco’s are a sandal orthotic; the orthotic is built into the sandal. This is a great solution because this way you can still enjoy wearing a sandal during the warm months, but you can have support at the same time.

One more thing to consider when wearing open toe shoes in the summer is applying sun screen to your feet. Many people forget to do that and skin cancer can form on the feet. So don’t forget to apply sunscreen before leaving the house.

For more information, please visit our website at www.footnj.com.

For more information on how to purchase Spenco sandals please call the office at 609-272-1450

Podiatry and the Importance of Utilizing Other Specialties

Many patients present to a Podiatrist with a variety of foot and ankle complaints. As a Podiatrist I like to take a whole body approach to treating patients. I tend to utilize other medical specialist to help with diagnosis, treatment and ultimately to heal patients. I think all physicians should use all the tools that are available to them to help treat patients.

While performing a foot exam I tend to break down the exam into four components. The four components of the foot exam are the dermatological, vascular, orthopedic and neurologic aspects. I think that during an exam it is important to listen, examine and ask appropriate questions in order to get a complete picture of what the problem is. The foot and ankle are connected to the body and even though someone may think their symptoms are in the feet many times it is related to something else going on in the body.

For example, during the winter months many patients come into the office complaining about cold, purple toes. They state that as the weather gets colder they toes change colors, from red to white to blue to purple. It is important to perform a vascular lower extremity exam, but it is also important to ask if they get similar symptoms in their fingers. This disorder can be a variety of things, include Raynaud’s, Chilblains, but what is important is to ask general questions. Once I diagnosis the problem I frequently get other specialties involved in the patient’s care. I will refer the patient to a vascular surgeon, since this is not only a lower extremity problem, but a vascular problem as well.

Another example that I see very frequently is a patient who presents with numbness, tingling and burning to the feet. When a patient presents with neurological problems in the feet the first question I ask is do they have a history of pain back, spinal stenosis or disk disease. Nine out of ten times the patients have low back complaints and nine out of ten times the foot problems are coming from the back. At this time I complete my exam and make my treatment plan. Most times a neurologist consult is recommended. Many people say “well I came to see you because of my feet but you are sending me to a neurologist”. What I explain is that the foot is connected to all other systems of the body.

So whether the foot problem is related to the circulation (vascular), the skin (dermatology), the nerves or the biomechanics I utilize other medical specialists to give my patients a complete and thorough  treatment plan.

With medicine emerging and physicians becoming sub-specialized it is importation for doctors to rely and ask for assistance from their counter parts to help treat their patients.

For more information, please visit our website at www.footnj.com