Podiatry is the treatment of disease in the foot and ankle. When you think about how much walking you’ve done over the years, it probably comes as no surprise that your feet undergo considerable wear and tear throughout your lifetime. Because the health of your feet can have a real impact on your overall wellness, it’s important to take proper care of them by visiting a podiatrist at the first sign of trouble.
If you experience pain or other issues with your feet, don’t despair; technological advances in podiatry have led to faster diagnoses and better treatments for a variety of foot disorders. Let’s take a look:
It’s not uncommon to feel anxious when reporting foot problems to your doctor. However, don’t let your fears delay you for too long – otherwise, your foot issues will worsen over time. Ulcers and infections of the feet have always been of grave concern to podiatrists, especially when it comes to patients with diabetes. In the not-so-distant past, lack of blood flow to the feet of a diabetic patient meant that minor wounds and ulcers could quickly lead to amputation. Luckily, technological advances have empowered doctors to more effectively treat these ailments, making amputation the exception rather than the rule.
For surgeries, an increase in minimally invasive options is changing the way patients recover. A surgical instrument called an endoscope allows surgeons to make smaller incisions during certain procedures, such as heel spur surgery, to help minimize a patient’s pain and recovery time. While we at Doctors United do not perform surgery,
our goal is to see a patient before the problem worsens and gets to the surgical arena.
New therapies in the field of podiatry are being studied and discovered every year. For example, Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) is an injection therapy that has been around for a few years, but has received great results in recent studies for the treatment of plantar fasciitis. PRP is a type of personalized medicine that uses the patient’s own blood plasma to heal foot problems and infections that have been resistant to other treatments. Other drug therapies for the treatment of food disorders are in ongoing clinical trials.
Improving your life by taking care of your feet has never been easier. Your doctor can help you decide what treatments are right for you. Contact Doctors United today for more information about podiatry and how to improve the health of your feet.
Don’t let a small issue become a bigger one.
Yours in health,
Mohsen Zargar
