Footnotes, The Foot & Ankle Blog - Page 30 of 34

If you follow sports, you have an idea of the level of impact a ruptured Achilles tendon can have. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers tore his Achilles tendon in April of 2013 and didn’t return to playing until 8 months later. Some top-level athletes never returned to the same level of performance after this same injury including Isiah read more »

Syndesmotic ligament injuries, or more commonly known as high ankle sprains, are very common in the United States and can lead to chronic pain and instability if it is not recognized and treated appropriately. Anatomy The ankle syndesmosis is a group of ligaments that help to hold the tibia and fibula together just above the level of the ankle joint. read more »

NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III recently sustained an ankle dislocation, a very painful injury obvious to the millions watching on television as he lay on the field, writhing in pain. Griffin appeared to have badly twisted his ankle when landing awkwardly on his left leg during a first-quarter rollout. It was a scary to watch the often-injured young star being read more »

Oklahoma City Thunder officials announced Sunday that their star forward Kevin Durant has been sidelined because of a Jones fracture to his right foot. According to General Manager Sam Presti, Durant had a complaint of “discomfort” to his right foot following practice on Saturday: “we proceeded to perform the necessary imagining studies to determine the cause of his discomfort. At read more »

The treatment for onychomycosis (or toenail fungus) begins with identification of fungi. At your first visit, a specimen of the questionable nail is taken and sent to the lab for mycology. When the report returns, your physician will discuss with you the results and whether or not your nail has fungus. If fungus is present then your options consist of read more »

The treatment of Achilles tendinopathy is a complex and difficult orthopedic pathology. Acute Achilles tendinitis typically responds well to nonoperative therapy including; rest, immobilization, anti-inflammatories, stretching, and physical therapy. However, sometimes the pain can become chronic and develop into tendinosis. Chronic Achilles tendinosis is a complex pathology involving microscopic degenerative injury to the tendon with local disruption of the collagen read more »

Every year, during the first week of October, the Women’s All American Tennis Championships (W.A.A.T.C) is held in Los Angeles and hosted at The Riviera Tennis Club. This year more than 120 collegiate players from over 40 Division I colleges will be competing in this, the thirtieth anniversary of this great event. The W.A.A.T.C. event was first held at the read more »

Epidermal Nerve Fiber Density (ENFD) testing is the analysis of a 3mm punch biopsy of skin to quantify the number of unmyelinated C-fibers and myelinated A delta-fibers within the epidermis. The skin has a rather consistent number of epidermal nerves at specific anatomical sites. This density is also found to be consistent between different age groups and genders. Small fiber read more »

A scar is an area of fibrous tissue that forms after an injury to the skin. It can result after a cut, scrape, burn, or ulcer. The appearance of a scar can vary depending on various factors, including the depth of the wound, the location of the wound, genetics, and age. Most scars will tend to fade over time but read more »

Since the release of Christopher McDougall’s book “Born to Run” (published 2009) there has been a significant increase in the hype of barefoot running and minimalist shoes. When I am confronted by a patient inquiring on my thoughts of them trying barefoot running or minimalist shoes, I first ask the patient their underlying motivation for doing so. Most common responses read more »