What is a foot orthosis?
A podiatric consultation is wise for medical foot problems (diabetes, rheumatoid, psoriatic arthritis, compound arch pain, or deformity). High-performance athletes are best consulting a podiatrist with a sports interest as the market is broad and confusing for laypeople.
Urine Holds the Secrets of Health
In the past, physicians would hold up a sample of urine to the light and declare all manner of diagnoses. As a podiatrist in training, colour became a prodigious indicator of so many aspects of medical assessment – the colour of the lips for oxygen exchange, the skin and blemishes for cancer, the colour of the nail bed for heart and lung as well as kidney disease. In every case, subtle colour changes might have played a part from the yellowing features created by jaundice and hence a sign of liver malfunction to the loss of pigment in black skin – vitiligo. When it came to body waste, it was easy to assume this had nothing to do with the podiatrist…
Which Bones are Most at Risk from Fracture?
When my wife broke a bone in her foot back in October 2021, no one was more surprised than me. During my career, I have been interested in two facts. How people walk on their feet for so long without knowing they have broken a bone. Secondly, the methods we use to make such an assessment can fail, or the diagnosis can be missed. I wanted to introduces broken bones into the discussion about foot health as part of my ongoing pain series. Officially we all know breaks as fractures. Fractures, by dictionary definition (Little Oxford dictionary, 2002), are cracks or breaks which serves my purpose well. A quick check on Wiki and the definition has not changed but our views have.
Fitness centres make health better
Fitness centres are often called gyms, but are they just places to enhance our bodies or can they contribute to our health and wellbeing? I talked to Daley Denning, manager of the LED centre at Seaton, to find out more about his service, career, and training.
Toe shape causing a nerve pain
It would be hard to believe that toe shapes causes a nerve pain. Of course the nerve is not called Morton’s anymore than all cakes are called Kipling, but maybe the shape of a cake could be called Kipling just as a toe shape might be called Morton’s toe.
Footwear can be tricky
As a child of the late fifties, I had my feet measured with loving care. It was an independent shoe outlet called Pomfret’s. As the years went by the father moved on and left it to his son John, a smart forty-something man with tight but neatly creased trousers, and sharp-pointed slip-on shoes. His haircut might have come from the days of Elvis Presley.
Some Things You Need to Know About Bunion Surgery?
When a colleague (HFP) sought this question, she was generous and mentioned her surgeon was busy and thought it an oversight. I am both an ex-patient and a foot surgeon, and I’m afraid I have to disagree. We often confuse nice with good, and all clinicians have a blip – but then don’t we all? So we have a patient leaving the hospital after bunion surgery. No post-operative information is apparent, so what does she do? Call a friend! This, in fact, is Facebook and jolly good it is as there is a heap of friendly advice.
How Does Bunion Surgery Impact Our Lives?
It may seem simple to accept a risk from surgery is low in percentage terms but in this article I explore a new phenomena to may patients and that is actual impact should a perceived low risk actually arise. A number of different complications and problems are discussed and the impact this has should it arise is highlighted with examples and supplementary papers.
Podiatry as an Inspiring Career
The breadth of options following qualification is not only considerable but podiatry is a profession with a job at the end of study. There is something for everyone, mature and young, and it is one profession that does not have a gender issue.
Caught Out with Cancer
Cancer is something which affects any part of the body but being caught out may not always be the doctor’s fault. In this article I am using the abbreviation ‘S.M.ART’ which will be explained at the end. But how could we call be fooled by the story of my father’s sudden death from bowel cancer. Who was to blame?
Time to challenge the flat foot
Flat foot is not necessarily abnormal and yet unwary people are exposed to sales techniques based on the supposition that the arch should be a specific shape. I have a look more closely at the myths surrounding the flat foot and discuss pronation.
The Irritating Little Toe
In this self-help article, the irritating little toe problem is discussed. Usually the problem will settle within a week of self prescribed care. I have chosen this subject as the condition is slightly different from the usual fungal infection affecting the toe. Before panicking and thinking you are unclean read this article from ConsultingFootPain.
Cancer and the foot
The fifth commonest skin cancer is the melanoma according to the Marsden Hospital (London) but other forms of cancer exist and the foot is as much a target as other parts of the body. The Mayo Clinic in the US suggests only 1% of cancers affect bone. Peeling information off the internet needs interpretation and in reality the foot is a low target for cancer.
Five conditions in feet caused by cancer treatment
e know that certain chemotherapies can affect the feet from preventing us from carrying out normal routines, especially particularly after having surgery for cancer. Some of these side effects exhibited can be painful. Clinicians supporting patients with cancer aim to minimise such complications from therapy.
Factsheets for Patients
ITelling a story is powerful and better expressed than many clinicians can offer. There is a balance between downplaying risks and the impact of having a particular treatment. Today it is the patient who must decide which pathway to travel.
Pain and Prevention of Blisters
The skin, footwear and terrain play major parts in causing blisters in the normal foot without complicated skin problems. Take care of this and you are half way there.
Acute and Chronic Pain
This is a second part of a two part article on pain and medication with an emphasis on the foot. Both articles are general and the reader should seek other topics available on this website consultingfootpain.co.uk
The Second Ankle Joint
The second ankle joint is often unspoken about because it is little understood by the public at large. Even qualified health professionals struggle. With the help of some diagrams and carefully selected videos David will take you through this joint to open up more about why we sprain our ankle.
Walking and its many benefits
Taylor Downing writes for his village magazine a short piece on walking, the benefits and science based on a recent book he shares by Shane O’Mara. ConsultingFootPain is delighted to be able to reproduce this article with his kind permission with a little bit of editorial comments.
The Third Ankle Joint
Few lay readers may be unaware that there are three joints around the ankle and the most important bone is the talus. This is the last of 3 articles covering this vital joint and the movement that it provides being essential for human function.
The Softer Side of Podiatry
When it comes to skin – callus and corns occur in different degrees and can form extremely painful conditions, from splitting skin (fissures) to deeper ulcers, foreign indwelling damage and cysts. The nail bed harbours many problems and requires skill to navigate fleshy tumours and overgrown blood vessels, causing deformity and distortion known as hypergranulation.
Getting the best foot healthcare
This article focuses on getting the best foot care, but you can consider other relevant health concerns. Following some tips, you can check out some of the 70 key articles to support your quest for your foot problem at the bottom of this article.
The Fish Pedicure – good or bad?
CFP decided to look into this topic further and found some interesting facts. Yes, you can become infected from the doctor fish, as they are sometimes called, although the fish as Garra rufa fish and are found in the Middle East, such as Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the Far East – Indonesia. The Garra rufa belongs to the carp family. In their natural habitat, their suction helps them stick to rocks so they feed on plankton. In a town called Kangal, it was observed that the resident Garra rufa fed spared normal skin but ate psoriatic plaques. Let’s look at risk and potential reasons for scaremongering. Secondly, we need to feature the Garra Rufa fish.
Selling & Misselling Orthoses
At ConsultingFootPain my colleagues and I try to take the mystique out of foot health science and recognise it is easy to confuse patients. For example, pronation is yet another word based around anatomical movement.
Sports magazines and journals, podiatrists and others use the word pronation all the time. However, do we know or understand the importance of the term, which can be used to confuse? In addition, there is another angle to this word and one that is often attributed to flat feet.
Contact dermatitis and plants
Summer certainly attracts more plants and visitor activity than other seasons. Yet, even as I write this article, I feel itchy. We need to know what to avoid and if we are unfortunate to have a contact rash, we should know what to do. One point about the 10 plants I have picked is that many originate outside the UK while others remain in North America. Given the serious concerns with Japanese Knotweed for example, demonstrates that boundaries do not guarantee that you will come across something that has a kick in its leaf, stem or sap. Skin and respiratory problems arise in some but not all.
A Dying Healthcare System
Consultants split their time between the NHS and the independent sector, although some remain loyal to the NHS alone. Surgeons often make up their salary in this system, taking away an essential NHS resource – experienced professionals. This was the deal that Bevan had to negotiate. It is true that junior consultants have found it harder to follow their senior colleagues into the independent sector but eventually they trim back their hours if they want to work this sector.
Arthritis and the big toe
I confess I am not keen on the word arthritis as it conjures up a disease of the worst kind. So let us use the phrase ‘arthrosis’ because the term means a condition associated with deterioration of any joint, not just the big toe. Severe forms of arthrosis come under a wonderful term – the arthritides (arth-rit-eedees), which sounds like a member of Jason and the Argonauts crew in Greek mythology. Rheumatoid arthritis and gout are two such conditions which are highly destructive. Already you can see Latin and Greek in our language. Medical people love to make everything sound complicated and a bit of old language helps!
Morton’s Nerve Pain
Nerves can recover but often start off because there is local inflammation. The symptoms of what we call neuritis can shoot back up the foot, are often short lived and occur when the foot is compressed initially. Most of the population consult someone between the ages of 40-60. However, there are some who experience the condition as early as 20-30. If caught young then recover can be encouraging. In 1995 Gordon Bennett looked at 115 patients and followed them for 2 years. Thirty-nine percent did well with insoles and footwear alterations. In other words altered their footwear.
Tennis player loses her toenails
Good foot care should be carried out for all sportspeople. They spend huge sums on their sport so they should invest in ensuring the foot is stable and the footgear is correct for their foot shape. Shoes should be fitted with care and the constituent materials should be considered equally important. Consultingfootpain is keen to ensure the public receives good advice so here is some self-help information
Nail care is essential in sports
Having a go yourself sounds a good idea and so there are two approaches to help you. What you can do to prevent the problem from arising and secondly what to do if it happens to you. Let’s start with managing the nail if a problem arises.
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