2015: A new year, A new you, and new feet

2015: A new year, A new you, and new feet

As the New Year approaches many people make New Year’s Resolutions. Usually the resolutions are related to health and fitness. Foot health is related to one’s overall health. Many people run to the gym and start eating better right after January 1, but seeing your doctor is also related to your overall health. Most people go to their doctor’s’ for regular checkups, for example getting mammograms and Pap-smears yearly are common, but when was the last time you went to the podiatrist for a general foot checkup.

Many people think that they should only visit a podiatrist when they have a problem, but as podiatrist I belief it is just the opposite. Many foot related problems and injuries are avoidable with a regular checkups and exams. Many foot ailments occur with overuse, improper shoe gear and abnormal foot biomechanics.

Seeing a podiatrist for an exam is painless and most likely you will learn more about your feet than you ever thought was possible. A quick exam of your shoes and sneakers, and the way you walk barefoot can tell a lot about your foot. Many people go to the pharmacy and go to the foot care aisle and buy miscellaneous products to help their foot problems. To be honest I see many patients in the office who have tried these products and many times they have made their foot problems worse.

A big part of getting healthy in the New Year is working out. I personally love to exercise and I tell my patients all the time it is important to change your sneakers 2-3 times a years. In addition, custom molded orthotics is important to keeping your foot in a neutral position. Post people have flatfeet, some have high arches and few people have perfectly normal feet. Therefore, most people would benefit from a pair of orthotics. I personally have been wearing custom molded orthotics in my shoes for the past 25 years, without them I tend to have more pain and problems.

Many patients, who are adults, will tell me about their children’s foot problems. People are surprised to hear that I see many children. The truth is many foot problems begin in youth but are not noticed until adulthood. Therefore, having your child see the podiatrist is very important. Flatfeet are normal in an infant and even a toddler, but as your child approaches young adult hood, flatfeet isn’t normal and this should be addressed. One more thing that is important is to look at your feet, because one’s foot type in genetic. So if you are having problems with your feet, there is a 50% chance your child will also.

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o now that the New Year is upon us make it a priority to call your local podiatrist and ask for a consultation and a general foot exam.

To book an appointment with us and for more information please visit our website at www.foonj.com

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

Sterile Pedicures 08221 08234 New Jersey South Jersey

Last week on ABC’s 2020 there was a segment about the cleanliness at nail salons. The segment discussed how there is a high rate of infections at nail salons. I would like to discuss on this week’s blog about sterile pedicures and their advantage.

In the 2020 segment, ABC went undercover and inspected how certain salons sterilized and cleanse their equipment. Many salons do not disinfect their equipment properly. At our office we provide sterile pedicures. What this means is that all our equipment is sterilized in an autoclave. An autoclave is a machine that cleans medical equipment via steam and pressure. For example, in an Operating Room all surgical equipment is sterilized in this fashion. Using an autoclave significantly reducing the risk of infection since most of the bacteria and fungus is eradicated in the autoclave.

Another common thing to be weary of at a public nail salon is the cleanliness of the water baths. It is difficult to sterilize a water basin that is used for pedicures. The ideal situation would be for a liner in the water basin that can be replaced between each pedicure.

What is the risk in getting an unsterile pedicure?

There are two risks when getting an unsterile pedicure. The first is getting an infection. If the equipment is not clean there is a risk of getting an infection. The second risk is getting an ingrown toenail. Approximately 25% of patients that I see in the office with infected or non-infected ingrown toenails are from nail salons. These patients relate to me that at a salon the technician was trying to get a corner of a toenail out and in the process an ingrown toenail was created. At our office we have medical licensed nail technicians, who have a special certification by podiatrists, who perform our pedicures. They use sterile instruments, new paraffin wax for each patient and cut the toenails across. If the nail technicians are concerned about an ingrown toenail they do not trim the nails and have the patient see the podiatrist.

What is it so dangerous for diabetics to get unsterile pedicures?

Diabetics are immunocompromised, which means their immune system is weakened, and therefore they are at higher risk for infection. In addition to diabetics, patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease are at higher risk of not healing an infection. Patients with these diseases should be careful about getting an unsterile pedicure, if they were to get an infection they would be at high risk of a non-healing wound.  Therefore, it is highly recommended to get a pedicure at our office, where the pedicures are sterile and there is minimum risk for getting an infection.

Recently I filmed “Health Update’ with Robin Stoloff on NBC 40. I discussed the benefits of getting a sterile pedicure. Keep an eye out for the segment to air in the next few weeks.

For more information on sterile pedicures and to schedule one please call the office at 609-272-1450 or visit our website at www.footnj.com

Arthritis and your feet

Many people visit their physicians with compliant of foot pain that they contribute to arthritis. Many people think that as they age arthritis is “normal” and that it is okay to be suffering with this pain. The truth is there are many different types of arthritis that affect the foot and ankle, and people don’t have to suffer with pain sine there are many different treatment options.

Osteoarthritis

The most common type of arthritis to affect the foot and ankles is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis affects over 27 million Americans and as the population ages the numbers will continue to rise. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative process where the cartilage in the joints becomes eroded. This may lead to pain, stiffness, swollen joints, hearing cracks in the joints while walking, feeling like joints “are about to give out” and decreased in daily activities of life. This type of arthritis is related to an increase in age, trauma, genetics, and other medical conditions. Diagnosis is made by clinical exam and/or by x-rays, MRI, and CT.

What type of treatment options are there for me?

Osteoarthritis in the foot and ankle is usually treated with conservative measures first. Decreasing one’s weight and increasing one’s activity may reduce the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Exercise, which is not destructive on the joints, is good to help with the pain, such as swimming. Anti-inflammatory medications help with pain reduction but are not always a long term solution. There are different types of anti-inflammatory medications depending on the severity of the osteoarthritis. Some of the anti-inflammatory medications have gastrointestinal side effects. In addition, there are topical anti-inflammatory medications, which have no systemic gastrointestinal effects. Injections of steroids into the affected joints, will help with short term pain reduction, but will not help with cartilage loss.

If all of these measures fail, surgery is the next step in treatment. Depending on where the osteoarthritis is located and what the exact symptoms are, will determine what type of surgery is required. If the ankle is affected, arthroscopic surgery is performed as first line therapy. If that does not help an ankle fusion or replacement may be required. There are many other foot joint, such as the subtler joint, that can be affected by arthritis. If this is the case fusion of that joint is necessary. Prior to surgery your physician will order an MRI or CT to determine the extent of the arthritis and the cartilage loss. The recovery from these surgeries is a few months in a cast with no weight to the leg. Due to the extent of the surgery and the recovery, this option is a last resort for the really debilitating cases of arthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis to affect the foot and ankle, in next week’s blog other forms of arthritis, such as rheumatic and psoriatic, will be discussed.

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