What to do if you think you broke your toe?

People tend to underestimate injuries to their toes. If you injure your toe to the point where you are limping significantly, cannot bend toe, or have obvious deformity you should seek podiatric medical care ASAP. People think that there is nothing that can be done if your toe is broken, this is simply not the truth. If your toe is broken into the joint or deformed it must either be immobilized or put back in position ASAP. In all cases we can help you with your pain and swelling. Failure to address an injury properly can lead to chronic pain and deformity, if you think its broken come in for an Xray ASAP and get it check out so you do not suffer long term consequences!! As foot and ankles specialists we are best equipped to deal with these issues.

FLIP FLOPS & RAINBOWS

Tis the season to start wearing summer shoes. We see an increase in foot problems for those patients with plantar fasciitis, painful tendons,as well as flatfeet start to get worse as people start wearing these types of shoes for the wrong type of activity. Flip flops and rainbows are fine as limited us shoes in the foot that is not painful. Unfortunately this type of foot wear is worn too much in the summer which results in the foot and ankle not being supported properly. Further, patients who have skin conditions such as warts, athletes feet, severe cracks in heels, and other dermatitis issues tend to make these worse by wearing shoes that trap moisture in the feet which helps promote these types of conditions. No matter how hot is it we all need to wear the right shoe for the right situation. For example, when I walk, work in the yard, participate in sports I always wear good supportive shoes with my orthotics inside no matter how hot is it. The problems I see is that people spend too much time in flip flops, rainbows, and less supportive shoes when they are trying to increase their activity. Diabetic in particular place themselves at increased risk for physical injury using these types of shoes as their foot is exposed. One such patient just came in and reported riding a bike with flip flops VERY DANGEROUS!! My advise is if you are going to use flip flops or rainbows do plan on walking more than 30 minutes at a time in these types of shoes, avoid rough terrain, wet spots where you could slip and fall. Remember these are limited use type shoes they where not meant to be your primary foot wear all day long all summer long!

Pedicures

I get asked almost daily what I think about pedicures. I try to be reasonable in my approach. Patients with Diabetes or poor circulation in their feet should not be seen by a pedicurist in my opinion. The risk of infection is too great. Any patient with disease in their nails or ingrown nails should not be treated by a pedicurist, in fact only a licensed physician is legally allowed to treat these conditions. If a patient or pedicurist feels that a disease process or pathology exists then a physician should be consulted. As far as painting toenails I understand that our culture is for this but as a specialist of the foot and ankle who sees what can happen to toenails that are constantly painted I recommend that moderation be considered. I am not saying never except for the instances noted above, but if you are going to get your nails painted do it but do not leave nail polish on for more than two weeks at a time. Remember fungus, mold, and yeast infections love a hot warm moist environment so there is nothing more attractive to an infecting organism!