Foot & Ankle

What is foot pain?

Foot pain is discomfort in any of the numerous bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles in your foot. It might appear as dull, aching pain or severe discomfort. Symptoms include redness, swelling, bruising, stiffness, reduced range of motion, and inability to bear weight on your foot. You might also experience numbness, burning, or tingling.

What causes foot pain?

Numerous injuries and diseases can lead to foot pain. Examples include:

• Fractures
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gout
• Bunions, calluses, or corns
• Achilles tendinitis
• Achilles tendon rupture
• Bone spurs
• Bursitis
• Diabetic neuropathy
• Flat Feet
• Hammertoe or mallet toe
• Plantar fasciitis 

Ill-fitting footwear, hallux rigidus, tumors, ingrown toenails, tarsal tunnel syndrome, and ankle problems can also cause foot pain. Visit Western Orthopaedics, P.C., if you experience severe or long-lasting discomfort.

How is foot pain diagnosed? 

To diagnose the cause of foot pain, your orthopaedic specialist examines your foot and reviews your symptoms and medical history. They might recommend blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, or other imaging procedures to find the root cause of foot discomfort and create a treatment plan.

How is foot pain treated?

Your foot pain treatment depends on the type and severity of your injury. The experts at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., might recommend:

Home care

Wearing a cast or brace, applying ice or heat to your foot, and resting it can accelerate healing after an injury.

Medication

Taking anti-inflammatory medicine helps reduce swelling and pain associated with an injury. Your provider might combine medication with additional foot pain treatments.

Fracture care

Fracture care available at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., includes casting, bracing, traction, external fixation, and minimally invasive surgery.

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a noninvasive foot pain treatment with no downtime. During the procedure, your provider applies radiofrequency energy to your foot to help block pain signals to your brain.

Injections

Your orthopaedic specialist may recommend injections, such as steroids, hyaluronic acid, pain-relieving, or regenerative medicine injections to reduce pain and optimize healing. They offer stem cells, exosomes, and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

Physical therapy

Your physical therapist helps you strengthen and stretch tissues in your foot to minimize pain, accelerate healing, and prevent re-injury.

Surgery

While used as a last resort, foot surgery can restore the structure and function of your foot after a severe injury if conservative treatments haven’t worked.

Don’t live with foot discomfort that diminishes your mobility and quality of life. Request an appointment at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., by phone or online to find out which foot pain treatment is right for you.

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What is ankle pain?

Ankle pain is an uncomfortable feeling in your ankle, the joint that connects your foot to your lower leg bone. The joint consists of bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles. You might experience ankle pain after an injury, disease, or age-related wear and tear.

What causes ankle pain?

The following conditions are associated with ankle pain:

• Achilles tendon rupture
• Achilles tendinitis
• Fractures
• Strains
• Sprains
• Bursitis
• Gout
• Arthritis 
• Plantar fasciitis
• Tarsal tunnel syndrome 

Ankle pain might appear after a sports-related injury or overuse. Signs and symptoms of an injury include redness, swelling, mild or severe pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility or range of motion.

How is ankle pain diagnosed?

To diagnose ankle pain and find its root cause, your specialist at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., examines your ankle and reviews your medical history and symptoms. They might recommend blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, or other imaging procedures to determine the most appropriate treatment.

How is ankle pain treated?

Your customized ankle pain treatment from Western Orthopaedics, P.C., might include one or more of the following:

Home care

Resting your ankle, using ice or heat packs, and wearing an ankle brace while you heal might be all that’s needed to fully recover from an ankle injury.

Anti-inflammatory medications

Taking anti-inflammatory medicines can reduce swelling and discomfort. Your provider might recommend over-the-counter or prescription medications.

Fracture care

Bracing, casts, traction, external fixation, and surgery are examples of fracture care your orthopaedic specialist offers at Western Orthopaedics, P.C.

Injections

Hyaluronic acid, steroid, and pain-relieving injections can reduce pain and inflammation in your ankle joint.

Regenerative medicine

Regenerative medicine treatments that stimulate your body’s natural healing response and cell regeneration include platelet-rich plasma (PRP), stem cells, and exosomes.

Radiofrequency ablation

During radiofrequency ablation, your provider uses radiofrequency energy to prevent pain signals from reaching your brain. It’s a painless, noninvasive treatment without any downtime.

Physical therapy

Physical therapy uses flexibility and strength exercises to accelerate healing, reduce pain, and prevent re-injury in your ankle.

Surgery

Ankle surgery is reserved for severe injuries or arthritis that doesn’t resolve with other treatments. Your orthopaedic specialist lets you know if you’re a good candidate for ankle surgery. They offer traditional arthrodesis (fusion) of the ankle and ankle replacement or distraction arthroplasty, which are two attractive alternative treatments for select candidates.

Don’t let chronic or severe ankle pain diminish your quality of life. Schedule an appointment with the experts at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., by phone or request one online for relief.

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What is ankle replacement?

Ankle replacement surgery involves removing an ankle joint that has irreparable damage and replacing it with an artificial joint.

Your ankle joint (tibiotalar joint) is a meeting point for your shinbone (tibia), and a bone called the talus in your foot. Like other joints, your ankle can develop arthritis, which causes the protective cartilage on your bones to wear down.

As a result, the bones start rubbing instead of sliding over each other, causing inflammation, swelling, pain, and stiffness in the joint. Osteoarthritis, which is due to wear and tear, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease, are the two most common types of ankle arthritis.

Your ankle could also suffer trauma that’s severe enough to make repairing the joint impossible or could leave you with a permanent weakness.

When would I need ankle replacement?

Ankle replacement can resolve the problems arthritis causes when other treatments aren’t relieving your symptoms.

If you have mild to moderate arthritis, your provider at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., can treat your condition using conservative measures such as:

• Pain medicines
• Shoe inserts or orthotics
• Physical therapy
• Corticosteroid injections
• Regenerative medicine

Alternatives to ankle replacement include arthroscopic debridement (minimally invasive surgery to clear debris and smooth roughened bone), and ankle fusion, which joins the bones in an unstable joint.

These procedures may be suitable for some patients, but ankle replacement might be a better option for regaining optimal function in your ankle.

What happens during ankle replacement surgery?

It takes your surgeon several hours to carry out your ankle replacement surgery. You’ll be under anesthetic and asleep throughout the procedure.

After making one or two incisions into your ankle, your surgeon removes the damaged ends of the bones in your ankle joint. They smooth and shape the bones, then attach the new metal caps. They might use bone cement to fix the artificial bone ends in place.

Between the bones, your surgeon places a plastic spacer that enables the replacement bone ends to glide over each other.

When everything is in place, your surgeon closes the incisions, and you go to the recovery area.

What happens after ankle replacement surgery?

You won’t be able to use your ankle at first following ankle replacement surgery. The joint needs to be immobilized to enable healing to begin, and you need to take pain medication for the first few days, at least.

As your ankle heals, you begin a program of physical therapy to ensure the muscles, tendons, and ligaments don’t weaken or shorten. Physical therapy helps the ankle heal properly and gives you a much better chance of recovering full use of your ankle joint.

If you have disabling arthritis in your ankle that is continuing to worsen despite treatment, ankle replacement could be a good option for you. Call Western Orthopaedics, P.C., today or book an appointment online.

What is regenerative medicine?

Regenerative medicine at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., is an innovative, natural treatment for injuries and chronic pain. Your orthopaedic specialist injects special cells into injured areas of your body to accelerate healing and relieve pain naturally, to help you avoid addictive medicines and surgery. Stem cells stimulate your body’s ability to generate new tissues and heal itself.

Where do stem cells come from?

Stem cells, which can replicate into just about any other type of cell within your body, are often sourced from:

• Platelet-rich plasma (PRP)
• Bone marrow
• Fat Donated placental or umbilical cord tissue

Your doctor can harvest stem cells from your blood or other areas of your body, or use donated stem cells from a lab.

For what is regenerative medicine used?

Your orthopaedic specialist might use regenerative medicine to treat the following injuries or diseases.

• Meniscus tears
• Knee arthritis
• Shoulder arthritis
• Tennis elbow
• Golfer’s elbow
• Rotator cuff injuries
• Plantar fasciitis
• Achilles tendonitis

Your doctor lets you know if you’re a good candidate for regenerative medicine after examining the site of an injury or pain.

They review your symptoms and medical history, and might use blood tests, X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, or other imaging procedures to determine if regenerative medicine is right for you.

What should I expect during the procedure?

There are several ways to implement regenerative medicine at Western Orthopaedics, P.C. Your doctor might first harvest stem cells from your bone marrow, fat, or blood. In the case of PRP injections, they spin a sample of blood in a centrifuge to extract platelet-rich plasma from the rest of your blood.

Once they harvest stem cells from your body or source them from donated tissue from a lab, your orthopaedic specialist injects the cells into your body at the site of pain or an injury. They might recommend multiple treatments to help you achieve desirable results. As cells regenerate into new tissues, you notice improvements in pain and enhanced healing.

Don’t settle for taking harsh medicines or undergoing surgery before finding out if you’re a candidate for minimally invasive regenerative medicine. Schedule an appointment with Western Orthopaedics, P.C., over the phone, or request one online today.

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What are the most common forms of arthritis?

Arthritis is an overarching term for more than 100 different diseases that cause pain and inflammation in your joints. The most common forms of arthritis include:

Osteoarthritis

This form of arthritis is far and away the most prevalent. The disease is degenerative, in which the cartilage inside your joints begins to break down, leaving your bones to rub together painfully. Osteoarthritis is progressive, and there’s no cure, but there are plenty of options for managing the progression and keeping you active and comfortable.

Rheumatoid arthritis

This type of arthritis is an autoimmune disorder in which your body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the linings inside your joints. Over time, rheumatoid arthritis can break down your joints, leading to increasing limitations on your life.

Psoriatic arthritis

This autoimmune disease attacks the connective tissues within your joints, leading to pain and inflammation.

Gout

This iteration of arthritis occurs when uric acid builds up inside your joint, forming sharp crystals that can cause stabbing pain. There are many other forms of arthritis, but these represent the most common culprits.

What are the signs of arthritis?

Since all forms of arthritis involve joint pain and inflammation, these are the two primary symptoms. You may also experience:

• Increasing stiffness in your joint
• Redness around your joint
• Heat around your joint

The bottom line is that if you’re having problems with your joints, the odds are good that arthritis plays a central role.

How is arthritis treated?

Western Orthopaedics, P.C., has extensive experience in helping patients manage arthritis. In most cases, there’s no cure for arthritis, so the goal is to slow the progression and minimize the damage in your joints while keeping you as active as possible.

To do this, your provider turns to a number of different therapies, including:

• Anti-inflammatory medications
• Disease-specific medications
• Physical therapy
• Corticosteroid injections

If your arthritis is advanced, your orthopaedist may recommend joint replacement surgery. The surgeons at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., use the latest minimally invasive techniques, including arthroscopy, to debride or replace your joints.

To learn more about arthritis care at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., call or request a consultation using the online booking tool.

What is trauma and fracture care? 

Trauma and fracture care at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., includes treating bone fractures and other traumatic injuries to alleviate pain and help your injury heal properly.

You might experience a traumatic injury from: 

• A forceful fall
• Physical assault
• An automobile accident
• A sports injury
• Older age
• Osteoporosis

Seeing an orthopaedic surgeon at the first sign of a traumatic injury can greatly improve your chance of making a quick, effective recovery.

What are the symptoms of trauma and fractures? 

Common signs and symptoms of a fracture or other traumatic injury include:

• Intense pain
• Swelling
• Redness
• Bruising
• Tenderness
• A deformity
• Bone puncturing through skin

At the first sign of an injury, ice the affected area and see an orthopaedic specialist right away. The severity of a fracture or other traumatic injury determines which treatment is right for you. 

How are fractured diagnosed?

When you arrive at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., for an appointment, your doctor reviews your medical history, accident history, and symptoms. They examine the injured area and use imaging tests, such as X-rays, MRIs, or bone scans, to detect the type and severity of an injury and determine the best course of action.

What is the treatment for fractures? 

Your personalized trauma and fracture care treatment might include:

Medication

Your doctor offers you medication to alleviate pain associated with a fracture or other traumatic injury.

Casting or bracing

You may receive a fiberglass or plaster cast to immobilize bone while a fracture heals. A functional cast or brace allows limited movement in nearby joints.

Traction

Your orthopaedic surgeon uses traction to properly align bones using steady, gentle pulling action.

External fixation

Your surgeon places metal screws or pins in the bone through the outside of your skin, to hold bones in place while an injury heals.

Open reduction and internal fixation

Open reduction and internal fixation is a surgical procedure in which your orthopaedic specialist uses rods, screws, or metal plates to repair bone.

How long will my recovery take?

Recovery after a fracture may take several weeks or months to heal from. Your orthopaedic surgeon lets you know what to expect. After the bone heals, physical therapy helps you regain strength, flexibility, and optimal musculoskeletal function.

Don’t live with pain associated with a traumatic injury or fracture. Seek medical treatment right away. Call the specialists at Western Orthopaedics, P.C., today, or use the online appointment request feature.