Foot & Ankle Pain
Stubborn foot and ankle pain that doesn’t seem to go away is often due to arthritis. Osteoarthritis is a form of “wear and tear” arthritis, generally occurring in middle age, but affecting younger people too. Our joints are surrounded by a protective layer of cartilage that allows them to glide and move smoothly. Overtime, through playing sport, repetitive work or past injuries, the cartilage that surrounds the joints wears down. This reduces the protective space between the joints and the rough surface can cause pain with movement or loading of the joint. This can cause osteophytes (bone spurs) to form which can restrict the range of motion of a joint overtime and subsequently cause compensations to occur elsewhere in the body.
What can I do about it?
Our podiatrist is an expert at treating arthritic pain. Steph goes through a thorough medical history and foot and ankle assessment and asks questions related to your pain, medications and past injuries to build a clear clinical picture. Biomechanical assessment helps Steph understand how you are compensating when walking and how we can best work with you to offload the painful joint. We also send for x-rays to help determine the extent of the arthritis, which in an arthritic joint will show joint space narrowing and often, the formation of bone spurs.
Management can be conservative or surgical depending on the extent of the damage, but we will talk through all of your options and advise the best option to suit your lifestyle and goals. Conservative management involves activity modification, shoe wear education, orthotic therapy and a specific tailored exercise program. Surgical intervention is indicated if your pain and disability isn’t helped with conservative management and we refer to leading surgeons who will advise you on the most suitable procedure.
More Information
To book in to see our experienced & qualified podiatrist about this issue, you can follow this link or phone our friendly team. If you have a referral from your GP and qualify for rebates through Medicare or Veterans affairs, there will be no out of pocket cost for your visit. Otherwise, instant rebates are available through your private health fund. Stephanie welcomes new patients and will do her best to accommodate any urgent problems.