Surgery Recovery | Plan and Prepare Ahead
When surgery is the best option for foot and ankle conditions, Dr. Catoire and I are experienced and skilled in the procedures that are required.
Before your procedures are performed, make arrangement for some activities to help you spend your recovery time to your benefit now and in the future.
Spending recovery time in isolation will make the time pass by more slowly than necessary. It is a good time to take advantage of technology and the Internet. This is a good time to indulge yourself in the good times at social media. Facebook is a great place to hold a mini-class reunion as you have a chance to search for old friends and classmates or enjoy some chats that you don’t always get into.
When you go to Twitter or Facebook and search for foot surgery or ankle surgery, you may be able to make virtual connection with others who share your recovery mode. Other spots to connect with other surgery patients include the free blogsites at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Specialized groups from membership sites such as Ning can be other social spots to check in and share experiences. A Google search for “Foot Surgery groups at Ning” will turn several options to the top of the results.
Returning to the free blog sites such as WordPress.com, you can run an online journal of your experiences. If you opt to have your journal to be public, other people working through their recovery will be able to find you just as you were searching for them. Your story can be helpful to them as they work through their recovery; similarly you can pick up information and tips that can help you speed your own.
Dwelling on surgery is a limiting choice; your hobbies, pets, favorite music or books can be topics to make your journal entries easier to compose, plus make you interesting to others who share the same hobbies and favorites. After recovery, some of the connections you make while working yourself back into activity can become longtime friends and associates.
We want you to have a successful experience in your treatment. At Hoosier Foot and Ankle, we want you to find relief for the foot condition that led to the need for a recovery plan. If you are suffering from foot or ankle pain without a process for recovery, please call us for a consultation and let us diagnose the condition and develop a program for you. You can call 317-660-2115 today or use the online appointment request form available 24/7 for your convenience. Your request goes directly to the my cell phone so that I can get staff informed and get your appointment set up promptly.
You’re well on your way to a better day.
Equinus Can Sneak Up On You
Do you recall when the ankle motion with one or both of your feet stopped cooperating? The lack of flexibility may have started slowly and you actually do not know the day when it began. Or even the day when it became enough of a problem to lead you to make compensation moves such as walking on your toes or lifting your heel early in a step. These conditions may be connected to other leg or back problems that developed slowly as you changed your gait in little ways to accommodate the inflexibility on your ankle and foot. The compensations will contribute to more foot and ankle problems for you.
Various situations have been named as causes leading to equinus. Sometimes the issue is connected to other conditions such as diabetes or cerebral palsy. Sometimes activity such as sports and related injuries are associated with equinus. Some doctors lay responsibility at the step of high heeled shoes or boots.
Relief is something we need to concentrate on getting for you. At Hoosier Foot and Ankle, Dr. Catoire or I will make a thorough study of your situation and develop a plan of treatment. In extreme diagnosis, surgery may be required, but we prefer to try conservative treatment first.
I’ve written to you about this before, but I’ve suffered the misery of equinus connected to a sports injury. During my treatment, I determined that a more efficient and effective conserative treatment option was required — so I invented an adjustable brace for equinus treatment and experimented with non-typical treatment times. I found that an adjustable brace worn at non-typical times for non-typical lengths of time could be successful. Suddenly, we had intelligent equinus treatment.
Don’t delay and continue to suffer from restricted ankle motion and pain. Call 317-660-2115 today to make an appointment at Hoosier Foot and Ankle. Or you may use the online appointment request option available 24/7 for your convenience.
Should you be reading this from an area where it isn’t reasonable to come to our clinics, contact your local podiatrist and ask about the EQ/IQ brace. We’re offering doctors and trainers a special discounted price for pre-production orders. Your podiatrist or professional contact can call 317-660-2115 for information.
Flatfeet Are Not A Joke | Your Podiatrist Can Help
Flatfeet are often serious discomfort — that doesn’t have to be a lifelong condition. As noted in a PodiatryToday.com article which I wrote with Dr. Jessica Taulman, DPM, podiatrists frequently see adults with flat feet. Early identification and treatment can keep the flatfoot deformity from progressing.
When the foot isn’t working right in the arch area, there is further compromise at the heels and ankles. Over the years, podiatric treatment has shifted from surgery to more conservative treatment. This approach, when successful, means a patient doesn’t have to deal with recovery issues. Avoiding these issues can be beneficial for people with advanced age, sedentary lifestyle and medical conditions that won’t tolerate surgery.
A full evaluation is important to determine the needs of the flatfoot patient. Adequate treatment, whether conservative therapy or surgery is going to determine the future comfort of the patient. At Hoosier Foot and Ankle, we access the patient’s condition both while the patient is standing and seated. We want to determine the extent and type of the flatfoot deformity so that we can then create a treatment protocol.
If we choose conservative treatment, we will generally begin with immobilization, using a removable cast boot or below the knee cast. This immobilizing support decreases inflammation and prevents overuse of the affected tendons.
Some conditions indicate use of UCBL orthotics to stabilize the rearfoot. There are other orthotic possibilities that can be considered.
We also address the point that when flatfoot deformity occurs, other areas are affected. Equinus is one essential piece of the flatfoot puzzle that we look at to reduce pain.
We know that conservative treatment is often able to decrease pain and the progression of flatfoot deformity. Early detection and treatment are essential in keeping the deformity from progressing to further stages in the adult flatfoot scheme. Through a thorough patient history study and physical exam, we can determine of conservative treatment has a chance or if surgery is going to be required.
Do you think your may be suffering from adult flatfeet? Don’t second guess your footpain. Call Hoosier Foot and Ankle at 317-660-2115 to arrange for an appointment to determine what is causing your footpain. Or you may visit the Hoosier Foot and Ankle website and use the online appointment request option available 24/7 for your convenience.
Keeping Ten Happy Little Toes
"Toesie" has red paint on the area of the tonails that usually white.
Keeping ten happy little toes is connected to the care of your ten little toenails. How you trim them can make or break your foot comfort. And we all know how it goes with comfortable feet. If the feet are happy, the whole body is happy.
If they ‘ain’t’ happy — everything above them ‘ain’t’ happy. That unhappiness can spread to the folks around the unhappy feet.
Do trim your toenails and avoid leaving them uncared for. If you need help due to vision issues and potential risks due to diabetes or other conditions, you can seek assistance from a family member, a pedicurist or health organizations or businesses which frequently offer toenail clinics. Health organizations or businesses that would offer assistance include local health departments, hospice services or home health care services. They will be glad to tell you where they are holding toenail clinics.
Untrimmed toenails in winter when we wear closed shoes can press against the end and other surface areas in the shoe’s toe box, causing quiet misery. People who are on their feet a lot, such as wait staff know about the foot comfort secret of keeping toenails trimmed. Untrimmed toenails on smaller toes can grow in a curve that follows the toe shape enough to eventually touch and become embedded in the skin at the tip of the toe. Long toenails are a spot for moisture to accumulate along with bacteria leading to another set of misery.
Over trimming can get a foot into trouble as well. The toenails should never be over trimmed as the tissue and skin around the toe is tender and easy to cut when the clippers or scissors get to close to the ‘quick’ of the toenail. Some toenail growth does protect the tips of toes from rubbing or pressure due to shoe fit or a wrinkle in one’s sock.
I recommend trimming toenails to follow the shape of the of the toe, with some extension away from the quick — that is the white part that isn’t connected to your toe. “Toesie” has red ‘paint’ on the area of the toenails that is usually white.
Some recommend trimming straight, but that isn’t clear. We can easily see that creating a pointed toenail isn’t going to work. But following the shape of the toe in a straight manner makes much more sense than a ruler-straight-whack across the top. Too often this can lead to outside toenail tips growing sharp corners to snag socks and sheets. Those dry corners are vulnerable to breakage when we go barefoot or wear sandals. That break can be a big chip or a big rip that gets too close to the quick or the side cuticle, leaving a small, painful wound inviting bacteria and infection.
These toenail trimming suggestions may not fit everyone. Consult your podiatrist or health professional before making drastic changes in the trimming methods that have been working for you.
If you have questions about foot care, you can contact us at 317-660-2115 for a consultation appointment. Or you may use the online appointment request option available on the Hoosier Foot and Ankle website 24/7 for your convenience. We have five clinics available for your foot care needs in the Indianapolis area.
Thank you, Very Important Patients. We Appreciate Your Help!
We value you first as loyal foot care patients. We also value your help with referrals as we’ve been seeking more patients. You’ve been extremely helpful this past year as you’ve been referring your friends and family who have foot pain or other issues to Hoosier Foot and Ankle.
Dr. Catoire and I serving more patients at the five clinics through thorough diagnosis and a treatment plan for all foot needs. We can offer treatment at all levels from conservative over the counter pain relief to assertive surgery. We appreciate your help more than we can easily express. We do have the Very Important Patient program that offers a special appointment system to those who have referred five people to the clinics.
The following video explains a little more about the appointment times that are available. The clinics that have afternoon hours beginning at 2:00 pm will have appointment slots with no waiting time reserved for our VIP patients. The slots will be open between 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm.
When you want to get your day organized, we have early morning appointments at the clinics which open at 8:30 am, the special appointments are available between 8:00 am and 8:30 am.
Please call us at 317-660-2115 to begin your status as a Very Important Patient. Our staff makes every effort to ask new patients how they happened to learn about Hoosier Foot and Ankle. If you have referred someone, we want to be sure you receive credit for the referral. Ask your family and friends to be sure we do our job by reminding us that you’re the connection for us.
