Types Of Podiatry Care You Might Need For Chronic Foot Pain
Podiatry care encompasses many things. A podiatrist service — like Avors Medical Group — can help with foot and ankle injuries, infections, diseases that affect your feet, and problems with your gait. If you have trouble with chronic foot pain, consult a podiatrist to find out why.
Foot pain is common, especially if you walk or run a lot, but the pain shouldn't be chronic and interfere with your life. The pain could indicate a problem with your feet or be as simple as a poor choice of footwear. Here's how your podiatrist might help with chronic foot pain.
Diagnose Your Condition
Understanding the cause of your foot pain is an important step in treating it. You might have an injury such as plantar fasciitis that takes a long time to heal. You might have arthritis or diabetes. Your foot pain might be caused by the way you walk or bear weight. The podiatrist may need to have imaging tests done on your feet and perform a gait analysis to make a diagnosis.
Provide Custom Orthotics Or Shoes
Your podiatrist can recommend the right shoes for you to wear, especially when running or fitness walking. They can also recommend over-the-counter shoe inserts when they're appropriate. If you have a foot or gait abnormality, they may need to prescribe custom shoes or custom orthotics.
These compensate for problems you have that put strain on your feet or ankles. For instance, custom shoes might have one sole thicker to correct a leg that's a bit shorter and is throwing off your gait. Custom orthotics are made to fit your feet perfectly and correct your issue. They may be stiff to hold your feet in alignment or padded to cushion your heels or toes.
Use Regenerative Medicine
Podiatrists sometimes use platelet-rich plasma or stem cell injections to help you heal from an injury. These treatments can help damaged tissues grow and repair themselves. They might be used for plantar fasciitis that's slow to heal. The plasma and stem cells come from your body so there's no problem with incompatibility.
Medical Treatments
Podiatry care involves the use of medical equipment sometimes. Your podiatrist might think you'll benefit from ultrasound therapy, laser treatments, or shockwave therapy. These treatments might reduce inflammation, help with pain relief, and stimulate your body's healing processes.
Surgery
If your foot pain doesn't respond well to treatments, your podiatrist might suggest surgery. There are a number of surgeries that can be done on your toes, feet, and ankles to correct foot problems and relieve pain. Surgery is usually saved for last when other treatments don't help, but it could be the right choice to reduce or eliminate your chronic foot pain.