Your plantar fascia is a ligament that connects the front of your foot to your heel. Its main role is to support your foot arch and assist with walking, subjecting the ligament to a lot of wear and tear over the years.
If the lower half of your calf hurts, you’re not alone. Over 200,000 people visit a doctor every year due to Achilles heel pain. While the Achilles tendon is very strong, it is not very flexible. When it is stretched too far the tendon can become inflamed, which is known as Achilles tendonitis, or it can tear.
You may realize how your daily habits can impact your feet. As your body’s foundation, what you do, and don’t do regularly, could be causing long-term damage to the structure and function of your lower extremities. While your podiatrist may commonly tell you all the things you should be doing to keep your feet happy and healthy, here are some surprising habits they wish you’d give up.
Optimum overall foot health starts with patient education. By understanding the risks your feet face daily and what you should do if issues arise, you can make a major difference in the treatment and heeling processes for any condition impacting your lower extremities. However, the foot care information you may hear from friends or find online isn’t always accurate. In order to best treat you feet, you need to have all the facts and know what is a myth.
When it comes to your feet, there seems to be an endless amount of reasons you’re in pain. An injury, overuse or a diagnosed condition could be just a few of the causes for your aching feet. As your feet act as your shock absorbers while supporting your body weight during all of life’s activities, it is common to complain of pain. If you’re experiencing new pain for any reason, it is important to address it promptly with a proper diagnosis to prevent your problem from getting worse.
A type of shockwave therapy, EPAT (Extracorporeal Pulse Activation Technology) can treat a number of chronic foot and ankle conditions causing inflammation, including plantar fasciitis, heel pain and Achilles tendinitis. By utilizing acoustic pressure waves which are implemented directly on the site of your injury or pain, EPAT breaks up any remaining scar tissue and reduces inflammation that has not previously responded to other treatment options. Additionally, this type of therapy promotes healing within a patient’s own body, speeding up the recovery process.
Dr. Kyle Kinmon, one of the founding physicians of Certified Foot and Ankle Specialists, was able to successfully revise a previous ankle replacement surgery. For the procedure, which is the first of it’s kind to restore function, Dr. Kinmon constructed a custom talus component to replace the damaged joint in the patinet’s ankle. Since the surgery, the patient reports that he has no remaining pain