General Podiatry Archives - Page 15 of 17

General Podiatry Archives - Page 15 of 17 - Anderson Podiatry Center Anderson Podiatry Center

Leg Cramps: A New Potential Cause

Posted on September 13, 2016 by admin

Leg cramps are extremely frustrating. Many of you have been woken up suddenly by the feeling of a giant knot forming in your calf muscle and you try to stretch it before it has a chance to get knotted up. It’s discouraging, exhausting, and often painful, but now there are new ways to treat leg cramps!

Many of you live with these nightly leg cramps. These more serious cramps are even more frustrating in terms of their frequency and ability to affect your sleep. You may even need to get up and walk around to relieve the symptoms, or perhaps you’ve tried other kinds of remedies: you may have been told you need more calcium, more potassium, and more magnesium. Maybe you’ve heard, “It’s your circulation,” and some of you may resort to drugs such as muscle relaxants, Lyrica, and Neurontin that are used for neuropathy. You may even take tranquilizers to get to sleep!

Four years ago another solution to this problem was found. At Anderson Podiatry Center (and a select few other centers around the country) we do nerve decompression procedures in the foot and lower leg to release pressure on tight nerve tunnels that are damaging your nerves, thus relieving symptoms. Four years ago a fifth tunnel compression that can also create damage to nerves was found. This tunnel, when compressed, can be the cause the severe leg cramps so many people suffer from.

It’s called the soleal sling tunnel and it resides deep inside your larger calf muscle. A fibrous band that lays close to the tunnel can cause pressure against the main nerve that goes to the bottom of your foot. When that tight band is released surgically, many patients get relief from severe leg cramps.

Cramping may not be the only symptom for these patients. Many will have numbness, burning, tingling, and weakness associated with damage to the nerve. A 20 minute procedure can have patients walking the next day, and many find symptom relief within days. Though not for everyone it is an exciting new treatment option now available for many that suffer from this aggravating and even debilitating problem.

Some of you may be at your wits end with the fatigue and stress that you experience when these severe chronic night-time cramps never seem to go away. Don’t forget the drugs you may be taking are not fixing it, although they may help. Please take into account the nerve tunnel procedure for soleal sling next time you’re considering your next step to get rid of the cramps, and get your sleep and life back!

A Day in the Life of a Podiatrist

Posted on September 6, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

Get to know Doctor Anderson by reading a little about his average day on the job!

Dr. James Anderson, DPM.

“My Wednesday starts early as it’s my surgery day. Surgeries begin at 7 am and may end at 5 pm on a busy day. So, today being Wednesday saw me out the door grabbing a handful of nuts and blueberries for my breakfast. I grabbed some coffee with butter and cinnamon, a daily habit of mine, and started my day.

My first patient had traveled all the way from eastern Nebraska, and as with most of my patients this day was a nerve surgery case. He was a very nice Nebraska farmer with diabetes suffering from severe neuropat Dr. James Anderson, DPM hy. I had six surgeries with only a five-minute break between surgeries to celebrate Rhonda’s birthday (Rhonda has been our recovery room nurse for 10 years and she is absolutely the best! Patients and staff love her.)

So, after opening her card and getting a box with her favorite perfume, it was back to work. Another staff member, Jeanne, was excited to hear that she would be acknowledged in a research paper getting published on the intraoperative nerve monitoring we do. She helps set up the monitoring equipment and assists me in surgery.

The highlight of the day
was the last case. A 14-year-old from Nebraska who had been in a bad car accident 2 years ago. She had severe nerve pain in her foot and weakness, drop foot, in her leg as it was trapped beneath the seat of the car in a rollover accident. After seeing multiple doctors, they had almost given up hope until they learned about what we do. The nerve monitoring we did in surgery to see how well we improved the function of the nerves that had been damaged in the accident were showing us amazing improvement of nerve function! I’m very optimistic for her, and feel confident she and her mom can avoid a life of medication for her chronic pain condition, which is the goal they had.

I did end my day a little later than I had thought I would. I was expecting to catch up on things, but only had time to meet with my two research assistants. We recently submitted a paper for publication on restless legs, and reviewed three more studies that we will be starting on. They are young and bright and are a huge asset to me. It’s a real challenge to see patients, run a business, and then do research, so I am blessed to have them.

Lastly, I joined in late on a conference call with our CEO Eric, and my wife, COO Adriann, in regards to new opportunities for our surgery center.

Finally, out of the office by 6:15; that’s early! I even had time at home to watch some TV, answer emails, and jump on the elliptical machine. Oh, yes, and wash some clothes. That’s my day!”

We are proud of what we do and the doctors we represent! Contact us today to talk to any of our doctors one-on-one!

Fact vs. Fiction: Neuropathy

Posted on August 23, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

Neuropathy is a frustrating, debilitating, painful, and, most discouragingly, a confusing disease. If you or someone you know has neuropathy, chances are they have really struggled with finding accurate knowledge on the subject, and with all the information out there it can be overwhelming deciphering what’s true from what isn’t.

Though neuropathy is a fairly common disease, it is not widely known about. One of the first struggles with neuropathy is getting it properly diagnosed. Also, there are so many thoughts and opinions on neuropathy that you may hear conflicting or even false information. As doctors who specialize in neuropathy and treatments for it, we have compiled a helpful list of fact versus fiction to finally help you better understand your neuropathy.

Neuropathy Facts:

There are a wide variety of symptoms, and not everyone experiences them all.
- The most common symptoms include: muscle weakness, twitching, tingling, loss of balance, numbness, burning, prickling sensations, and/or nerve pain in your legs or feet, and symptoms can vary from one foot to the other.

Neuropathy is progressive.
- This is one of the most important facts to know! Neuropathy will get worse over time, so if you have symptoms do not delay treatment. Some patients wait until their symptoms are more severe before seeking treatment, which can reduce the chance to reverse or alleviate them.

Neuropathy is a fancy word for nerve damage.
- Though it may sound simple, this is exactly what neuropathy is. It’s the disease or dysfunction of one or more peripheral nerves.

There are treatments that can reverse neuropathy symptoms.
- Though many don’t realize this, there are treatment options that have had huge success in reversing, or at the very least improving some people’s neuropathy. These treatments include:
  - MLS Laser Therapy– helps to reduce pain and inflammation and improve nerve function.
  - Electrical Nerve Stimulation (ESTIM)– helps to decrease chronic nerve pain, often done in conjunction with nerve blocks.
  - Nutritional counseling– when done in tangent with MLS and/or ESTIM can help reverse symptoms.
  - Nerve decompressing surgery– opens up the tight nerve tunnel to allow the nerve to function properly, is a viable option for the majority of patients, and offers the very real hope of reversing neuropathy’s effects, allowing you to move with little to no pain or instability.

Neuropathy Fiction:

Neuropathy only affects diabetics.
- Although neuropathy is common in people with diabetes, it is a misconception that it only affects those with it. It can have many other causes including injury, infections, alcoholism, and even certain cancers. There are also unknown (idiopathic) causes

If the pain subsides or goes away, you are getting better.
- False! This is a very dangerous fallacy. When symptoms seem to be getting better they are often actually getting worse, because the later stages of neuropathy can cause numbness making you not feel the pain that is actually there.

I will always have to be on medication.
- Though medications are commonly the first step in treating neuropathy, they typically come with unwanted side effects or are ineffective. What people don’t understand is that by seeking other treatments options like the ones listed above, you can reduce or even get off your medication.

Any doctor can help treat neuropathy.
- Although most doctors know what neuropathy is, they are not all equal in understanding or treating it. Our doctors at Anderson Podiatry Center are members of the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons. These national and international physician and PHD members receive specialty training and have a minimum two years’ experience in diagnosing and treating neuropathy. AENS members are committed to disseminating current effective treatment knowledge, and to ongoing research that supports the treatment of extremity nerve disease.

These are just some of the basic misunderstandings on neuropathy. If you suffer from neuropathy come see us today so you can finally get the help you deserve!

Nerve Monitoring in Surgery: Improvements and Results

Posted on August 16, 2016 by admin

nerve pain

I recently was paid a visit by two scientists from the Medtronics medical device company. They came to our office and surgery center to help expand the way I evaluate and monitor improvement of nerve function during the nerve surgeries I do. It was a messy process and frustrating at first, but by the end of the day, and at the end of the week the entire team had a much greater regard for how this was providing better service to patients, and how useful the information we were gathering will be to share with patients suffering from neuropathy and restless legs.

So, what’s all the fuss about nerve monitoring anyway?

What is nerve monitoring?

Intraoperative nerve monitoring is an invaluable technique employed during surgery to gauge the surgery’s impact on the affected nerve in real-time. This sophisticated method involves the placement of small needle electrodes within the target muscle area. These electrodes effectively capture and measure the signals transmitted by the nerve when it is stimulated during the surgical procedure. This allows us to obtain precise baseline readings before the nerve is decompressed or released.

One of the significant advantages of intraoperative nerve monitoring is that it provides the surgeon with immediate feedback regarding the progress of the procedure. By continuously assessing the nerve’s signals during surgery, the surgeon can make real-time adjustments and fine-tune the decompression process. This dynamic approach ensures that the desired outcome, such as relieving nerve compression, is achieved effectively and efficiently. It also enhances the overall safety and success of the surgical intervention.

Why is this important to you, the patient?

Sometimes we are so close to what we do we forget the uniqueness of it, so that’s why I’m writing this blog. Because we do this with every nerve case we perform, we have amassed more experience and data over the past several years than anywhere in the world. We are also the primary center for improving the concept. No other surgery center, hospital, etc. does what we do. Because of this we feel we can better optimize the patient’s outcome.

Value based medicine: the new buzz word. But what is it?

As healthcare progresses in our society this term has increased in importance. It refers to employing evidence-based medicine and proven treatments in determining the best outcomes for patients. When it comes to the nerve procedures we do, there is no other place that does the volume of work we do for as long as we’ve done it by recording our results before the patient leaves the operating room.

Strong statement? Maybe a little, but we also understand the importance of value based medicine, and believe it’s important to demonstrate to the consumer the effectiveness of a given treatment or procedure so the patient can make the best decisions about their care.

So, why use nerve monitoring?

Aside from the above, we have a sincere respect for the nerves of the foot and leg-weird as that may seem. Nerve monitoring has long been used during procedures in the back, face, or neck; it’s about time and lower extremity got the same due!

Neuropathy is our passion, and developing procedures, and testing outcomes is important to further the availability of treatments that actually help people who suffer from this debilitating disease.

At Anderson Podiatry Center, neuropathy is more than just a medical condition; it’s our calling and our passion. Our unwavering commitment to improving the lives of those suffering from this debilitating disease drives us to continually advance our knowledge and treatment options. We firmly believe that developing innovative procedures and rigorously testing their outcomes are essential steps toward expanding the availability of effective neuropathy treatments.

One of our groundbreaking contributions to the field of neuropathy treatment is our pioneering work in nerve monitoring within the lower extremities. This cutting-edge technique has enabled us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in neuropathy care. By meticulously monitoring nerve activity during procedures, we can make real-time adjustments and tailor treatments to the specific needs of each patient.

We invite you to connect with us today to explore the remarkable advancements we’ve made in the realm of neuropathy management. Our dedicated team is eager to share our expertise and insights, ensuring that you receive the most innovative and effective solutions for your neuropathy-related challenges. We are genuinely here to make a meaningful difference in your life and provide the relief you deserve. Together, we can combat neuropathy and work toward a brighter, pain-free future.

nerve monitoring in the lower extremity

Ankle Problems: Why It’s Important You Don’t Ignore Them

Posted on August 9, 2016July 12, 2025 by admin

With all the wear and tear we put our bodies through it’s no wonder we go to bed sore at night. We often get so accustomed to these persistent aches and pains that we just live with them. It’s normal to have foot pain and ankle pain after a long day of work, right? Sometimes, yes.

Minor aches and pains at the end of the day, especially if you live an active lifestyle, are typically nothing more than a tired body that needs rest, but don’t let these minor aches and pains you are used to feeling make you ignore more serious issues that require treatment.

Some of the most common foot problems that are ignored are in the ankle. People frequently excuse genuine ankle issues to simple daily wear and tear, so they don’t seek treatments that can help. Three common problems that shouldn’t be ignored include:

Ankle Instability– If you sprain your ankle regularly, have stiff or swollen ankles, or have trouble walking across uneven ground, (especially in high heels) then you may actual suffer from ankle instability.
Ankle Pain– If your ankle seems to always be in pain, tender to touch, swollen, or unstable, this could be a signal to a larger problem, such as arthritis, a fracture, or an inflamed tendon.
Ankle Sprain– Spraining an ankle is a very common injury that often heals on its own with proper rest and care, but when it won’t heal is when there is concern. If your ankle sprain is not healing, is swollen, bruised, painful, and difficult to walk on, then you need to get it looked at. Serious ankle sprains when untreated can develop into long-term problems.

Ankle instability, pain, and sprains can put a huge damper on your active lifestyle. If you experience any or all of the above, the below treatment options may be what you need:

AmnioFix Therapy– this new, regenerative medical product enhances healing, reduces scar tissue formation, reduces inflammation, and may be just what your ankle needs to heal.
Custom orthotics– doctor-fitted orthotics made from the mold of your actual foot offer huge benefits to your feet and ankles.
Casting– casting a mold of your foot is typically done when making custom orthotics, and allows a podiatrist to see the exact condition of your ankle, so they can treat it correctly.
Physical therapy- some ankle injuries require physical therapy, especially if they go ignored and cause more permanent damage.
Braces or supports– these may not sound ideal, but if they ease your pain, prevent further injury, or fix current problems they are worth it.
Arthroscopic surgery– this minimally invasive joint surgery can help fix many common ankle injuries.
MLS Laser Therapy– this laser therapy is an exciting new treatment for a wide range of injuries and conditions that cause pain, including ankle problems.

If you have chronic ankle problems don’t ignore them! We are here to help you keep active! Call us today!

3 Essential Books for Understanding and Living with Neuropathy

Posted on August 2, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

Your legs and feet are one of the most important parts of our body; they carry you everywhere you go. So, naturally, leg and feet issues can greatly disrupt your daily life. This is sadly the case for the many people who suffer from neuropathy– or nerve pain. Neuropathy is painful, frustrating, and debilitating, and with all the information out there it can be overwhelming finding good, accurate sources of information, but it doesn’t have to be.

First of all, you might have neuropathy and not even know it. Some symptoms to look for with neuropathy include muscle weakness, twitching, tingling, burning, loss of balance, numbness, prickling sensations, and/or nerve pain in your legs or feet. Neuropathy can be caused by diabetes, injury, infections, certain cancers, and alcohol, and it is progressive and will worsen over time.

To help you correctly live with and understand your neuropathy we have found three essential books to read:

Sugar Crush: How to Reduce Inflammation, Reverse Nerve Damage, and Reclaim Good Health– by Richard Jacoby, DPM

Even though this book is not solely on neuropathy, it is still an excellent resource for those who suffer from it. Sugar Crush was written by a leading peripheral nerve surgeon. In it he explains why sugar and carbohydrates are harmful to the body’s nerves, and how eliminating them may help mitigate or even reverse nerve damage.

He goes on to describe how a diet high in sugar, processed carbohydrates, and wheat compresses and damages the peripheral nerves of the body. This leads to pain, numbness, and tinging in hands and feet. Sound familiar? These are the same symptoms as neuropathy, which is why this book is a great resource for you!

Coping with Peripheral Neuropathy: How to handle stress, disability, anxiety, fatigue, depression, pain, and relationships– by Scott Berman, MD CIDP

Unfortunately, living with chronic pain and a debilitating disease affects much more than just your physical body. It affects your emotions, causes other problems such as anxiety and depression, and often affects those around you as well.

However, keep in mind that although this book may help you cope with the chronic pain you currently live with, you might not always have to. Just as Sugar Crush discusses, there are possible treatments that may reverse neuropathy symptoms and help stop chronic pain.

Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief: Guided Practices for Reclaiming Your Body and Your Life– by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Those who suffer from neuropathy often complain of chronic pain as well. If you live a life shaped by pain, you understand the physical and emotional sufferings that usually accompany it. In this book you can learn how to rely on meditation, rather than solely medication, to ease your pain. Often neuropathy patients complain about all the medications they have to take that don’t always work, and almost always come with unwanted side effects. Here is a great alternative.

According to customer reviews, this book offers meditation techniques for beginners, so anyone can use it and find relief, while also discovering new freedom and improved quality of life. However, same with the above book mentioned, remember that there are treatments for neuropathy that have been able to reverse symptoms for many patients, enabling them to live pain free.

These books are very helpful for living with neuropathy, but they are not your only source of information. Speak to a podiatrist to learn all about your disease, and more importantly how you may be able to reverse your symptoms with promising treatment options.

How to Know if You Need Surgery for Your Chronic Foot Pain

Posted on July 26, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

If you’re suffering from foot pain that just won’t go away, you’ll try almost anything to find relief. Pain medications, physical therapy, orthotics, braces, special shoes, rest, ice, heat, massage…the list goes on.

But chronic pain is usually a side effect of something even bigger—chronic damage to the affected joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles. The severity of this damage is often the most important criteria to consider when determining the best treatment.

What happens to your body parts from regular and long term damage?

Chronic damage to a joint leads to osteoarthritis.
Chronic damage to tendons causes thickening and scarring of tendons as well as possible rupture or tearing.
Chronic damage to ligaments creates joint instability, which can lead to arthritis and worsening of tendon issues.

In most cases, this damage is not going to be isolated to just one structure. Rather, people who suffer chronic pain usually have all of these structures damaged to some degree, and the parts that are the most severely damaged usually determine the best course of treatment.

Is it time for you to consider surgery?

First, we’ll need to determine how bad the damage is. This is where all those x-rays, MRIs, blood work, etc. come into play. X-rays will show severity of arthritis and an MRI will show the severity of damage to tendons and ligaments.

For more severely damaged structures, conservative treatment may have a low chance of success and https://websitetest8.striveenterprisetest.com/anderson-center-for-surgery/surgical treatment may be more likely, but rarely will an x-ray or MRI be the absolute deciding factor of treatment for a chronic issue. It’s just another bit of info to factor in.

Every patient is different, and I tailor the treatment of chronic pain to the particular demands of each person, based on their lifestyle. Together, we decide whether conservative treatments can successfully help with chronic foot pain. If not, it might be time to consider surgery, which, in most cases, can help you get back on your feet sooner, and hopefully pain-free!

How to Stop Tendonitis Progression

Posted on July 19, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

We all know living an active lifestyle is an essential component to being healthy. Whether you are a mega multi-marathon runner, an avid tennis player, a yoga instructor, or a mall walker, your exercise is an important part of your daily routine. However, this healthy lifestyle of yours is threatened when injuries arise in your feet, such as tendonitis. Tendonitis is common and painful, but there are ways to keep the tendonitis progression to a minimum.

Tendonitis progression can affect various muscles in the body, including the feet. Posterior tibial tendinitis, for example, is an inflammation of the tendon that runs from the inner ankle to the shinbone. Some symptoms to look for to determine if you do indeed have tendonitis are:

Pain that increases when the affected area moves, such as when walking
A cracking or grating feeling when the injured tendon moves
Swelling
Redness and heat from the affected area
The development of a lump along the tendon
Difficulty standing on your toes
Pain on the inside of the foot or ankle

Tendonitis is a common injury, and is caused by the repetition of a particular movement over time. Though not as common, it may also arise after a sudden injury. Some of the risk factors which increase the likelihood of getting tendonitis are:

Age- Tendons become less flexible and more susceptible to injury the older you get.
Certain jobs- If your job consists of repetitive movements, awkward positions, frequent
Overhead reaching, vibration, or forced extension you have a greater risk of hurting the tendon.
Diabetes- Though experts are unsure why, people with diabetes tend to have a higher risk of developing tendonitis.
Sports- The most common cause of tendonitis comes from sports injuries, especially in sports like running, swimming, basketball, tennis, golf, etc.

Whatever reason caused your tendonitis they all have the same risk: the injury is progressive and will worsen if untreated!

So, how do you stop this progression? The answer is simple, start treatment right away! Treatment options include:

Rest, ice and elevation- these steps can often help alleviate pain.
Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy and AmnioFix Therapy– Anderson Podiatry Center has been doing these treatments to repair feet and ankle tears longer than anyone in the Rocky Mountain region.
Custom orthotics– These are made by a podiatrist from a mold of your actual foot to help give you the best results.
Surgery– If the tendon is torn too badly, surgery may be the best option.

Before starting any treatment, it is extremely important to have your injury properly evaluated. All too often people think they have tendonitis, when in fact they have a tendon tear. The huge problem with this is that the two injuries are treated differently.

Dr. Anderson of Anderson Podiatry Center explains the concern with this. He says, “People have been known to stretch a suspected tendonitis, as it’s recommended sometimes. If the tendon is torn it will damage it more.” He also says how with a mild tear surgery may be avoided with regenerative medicines like Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy and AmnioFix Therapy.

Again, the earlier you get your tendon checked by a podiatrist the better. Podiatrists are able to determine the extent of the injury, and get you the care you need before your injury progresses any further.

Get treated, and get back to your healthy lifestyle!

5 Ways to Fix Your Hallux Limitus- The Pain in Your Big Toe

Posted on July 12, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

Walking is an essential function in your daily life. So, if you experience pain in your toe, especially when you walk, it can be extremely frustrating and debilitating. What’s worse, the pain is often exacerbated with certain footwear, such as flip flops, so now you struggle walking and are limited in what shoes you can wear. Luckily, there are options.

Hallux limitus is an arthritic condition that limits the motion and function of the big toe joint. Hallux limitus is similar to a bunion. It is often painful, and can make it difficult to walk. Some symptoms to look for with hallux limitus are:

A grinding or grating of the big-toe joint when you move it
A bone spur grown on top of the big toe joint
Swelling and inflammation
Deep, aching, chronic pain
Stiffness and limited motion
Overall joint tightness
Difficulty wearing shoes like high heels, flip flops, and other low support shoes

Hallux limitus, like bunions, is progressive! If left untreated the symptoms worsen and turn into hallux rigidus- no motion of the big toe joint
at all. Hallux rigidus is more painful than hallux limitus. The pain can be so severe that it often decreases your activity, makes you afraid to take long walks, and takes away your ability to run altogether.

Also, hallux limitus when left untreated often leads to other foot and ankle problems. When you have such pain in your big toe you often overcompensate to alleviate the pain, which puts extra stress on other parts of your foot and ankle. Now, you not only have pain in your big toe, but your foot and ankle as well.

Hallux limitus is usually caused by two factors: genetics or an injury to the big toe joint. Some people are born with a predisposition to conditions like arthritis or high or low arches, which can all lead to foot problems like hallux limitus later in life. Also, hallux limitus can stem from repetitive movements, or damage to cartilage in the toe.

Again, hallux limitus is progressive, and only gets worse the longer you wait, which is why early treatment is vital! Seeing a podiatrist will reveal the exact stage of your hallux limitus, and then help to determine the most appropriate action to take out of the five common treatments. The treatments include:

Custom Orthotics– Unlike over-the-counter orthotics, custom orthotics, made by a trained podiatrist, take a mold of your actual foot. They then create orthotics specifically designed to correct your individual foot problems.
Cortisone Injections- These are injected directly into the joint to reduce swelling and inflammation, however they are only short term solutions that may damage the joint.
Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy– This new tissue regeneration therapy can be used as an alternative to surgery that has a fast recovery time.
AmnioFix Therapy– This new, regenerative medical product containing organic cellular components enhances healing, reduces scar tissue formation, and reduces inflammation.
Surgery– In the more advanced stages of hallux limitus surgery may be needed.

Of the treatments above, the Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy and AmnioFix therapy have shown to be the most successful in early treatments. When used before hallux limitus progresses too far they can even prevent the need for surgery all together. Come visit your podiatrist in Fort Collins or Broomfield for further consultation.

New Treatment for Arthritic Feet and Ankles: Avoiding Joint Replacement or Joint Fusion

Posted on June 28, 2016July 1, 2025 by admin

Arthritic pain in the foot and ankle is on the rise. With our active aging baby boomers many may find their activities starting to be limited because of this affliction. It is common for many to use anti-inflammatories, such as Advil, for pain. Although this may help temporarily with the pain the long term use may have negative effects.

As wear and tear takes place on our joints from use, or in some cases injury, the cartilage begins to wear thin. The cartilage that lines the joint is very slick, and when it begins to diminish you may eventually have bone rubbing against bone resulting in pain.

At the end of the treatment options lies the possibility of surgery to replace the joint. An example of the surgery is an ankle replacement or fusion of a joint. This can be done to the ankle joint or other joints in the foot. Without a joint your pain can go away, but you’ve now created the need for other joints to make up for the lack of motion in the joint that is now fused. Eventually, they may become arthritic. We have a new solution for you!

Before you consider the surgical risk and extreme lay up of a fusion or joint replacement, consider joint denervation. So what is joint denervation? Simply put, it’s the removal of the nerve branch that tells you the joint is painful.

We have had a high success rate with this surgical concept and minimal down time and risk. The idea is to decide which branch supplies the majority of sensation to that joint and remove it. We usually remove one or two nerve branches, and these branches don’t supply muscles, so you are not made weaker. The numbness that you are left with has minimal to no consequences compared to how much the pain is limiting your activities. In the rare event of no improvement you’re no worse off and you still have the more major surgery option.

The nerves we remove are in the lower leg, and the surgery takes less than thirty minutes. Where the nerve is cut it is buried into muscle so the tip of the nerve is not sensitive. People are able to walk immediately or within a few days. Contrast this with a minimum of six weeks, non-weight bearing recovery when a joint is fused, on top of the increased risk with a major surgery.

So, if you’re facing the pain of arthritis and have the fear of a fusion or joint replacement consider a second look. Don’t give up those activities you like to do, and consider this exciting new option. Please give us a call and we’ll discuss if this is an appropriate procedure for you.