Podiatry: Relief for foot and ankle disorders

When your feet hurt, it can stop you in your tracks. UW Health podiatrists are here to help.

Your feet take a lot of wear and tear. When you’re still, they keep you stable. When you walk, they keep you moving. Your feet are also the body’s primary shock absorbers. By the time you turn 50, you will have walked about 75,000 miles on them.

Feet are highly complex structures that are essential to your overall well-being, and all of the bones, tendons and ligaments need to work properly together for optimal foot health.

Whatever your foot or ankle problem, our expert podiatrists are ready to help you start feeling better.

Each patient is different and we work closely with you to design a care plan that customized just for your situation.

Some of the more common foot and ankle issues include:

• Achilles tendonitis — A common sports injury that occurs when there is inflammation of the tissue that connects your heel to your calf. In some cases, the tissue can rupture.

• Ankle and foot arthritis — With 33 joints in each foot, this condition can be caused by inflammation, swelling or wear and tear on the joints.

• Bunions and hammertoes — A bunions is a slow-growing deformity that turn into a bony bump that forms at the base of your big toe. A hammertoe, which is fairly common, is when your toe points up instead of lying flat.

• Corns and calluses — These are hard, thick patches of skin that are often caused by repeated friction or rubbing of the skin. Calluses are larger than corns.

• Diabetes and Charcot foot/ankle — Foot problems are common in people with diabetes. When you lose feeling in your foot, it becomes more prone to infection. Diabetes-related nerve damage can lead to less blood flow to the feet. In some cases, Charcot’s foot occurs, which causes severe swelling and makes the foot to look bloated and round.

• Flat feet — A flat foot occurs when you have no visible arch. This can cause pain and affect your ability to walk.

• Fractures — Fractures can impact the toes, heel, or bones within the foot, as well as the ankles. Stress fractures are hairline fractures that occur from repeated stress placed on the foot. This is common in athletes.

• Heel spurs — A heel spur is a bony growth that pokes out below your back heel bone inside your foot. These happen when there’s stress on your foot ligaments. Patients often don’t know they have a heel spur until they seek help for heel pain.

• Ingrown toenails — Ingrown toenails develop when the corner of your toenail grows down into your skin. It usually affects the big toe, but it can affect any toe. The condition often occurs when people cut their toenails by rounding (tapering) the corner of their nails.

• Neuroma — Neuroma is an irritating, sometimes painful, sensation that makes you feel like there’s a pebble in your shoe or your sock is bunched up.

• Neuropathy — Neuropathy is a condition of having damaged nerves in your feet. It often causes pain, numbness, tingling or muscle weakness.

• Plantar fasciitis — A common source of stabbing pain near the heel, plantar fasciitis occurs when the plantar fascia (a thick band of tissue that runs the length of the foot) gets inflamed or overstretched.

• Sprains — Warts are small, rough growths that typically show up on the balls and heels of the foot. Caused by HPV, the virus usually get inside the foot through tiny cuts or breaks on the bottom of the foot.

• Warts — Warts are small, rough growths that typically show up on the balls and heels of the foot. Caused by HPV, the virus usually get inside the foot through tiny cuts or breaks on the bottom of the foot.

• Wound care — Foot wounds need proper care and cleaning. Our expert team can help care for you wound and be sure you know how to properly care for your wound at home.

Every foot or ankle problem is different but no matter your situation, our team is ready to help get you on the road to recovery and a better quality of life.

Some foot problems can be treated with home exercises or by wearing proper shoes or inserts. Over-the-counter pain relievers and ice also can help treat pain or swelling.

More complex foot problems typically require more advanced treatment. A few examples include:

• Injections — Cortisone injections can be used to treat severe foot pain, such as in cases of plantar fasciitis.

• Limb salvage surgery — Patients with serious foot problems such as advanced diabetic ulcers or crush injuries typically want to keep their foot if at all possible. Our team regularly performs limb-salvage surgery to save your limb from amputation. The goal is to restore bone and muscle stability and restore the damaged limb’s ability to function.

• Surgery to correct a lower limb deformity — While some limb deformities can be corrected or improved with a brace, corrective surgery is sometimes the best option. The most common is called corrective osteotomy, which involves removing the deformity from the bone and then reconstructing the bone to maximize stability and function.