Our Foot & Ankle Care FAQ

Overall, the risks are very low. This is one of the safest treatments we offer.

Mild side effects might include a bit of tenderness or redness at the injection site, lasting at most a couple of days after the procedure. No major side effects have been reported. Again, this is largely due to the immunoprivileged nature of perinatal tissue.

Remember as well that this tissue is only taken from scheduled C-sections, so doctors have a lot of time in advance to make sure the donor tissue is healthy. That’s followed by rigorous secondary screening, sterilization, and cryopreservation. By the time the tissue is ready to be used as an injectable, the risk of any contamination is remote.

Furthermore, because perinatal tissue injections do not require any kind of accompanying injection of medications (including anesthesia), there’s really nothing else that could cause any kind of adverse reaction. All of the “ingredients” being injected are natural components that your body already uses anyway.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for a perinatal tissue care specialist, 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.

Unlike other types of organ or tissue transplants from donors, there is virtually no risk of rejection with perinatal tissue injections.

This is a special property of perinatal tissue. Since baby’s body and mom’s body aren’t necessarily biologically compatible, the perinatal tissue is naturally “immunoprivileged,” acting as a defensive barrier to prevent mom’s immune system from mistakenly attacking the growing fetus.

The unintended but very welcome benefit of this state of affairs is that your body won’t attack perinatal tissue either after an injection. You don’t have to be pregnant or even female for it to work.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

Injections made from perinatal or amniotic tissue are sometimes advertised as a “stem cell” therapy, but that’s misleading at best.

Although perinatal tissue does naturally contain stem cells, by the time the tissue makes its way to the injectable form, there are no living stem cells remaining.

However, the growth factors and other key proteins that remain in the injectable material help “recruit” the stem cells you already have in your own body, directing them to the site of injury to repair the damage.

So it would be fair to say that stem cells are involved, but they are your own stem cells. You are not being injected with them.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

This is probably the most common question we get, and the good news is that you don’t have to worry!

Perinatal tissue is not fetal tissue. Instead, the tissue is gathered only after a healthy delivery by planned C-section. Mothers give their consent in advance to donate the tissue, and neither the mother nor the baby are harmed (or even affected) in any way.

Normally, perinatal tissue would simply be discarded as “medical waste,” but this way it can be reused to provide healing to others!

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for a perinatal tissue care specialist, 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 injection of cortisone is meant to alleviate painful symptoms quickly, for a relatively long period of time. But it doesn’t really help your body heal itself—at least not directly. It is merely a temporary “mask” for the pain, which can buy you time to address the root causes of the injury via other means. Cortisone injections also come with a risk of tissue damage, particularly if you get too many of them in too short a timeframe.

Perinatal tissue injections, by contrast, help with both pain and causes of pain. The injections will actually help power your body’s repair mechanisms so that you don’t just feel better—you get better, too. Having said that, perinatal tissue injections are not a magic bullet for permanent pain relief, especially if there are mechanical underlying factors (such as flat feet or other structural foot problems). In these cases, we may recommend other treatments (such as 3D-printed custom orthotics) to help you prevent the injury from returning.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, is another type of regenerative injection therapy that we offer at Austin Foot and Ankle Specialists.

There are a lot of surface similarities between the treatments. Both are injectable treatments packed with growth factors and other proteins that help your body accelerate repairs. Both are 100% natural and safe, made from materials derived from biological tissue.

In the case of PRP, that tissue is your own. A sample of your blood is drawn, spun in a centrifuge, and then recombined (after removing the red blood cells) to create a solution highly concentrated in platelets—which contain the growth factors and other essential tissue repair nutrients.

Both treatments can be highly effective in the right circumstances, but they aren’t exactly interchangeable, either. Whether we recommend one or the other will depend on the specific particulars of your situation.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

Because perinatal tissue is meant to nourish a growing fetus, it’s packed with growth factors, proteins, and other nutrients that are absolutely critical for the tissue growth and regeneration process. A single injection into an area that is experiencing pain can dramatically accelerate the healing process by giving your cells exactly what they need to conduct repairs, and even “recruit” neighboring stem cells to join the cause.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

The term “perinatal” literally means “around birth,” and the word is usually used to refer to the time period just before and after birth—usually from a few weeks before to a few weeks after.

Perinatal tissue, however, refers to the organs and tissues that surround and nourish a child in the womb—such as the amniotic sac and tissue, amniotic fluid, umbilical cord, and placenta.

Perinatal tissue injections, as you might imagine, are made from this tissue—after it’s been carefully screened, processed, and preserved.

Are You Looking for a Perinatal Tissue Care Specialist in Austin, TX?

If you are looking for perinatal tissue 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.

To a large degree, this falls under preference rather than right or wrong. There are advantages to both styles.  Whenever possible, we suggest that your doctor goes with a full-length orthotic because it will not slide or shift in your shoes and therefore is more efficient. With that being said, a possible disadvantage of a full-length orthotic may arise when switching from shoe to shoe. Because the shape of the toe area varies from one shoe to another, an orthotic may fit perfectly in one shoe but not in another shoe you may wish to wear. Conversely, a partial-length orthotic does not have this issue and can be easily transferred from shoe to shoe.  However, this style has a tendency to shift or move in the shoe until it has been worn for a time and allowed to “settle into” the shoe.  This is usually only a factor in the first week or two of wear. 

You Might Need More Than One Orthotic 

The advantage of being able to wear an orthotic in various shoe or sneaker styles does have limits.  An orthotic made for some shoes will function differently than an orthotic made for a sneaker. Orthotics made for dressy or fashionable styles are often too narrow to function correctly in what usually is a larger sneaker, work boot, or conservative dress shoe. This is why many people ultimately get more than one pair of orthotics as they do not like to go without the support and comfort that the orthotics provide for any length of time.

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.

Although this varies, our experience has shown us that orthotics last for many, many years—five to ten for most people. The top cover that overlies the actual plastic orthotic usually lasts from six months to five years or more for most people – depending on such variables as activity and time-worn. For example, a full-time construction worker will wear their orthotics differently than an administrator who spends much of their day behind a desk. With that being said, many people go for years without wearing down their top covers to any degree. The good news is that it is relatively inexpensive to replace the top cover and “refurbish” your orthotics once every year or two.

You Might Outgrow Your Orthotics as Your Condition Improves 

As a general rule, depending on the severity of your instability, once you “break-in” the orthotics and they have been assessed or adjusted by your doctor, the orthotics will not move or change much over time. In some instances, if your instability is rather severe, you can achieve a better structural position with your feet over time. In this case, you may choose to be reassessed by your doctor in a year or two and, in some instances, a better degree of correction can be attained.

If this is the case, a new orthotic made in an even more corrected position can improve your alignment even further and thereby allow you even better results. The great thing about this type of custom orthotic is its ability to be adjusted. In many instances, a similar result can be achieved by a simple adjustment that your doctor can many times do in the office while you wait. It is because of these factors that you should follow up with your doctor and have your orthotics and your structural position assessed periodically so that you can maximize your results and your functional capacity to the greatest degree possible.

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.

From pain relief to biomechanical corrections, there are many benefits of orthotics for those with foot problems. An orthotic device slipped into your shoe can redistribute weight and reduce pressure in bothersome areas. This helps to alleviate pain and discomfort caused by conditions like plantar fasciitis, for example.

Orthotics also provide additional support for arches and ankles, increasing stability and possibly even preventing falls in older people. Podiatrists can even make custom orthotics that mold to your unique feet and address your specific problems. Although they will eventually provide additional comfort, orthotics shoe inserts do take some getting used to. There will be a period of “breaking-in” time, but once you get used to them, you’ll be amazed at the difference they make.

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.

This is not a straight yes or no question as the answer is highly dependant upon first, the level of instability of the muscles that cross the ankle and second, the type and or construction of the AFO.  As a general rule, if the reason you are wearing the AFO is primarily an ankle instability issue, then in most cases you can run and be very active in the AFO just as many professional athletes wear knee braces during play.

With that being said, there are varying materials that these braces are made of and some are more designed for strenuous activity than others.  You should always ensure that you communicate to your doctor that you wish to run or do other activities in your AFO so that information can be taken into account with the construction and design of your particular device.

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.