Progressive Healing for the Foot and Ankle
If the simple act of walking and moving your foot or ankle causes pain, our top-rated foot and ankle team and a board-certified doctor will diagnose, treat and deliver a customized solution. When at all possible, we use all-natural methods to get you back to top condition, whether you are an athlete who needs your feet and ankles for playing sports; or just a patient who wants to feel better to live normally again.
Many ankle and foot conditions are due to playing sports or some other type of aggressive activity.
Some of the foot and ankle conditions we handle include:
Sprained Ankles - The outside or lateral ligament of an ankle is susceptible to tearing of the ligaments or tissue, often due to injuries from landing on or jumping on them. Athletes might get a sprained ankle from quick directional changes, or even a partial tear, rupture or swelling on the ankle’s exterior. This is painful and can make walking difficult.
Calf Strain - When a sudden contraction occurs in the calf muscle, it can cause strain in the lower leg, often due to repetition or extreme force. A strain or tear may be minor or major in loss of function. Sharp pain or soreness may be felt at the time of injury, or even bruising and swelling.
Metatarsal Stress Fracture - This is a stress fracture in your metatarsal bone in the foot, which can occur over a period of time due to dancing, sprinting, jumping or running activities. The pain will be felt mostly in the front part of the foot but can radiate to the back as the swelling increases.
Compartment Syndrome - A tightness or muscle pain in the lower legs, usually due to exercise activities. Athletes may experience compartment syndrome due to overuse of the muscles, which can make the patient feel like “walking on pins and needles” in a literal sense. Others might feel a dead weight or numbness in the leg.
Plantar Fasciitis - Repetitive activities can cause inflammation or damage underneath the foot, which occurs when the connective tissue is injured along the inner arch. This is mostly felt in the heel and may make the sufferer feel stiffness, ache, tenderness, or swelling at the source.
Morton’s Neuroma - A less common foot problem is when the soft tissue and nerves between the third and fourth metatarsal bones become damaged, resulting in numbness of the forefoot and toes. Or the victim might feel a burning sensation, shooting pain, numbness, and sharp pain that radiates into the nearby toes.
Navicular Stress Fracture - Weight-bearing exercises can put stress on the mid-foot area at the top of the arch, which can result in a navicular stress fracture. Activities like jogging or running, sprinting, jumping or an injury can cause localized pain that hurts to move, resulting in a limp.
Treatment
Foot and ankle conditions can be treated with several procedures:
- ankle arthroscopy;
- ligament repair;
- tendon transfer;
- Blood Plasma with Platelets injections;
- fat tissue injection;
- flat foot reconstruction;
- ankle/foot joint fusion;
- total ankle joint replacement.
Some other methods such as braces, splints, and supports can be used to treat foot and ankle conditions and prevent them.
Recovery after surgery
Recovery duration can differ. The degree of trauma or damage, as well as the type of surgery, affect the recovery process. In worst cases, it takes about a year to fully heal, but in most cases, the recovery takes about 3 months.
During the first month after the surgery, you’ll need to stay in bed and keep the leg elevated.
