Footnotes, The Foot & Ankle Blog - Page 5 of 33

What is Charcot Foot? Charcot foot, (officially known as “Neuropathic Arthropathy”) is a progressive degeneration of a weight bearing joint. It is often has bony destruction, bone resorption, and eventual deformity. It’s reported in 29% of diabetic patients who present with peripheral neuropathy and a loss in proprioception. The survival rates for diabetic amputations at 5 years are only 50%. read more »

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Concerned that your feet are extraordinarily wide? Don’t be. Just appreciate them the way they are and do not worry about how to make your feet smaller. You’ll be glad to know that wide feet are rarely a serious problem. Most wide foot problems can be resolved by ignoring other people’s aesthetic judgments and choosing footwear that’s both attractive and read more »

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When compared to the claws of a tiger, the hooves of a horse or the talons of an eagle, our toenails are quite pathetic. A human’s toenails are made from the same substance (keratin) as claws, hooves and talons, but evolution has drastically reduced the utility of our keratin amenities. Our modern toenails can sometimes be more trouble than they’re read more »

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Does your dog turn his nose up and walk away when you get home from work and kick your shoes off?  Does your partner, family or roommate make you keep your gym shoes outside of the house?  Are you panicked at the thought of taking off your sneakers in the locker room at your health club? Have you tried fungal read more »

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Many troublesome foot and ankle conditions occur in children just as they do in adults. But the bones of growing children haven’t themselves finished growing, so some children’s foot problems require extra attention. What is a child’s growth plate? Sites of active bone growth in children are called growth plates. They exist near the ends of bones in pre-adolescent children. read more »

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“Hey, it’s just a sprain. No big deal. Walk it off. You’ll be fine.” This all too common advice is followed all too often. The all too usual result? A lifetime of debilitating ankle pain and instability. A fully functional ankle is an essential requirement for any sort of life that isn’t completely sedentary. But ankle sprains do happen. And read more »

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We all know the negative effects of smoking… Yes, we all know that smoking is highly related to various cancers, increases the chances of stroke and heart attack, and even causes wrinkles. What you might not realize, however, is that smoking can affect the way our bones heal. This means that if you are a smoker and break a bone, read more »

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If you have persistent pain in the ball of your foot, like you’re constantly standing on a sharp-edged pebble, it’s likely that you’ve developed Morton’s neuroma. What is Morton’s neuroma? A neuroma is a benign (non-cancerous) growth of inflamed tissue in and around a nerve. A Morton’s neuroma is usually located between your third and fourth metatarsal bones. (The metatarsals read more »

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Are your heels indistinguishable from a Google image search of Nevada’s Death Valley? Have scientists at NASA referenced pictures of your feet in a study of the topography of Mars? If you looked closely enough, could you almost make out a tiny Moses leading the Hebrews to the Promised Land? If so, your heels are dry and cracked. The soles read more »

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Drop foot (aka foot drop), can be a scary occurrence. Both terms describe an inability to lift the front of your foot while walking. The results of drop foot include scuffing the forefoot along the ground, and tripping over simple obstacles, like the edge of a rug. In order to compensate for foot dragging, people with drop foot tend to read more »

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