A foot and ankle specialist is somebody who understands the detailed workings, intricacies,
and nuances of the way the foot and ankle presents itself, the way it functions, and
the way it can affect and cause pain and disability.
We also need to be able to coordinate thatwith things that affect the rest of the body.
My detailed background is full medical training, as well as doing some various surgical specialties.
This has allowed me an overview of how other body systems can affect the foot and ankle,
and also coordinate better with other medical specialists,
such as vascular surgeons, rheumatologists, and neurologists.
I then went on to specialise
further in foot and ankle problems and learnt things with other colleagues and other specialists.
This then gave me a good grounding on how to offer advice, treatment in various techniques,
which can vary from surgical to non-surgical and coordinate with other allied healthcare specialists.
That's a fairly generic question, but on the whole,
most pains are related to tendon, ligament and joint pathology and problems.
These problems can arise from causes of swelling, which can be either with an injury
or from other reasons, other medical reasons.
They can also be due to underlying joint problems, such as cartilageinjuries, arthritis, or autoimmune general
body disorders. The commonest presentations are repetitive strain injuries, which could
include tendon and joint involvement such as stress fractures, tendinopathy… And then
some people have metatarsal problems due to neuromas and bunions, which also can cause
problems with footwear. On the whole, the majority of the pains will ease and resolve,
but if they haven't, then it's worth discussing with a foot and ankle specialist.
To understand how to reduce it, we need to understand what has caused the swelling. The
swelling can be from general medical conditions. These need to be addressed such as heart failure,
kidney failure, or other venous disorders. This would entail coordinating with various
specialties to help with this. Local problems to the foot or ankle that can cause ongoing
swelling can be post-injury, after a sprain and doesn't get better, or the arthritis and
other inflammatory causes of ankle mid-foot joint pains, elevation. And then we would
need to look into manual treatments with a specialist, with a therapist. And also, then
try and identify and treat the underlying causes, which would be all done at the same
time to facilitate full recovery.
Sprained ankles are very common. There's at least over 40,000 to 45,000 sprained ankles
per year. And majority of them will heal very well without any ongoing problems. If you
have a sprained ankle, then it would be advisable to stop the activity that you're doing and
just assess whether you have swelling and you can take weight on the leg. If you have
excessive swelling which does not go away within the next two to three days or you cannot
put weight on the leg for the next two to three days, it's strongly advisable to go
and see a specialist. If, however it is getting better slowly, the best way to continue to
improve it would be to use a sports brace, use elevation, swelling reduction techniques,
and then go and see a physical therapist to help facilitate the recovery. Most minor sprains
will take between two to three weeks. More intermediate or partial tears or strains will
take up to three months, and more severe injuries can take up to 18 months, particularly if
there's bone bruising or other injury aspects to the sprain.