Our Foot & Ankle Care FAQ

 If your bunionette, also known as a tailor’s bunion, is causing daily pain and affecting your mobility, surgery may be recommended. At Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists, you can expect an on-site treatment that is tailor-made (pun intended) for your feet. This foot deformity affects the joint near the small toe, and surgical intervention is used to remove the section of bone that is protruding due to misalignment. If necessary, the affected bone will be repositioned as well. 

After surgery, you will be given specific aftercare instructions that typically include a period of staying off of the affected foot, protecting it with a boot or surgical shoe, and elevating it. Healing times can range from three weeks to twelve weeks, depending on the procedure that is used. Swelling may remain beyond that.

Surgery, even if it’s on the small toe, isn’t a small matter. 

Are You Looking for a Foot Care Doctor in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for foot care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

 

As diabetic peripheral neuropathy progresses, various nerves are affected. These damaged nerves can cause problems that encourage development of ulcers. Deformities resulting from motor neuropathy result in bunion or hammertoes that may rub against other toes or the shoe can create a sore. The numbness caused by sensory neuropathy can make a patient unaware that this is happening. Additionally, cracked and dry skin caused by autonomic neuropathy, combined with sensory neuropathy numbness can also cause a sore.

Are You Looking For Diabetic Foot Care in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for diabetic foot care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

Conditions associated with diabetes can put you at a higher risk of complications. This is especially true if you are a trauma patient who has just undergone surgery. Because the disease affects blood circulation, diabetic patients have a more difficult time fighting off infection. As a result, they remain in the hospital longer and require more aggressive antibiotics. Strict guidelines must be put in place for managing glucose levels that can otherwise cause additional problems. Other risk factors include how advanced the patient’s condition is, and if they are suffering from peripheral vascular disease, a blood flow problem often associated with diabetes. Extra care must be taken of diabetic trauma patients to nullify these complication risks.
 

Are You Looking For Diabetic Foot Care in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for diabetic foot care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

Most people who have searched this content have also found Foot Wounds and Ulcers helpful.

 

There is a new technology that helps detect one of diabetes' most harmful complications.  It is called DDOT or dynamic diffuse optical tomography.  It is a non-invasive, light-based imaging modality developed by researchers at Columbia University that will allow clinicians to diagnose and monitor peripheral artery disease in individuals with diabetes more accurately.

Currently, non-invasive diagnostic methods for detecting PAD (Peripheral Artery Disease) are limited to ankle-brachial index or ABI and lower-limb duplex ultrasound which may not reveal the full picture of blood flow in the extremities in some cases.

DDOT may give clinicians the clearest picture yet of the quality of blood flow in a patient's extremities by obtaining a direct measure of the distal perfusion rather than the surrogate ones yielded by the previously mentioned modalities.  This is accomplished by a near-infrared optical tomography imager to send light through optical fibers into the tissue of the foot via a measuring probe placed around the foot.

If you suspect yourself or someone you know may be suffering from PAD, please make an appointment by calling (512) 328-8900 to determine your risk of complications from this condition.  The doctors at Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists are experts in the diagnosis and detection of PAD.

Are You Looking For Foot Care in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for foot care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

Laser treatment for toenail fungus gets to the root of the problem—fast! In fifteen minutes, you’ll enjoy the benefits of fungus-killing focused light that will bring healing to your unsightly nails. Creams, lacquers, and oral treatments are hit and miss. They may or may not reach the source of your crumbling, yellowing nails. In fact, topical nail applications simply can’t get to the hard-to-reach nail bed.

Enjoy safe, pain-free treatment for your fungal toenails with Blue Shine Laser Therapy. This laser uses light to reach the source of your infection. In as few as 6-9 months, you can expect a new, healthy nail in place of the old, infected one—now that’s a solution that works.

If toenail fungus has you hiding your feet, it’s time to take action. Call Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists at (512) 328-8900 or complete our contact form today to learn more about laser treatment for toenail fungus. Dr. Craig H. Thomajan DPM, FACFAS looks forward to helping you end the embarrassment of fungal nails.

Are You Looking for a Foot Care Doctor in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for foot care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

In a small percentage of the population who has a rather stable foot structure, a good motion control running shoe can reduce the tendency to pronate or collapse the arch during activity and as a result, experience relief from some mild symptoms in their feet, knees, or even backs.  But factually speaking, very few people who suffer from any significant structural problems or who have any significant pathology can go without an orthotic in combination with a good motion control running shoe. 

We highly recommend that our patients get a good, solid and well constructed motion control shoe or sneaker when we dispense their orthotics.  The orthotic and shoe work together to provide maximum stability and corrective position which allows and encourages optimal and non-pathologic function of the foot and ankle during activity. 

Lastly, the "supportive insoles, arch supports or arch cookies" that are promoted to be in these types of shoes and sneakers are obviously generically placed into the shoe or sneaker which simply does not support every individual's arch or foot structure the same way.  This can be an issue for many people.  Any significant degree of asymmetry or difference in foot structure from one foot to the other generally necessitates a custom-made orthotic that will fit and work in conjunction with a well supportive shoe or sneaker.

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics  in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

Yes. Especially if you are competitive or do extensive mileage each week.  Experience has shown us that when the orthotics place the bones of the foot in a more corrected and structurally aligned position, this necessitates less energy expenditure by the muscles of the foot and leg as the bones of the foot lock together and in essence, stay aligned during the thousands of "up and down pistoning motions" while cycling. 

Conversely, when the foot is not in its ideal structural position, it necessitates the muscles of the foot and lower leg to work harder to keep nudging the bones of the foot back into their ideal alignment.  This done over and over during the hours and thousands of downstrokes of the cycling action, causes the muscles to work much harder and predisposes them and even the bones of the foot to injury from overuse.  

Almost one for one, the cyclists who use these types of orthotics in their cycling shoes have relayed they go faster and longer using less energy and experiencing significantly less "fatigue" during cycling.  Depending on the style of cycle shoe, you may necessitate a pair specifically for that activity but for the most part, the orthotics that you can put into your sneakers or lace-up dress shoes fit into cycling shoes. 

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics  in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

The answer to this frequently asked question is in fact neither.  This is to say that neither a "hard" or "soft" orthotic is better or in fact ideal.  An orthotic, when properly made, should be hard enough to gently support and realign the bones of your foot yet be soft enough to compress slightly during activity to allow your foot to function properly.  Your foot is dynamic - it is not rigid or static in nature.  Therefore, the best performing orthotic is one that is dynamic because it both supports and flexes in a controlled manor during activity.  The Total Contact Orthotics your doctor uses does just that.

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics  in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

An Ankle-foot orthotic is a brace, usually made of plastic that supports your foot, ankle and lower leg.  Ankle-foot orthotics are used in cases where there is a need to support not just the foot but also the ankle in a more controlled and restrictive manner.  Often the patient that requires this type of device has had or needs major reconstructive foot and ankle surgery, has a neuromuscular disease, or has had some degree of nerve damage which requires more than the standard degree of support offered by a foot orthotic alone.

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

If your doctor has recommended that you get a custom functional orthotic because your problem is based on a fundamental instability you have in your bone structure which results in your body going out of its proper alignment, it is wise to way out the long term ramifications of not addressing this instability now rather than wait till later.  Remember that this misalignment is the cause of the aches and pains that brought you to your doctor in the first place. 

The orthotics that your doctor uses correct and restores normal alignment and function which almost always results in better alignment and factually speaking - better alignment means greater comfort!  Often our doctors relay to us that their patients say that the realignment of their feet leads to less ankle, knee, hip, and low back pain in addition to addressing the heel or arch pain that they came to the doctor to get handled.

The point is that not restoring proper alignment can lead to further problems in the future, not just in your feet, but higher up in the various joints and muscles of your entire body.  If an orthotic can help prevent these things as your doctor has advised, then you simply run the risk of developing problems in the future if you ultimately decide not to get them.

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

You need to break in an orthotic because the orthotic changes the way you walk by changing the alignment of the bones of your foot into a more corrective position.  This change of position, despite being of great benefit to the foot and the rest of the body, changes the way that the muscles move and function in a relatively short period of time.  This change can be dramatic because it causes many muscles that were working too hard to work less hard and conversely, muscles that were not doing their fair share to suddenly snap to and do their share of the work.

We use a gradual, common sense break-in period that generally increases your orthotic wear a few hours each day until you are wearing them comfortably full time within a one to two week period.

Are You Considering Custom Orthotics in Austin, TX?

If you are considering custom orthotics, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.

You absolutely can get a pedicure with a fungal infection, but it is important to honestly address the situation with the salon ahead of time. When doing so, find out if the salon has the proper sterilization practices and necessary tools to handle fungal nails. Keep in mind that you may be asked to bring in your own polishes and tools.

If you find yourself wondering whether it is safe to get a pedicure while having fungal nails, it might be time to look into treatment options to eradicate the fungus and restore your nails to their natural, healthy condition. Our practice offers laser therapy using the HyperBlue 1530, which is an FDA-approved machine, to eliminate toenail fungus at the source. This is a safe, effective, and painless procedure to clear up your nails. We also offer other treatment methods for dealing with this embarrassing condition.

Are You Looking for a Toenail Fungus Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for toenail fungus care, you should reach out to an experienced podiatrist. Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists can help. Our office provides a wide variety of advanced, effective treatment options for all kinds of painful conditions. Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call our Austin office at 512.328.8900.