A naval bone and the Duke of Edinburgh?
Nothing can be more exciting than see someone in pain make a recovery. Rachel wanted to undertake the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Award that had been going as long as I had been living. The conditions for the awards are activity based and she was aiming for the Silver element. At 17 years of age this lovely student was not doing so well with her foot, and in particular her arch.
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.
Barefoot Kick off your Shoes
There are 2 riders to bare feet activity permission based on existing problems assessing the ground for safety. As usual the author likes to delve into the internet and see what makes sound advice and what is fake news! This article is more than barefeet though. It looks again at information from the internet and asks HOW VALUABLE or ACCURATE is it?
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.
What should you ask from a fact sheet?
If you have read my short article Getting the best from clinical information here is the follow-up article offering a little more meat. What should you ask from a fact sheet? The answer must be equally simple. Factsheets should be well written, have few spelling mistakes and be easy to read. They should be laid out well and ideally not photocopied to death. Well, presented factsheets show the clinician cares as much about you as the information that is offered.
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.
Bunion Problems and Self-Help
At Consltingfootpain helping yourself to start with intelligently is my aim but with the understanding that there is always professional support as well. Knowledge makes your ability more able to understand and manage a condition such as a bunion.
Feet and your first aid kit
When asked about what to have in a first aid kit, I wrote this article for a reader to help support her after a number of incidents in the kitchen. First aid and second aid are considered…
Where do you go for foot problems?
If you are looking for a good information site for foot problems look no further you have found it. It’s a good question, where do you go for foot problems. I set out to help people everywhere having retired after 40+ years of clinical practice. As an educator and communicator I decided to set up this site. Access is free for all and there are no adverts. If you don’t find what you are looking for write to me whether you are in Europe, Asia or states side. This is a site for anyone and everyone.
Finding Good Writers
In this brief article I want to encourage everyone to write and here I use some examples of people who have been able to benefit from joining with me at ConsultingFootPain through Busypencilcase Reflective Communications. Anyone can write and help is close at hand.
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 Ankle and its Role in Walking
When it comes to walking we know how easy it is to hurt the ankle. But do we really understand why the ankle is weak and how to guard again damage? In this first article the author covers the true ankle joint explaining when the foot and ankle are more stable.
Treating Simple Ankle Sprains
Managing the ankle sprain is well within reach of the average person. However the success is dependent in the extent of the injury. This article looks at both recognition and how to deal with the problem as part of first aid.
Foot health can make a difference to your life
Many people say, “when your feet hurt, you hurt all over!” Having a trusted go to information site is important. I want you to feel this site has reliable and worthwhile information. My information is mostly intended for the lay reader. More complex information can be found amongst Clinical articles.
Podiatry as a career choice?
Like a flying carpet from the Arabian Nights of old, I was transformed along a landscape that threw up new opportunities; it was an unchartered journey, unlike today. Like many friends and colleagues, I did not leave school knowing about podiatry. Our career’s office at school failed to mention this, and I was heading for a failed destiny. By chance, I was redirected as many have been.
Foot Cramp is There a Cause?
Salt is not just sodium chloride but calcium, potassium, magnesium. These chemicals are also known as electrolytes which are important for nerve conduction and health muscle function. One myth cramp was to eat a banana because this had potassium, a significant body salt. Athletes had their blood levels measured based on their loss of water in sweat and, hence, salt loss. The findings showed little difference between those who suffered cramp and those that don’t.
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…
Does it matter which foot bone you break?
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.
Foot and Mouth Tales and Myths
Pooke, an entrepreneur of his time, used good contacts amongst fellow clinical managers, one being a local dental officer. He soon saw the potential of the designs that dentists used and set out to replace the grotesque chairs that were not only substandard but did not recline. Even barber’s chairs reclined. This followed on with implementing autoclaves for sterilisation and Foot Care Assistants who supported chiropodists in these early days.
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.
Feet and the Great War 1914-18
Welcome to ‘Feet and the Great War’ – the origins of trench foot, although associated with the Great War, were recognised long before. This article can be downloaded below as part of ConsultingFootPain’s commemoration of an insane war which took the lives of nearly a million allied military personnel. You can download a full article on trench foot
What’s the difference between chiropody & podiatry?
Two leading organisations promote podiatry for professional members. The Royal College of Podiatry and The Institute of Chiropodists & Podiatrists. The question frequently asked is, what’s the difference between chiropody and podiatry? We must come out with the honest answer, perhaps unpalatable to some, obvious to others. Fact is the only value behind the solution.
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