Category Archives: Non-surgical solutions

Cold Weather Foot Care

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Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we’re already feeling the chill in the air. You probably noticed the recent cold snap we just had. It’s always important to take good care of your feet, but it’s especially important in the winter. We put our feet at risk in the rain, snow, and ice; we wear the wrong kinds of shoes when we exercise or go outside to play with our kids.

People suffering from diabetes need to be especially careful with their feet in the cold weather. Don’t ever go outside barefoot! Doing so puts you at risk for cuts and bruises and even frostbite if exposure is prolonged. Always wear shoes that are supportive and fit properly. In bad weather, wear boots or shoes that won’t allow water in, and limit the amount of time you spend outdoors. And wear shoes that are close-toed whenever possible. Late fall and winter is no time for sandals.

Don’t forget your socks! Socks should be snug – not loose and not too tight, either. They should never bunch up around the toes. And if your shoes and socks get wet, take them off and dry your feet and toes thoroughly before putting on a dry pair.

When you do remove your socks and shoes, take some time to inspect your feet for any cuts or bruises. You can even use a small mirror to check the bottoms of your feet. This is important for diabetics because you may have injuries that you don’t feel because of damaged nerves in your feet, or neuropathy. Neuropathy is a complication of diabetes that is dangerous because it can lead to a wound that becomes infected, and if left untreated, could even result in amputation.

If you have diabetes and are concerned about the health of your feet, make an appointment with one of the podiatrists at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center. You can call  us at (919) 850-9111 or request an appointment online. Our doctors have decades of experience caring for people with diabetes, and they’ve seen everything from neuropathy to painful diabetic foot ulcers. Make an appointment with us today. We’ll get you back on your feet.

Foot Care Tips for Diabetic Feet

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November is Diabetes Awareness Month!

We always encourage our patients to do their part for happy, healthy feet. This is even further stressed for our diabetic patients! Diabetes can significantly affect lower extremity health. Sometimes impacts can be devastating and irreversible, like amputation.

We ask that all diabetic patients and their family and friends be involved in ensuring they have proper foot hygiene. Diabetic feet can have nerve damage, skin changes, ulceration, poor circulation, and other problems. Here are some important tips to remember:

  • Good glycemic control is key! Without this, you will constantly be fighting an uphill battle from a healing perspective as well as advancement of the many negative side effects that can happen to feet. Work with your primary care physician to determine a diet and exercise plan that works for you.
  • Check your feet daily! Always look for any cuts, scrapes, lesions, blisters, swelling, etc. If you can’t easily see the bottom of your feet, use a mirror to evaluate or ask a family member to help.
  • Wash your feet daily and make sure you dry well between your toes. Keep your feet well moisturized, except between the toes, and make sure that your feet are always covered.
  • It is very important to never go barefoot. Also, don’t expose your feet to any hot or cold environments! If you lost some sensation to your feet, you won’t be able to tell if the environment is beyond what your skin can handle. With winter approaching this means there is a risk of developing frostbite.

Don’t forget, diabetes is the leading cause of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations! For more information about diabetes and how it affects your feet, please visit our website.

At Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center we leave some flexibility and availability for our diabetic patients to schedule same day appointments. Call us at (919) 850-9111 or request an appointment online.

For more information about diabetes and how it affects your feet, please check out the following resources:

The American Diabetes Association

American Podiatric Medical Association

Feet, Feet, Feet

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Dr. Woelffer and family

As everyone knows, feet are everywhere—especially at the neighborhood pool! As I was “swimming” with my kids, (“swimming” means getting squirted on by squirt guns, throwing them around until my rotator cuffs are on fire, and playing “Ariel” on my stomach on the pool steps), one of the neighborhood moms said to me, “Do you do kids?”

“Do you do kids?”

Why, yes, we do; big kids, little kids, tiny baby kids, and teenage/college kids. We do kids all day long. Turns out, kids have feet, too! We love treating kids at our medical practice. All of our doctors have kids, so we are used to the quiet ones, the loud ones, the hungry ones, and even the scared ones. For me, there is nothing better than working to get a high-five from a little kid who is not excited to be at the doctor. That’s my goal every time I meet one!!

Happy to Help

At Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center, we see kids from newborns with congenital deformities to college athletes with major injuries. We see warts, ingrown toenails, flatfeet, and injuries suffered in the home. All of our doctors are board certified foot surgeons happy to help—usually without surgery. So, the next time you or a friend is wondering about a foot or ankle problem, remember this blog—yep, we do kids. And we love it!

Relieve Your Heel Pain!

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Heel pain – ouch! We’ve all experienced it at some point in our lives. Heel pain conditions vary from plantar fasciitis to heel spurs to Achilles tendinitis. Treatments also vary from taking some time off your feet to rest, trying out some stretching and icing techniques, physical therapy, and taking anti-inflammatory medications.

Another way to relieve heel pain is to wear orthotic shoe inserts. Usually these inserts are cushioned in specific areas to relieve pain and pressure from a particular part of the foot. They could be as small as a foam heel pad or as large as a full-length insole.

If you need to purchase over the counter items for your heels, you should check out Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center’s online store! It is a great way to get all of the over the counter items we provide in our office, without the hassle of stopping in. If you need to order more BioFreeze for your joint pain, or a new set of leather full-length shoe inserts for your heel pain, you can do it all from the comfort of your home! Just visit our online store and browse by the type of product or the condition you suffer from.

For example, if you’re currently suffering from plantar fasciitis, you may want to look at foam heel pads or silicone heel cups to reduce stress and strain on your heels.Or maybe you want to look at our over the counter shoe inserts, which can be three-quarter length or full-length, and range from leather inserts for dress shoes to synthetic inserts for athletic shoes. There are lots of options for whatever your needs are. Visit our online store today!

The doctors at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center have decades of experience diagnosing and treating plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis, and other conditions that cause heel pain. Call our office at (919) 850-9111 or visit our website today to schedule your appointment and get your feet back to being pain free!

I Need Bunion Surgery – Or Do I?

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Do I need bunion surgery?

Bunions are bony bumps at the big toe and little joint areas of the foot. Usually, they are an inherited condition that worsens with age. They can be big bunions that do not hurt much, or they can be small bunions that hurt like crazy!

The key to “bunion happiness” is pain control. A goal should not be glamorous beauty, but comfortable walking. Our feet should feel good!

Podiatrists have many treatments to help bunions of all sizes. Of course, low-risk, high-reward treatments are the best starting point: proper footwear, toe splints, custom orthotics, oral and injectable medications, and physical therapy techniques.

Surgical treatment is sometimes necessary for bunions. Surgery is usually performed in a hospital or surgery center by a board-certified podiatrist, under sedation monitored by an anesthesiologist. Patients usually go home the same day, resting and taking pain medication as needed. Time off work and time off your feet will vary for different patients, but most patients can expect to return to normal activities in a few weeks.

Bunions aren’t fun to deal with, and bunion treatment never fits into our busy lives, but getting a plan from your podiatrist is a good starting point. Visit your podiatrist, and you might be pleasantly surprised about what you learn.

To schedule your appointment today, call our office at (919) 850-9111 or visit our website to request an appointment.

Dare to Bare Your Bunions!

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Dare to bare your bunions

There may be a few cold spells left this winter, but the warm weather days are within our reach. Once the sun comes out to stay and the days warm up, it will be time to break out the sandals and open-toed shoes. Are you ready for this, or are those bunions on your feet making you want to hide them away forever?

Here’s what you need to know about bunions to help ease your mind:

A bunion is what happens when your big toe begins to move towards the rest of your smaller toes, commonly accompanied by a bump on the inside edge of the big toe. A bunion can often be recognized by red and calloused skin along the bump and swelling of the big toe joint, with stiffness and decreased range of motion. Bunions often cause pain during walking or while wearing tightly fitting shoes.

Bunions can be aggravated by anything from tight-fitting or high-heeled shoes to genetics to the way your foot falls when you walk or run (pronation). So if you have bunions, what can you do about them?

At Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center, we start with a diagnosis: once we have confirmed you have bunions, there are a number of different treatment options, depending on what we (the podiatrists) feel is the best option for your bunion. Depending on the severity of the bunion and the level of pain or discomfort it causes, your options could range from changing shoes or adding orthotic shoe inserts, to using corrective braces and other comfort devices. Sometimes surgery is an option as well, if nothing else has worked and the pain is continuing to cause problems, affecting quality of life. Each method of treatment has proven successful, depending on the individual patient.

 

Here at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center, we are focused on making sure you, our patient, is the priority: we don’t want you to fear baring your feet in the summer sun simply because of a bunion problem. If you are worried about your bunion, stop worrying and come visit the foot doctors at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center. We’ll make sure your bunions are treated and taken care of!

Flat Feet Got You Down?

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When you stand for long periods of time, do your feet become painful? Maybe they tire easily, or maybe you have pain in your arch or heel. Do you ever experience swelling in the arch or the heel, or have difficulty moving your foot around and standing on your toes? These are all symptoms of flat feet.

Take a look at the bottoms of your feet. What do they look like? Do you have arches to rival McDonald’s, or do they more closely resemble a pancake? Many times, people have had flat feet all their lives, but never felt any pain from them. Sometimes, flat feet can become painful as life goes on. If your flat feet are causing you pain, what is there to do about it?

 

Flat Feet

 

First things first: what exactly does it mean to have flat feet?

You may have heard of another term associated with flat feet: pronation. Pronation is what happens when weight-bearing causes your arches to collapse; the inside of your ankle appears to roll toward the ground. There are two types of flat feet that can result in pronation: a flexible flat foot or a structural flat foot. If the arch collapses as the foot hits the ground, this is a flexible flat foot. If the arch stays flat all the time, regardless of the stress the foot is under, this is called a structural, or rigid, flat foot.

So who can have flat feet?

Anybody can have flat feet, whether you’re a child or an adult. The difference is in how it presents itself in each population. Most children with flat feet have a flexible flat foot, which is not usually painful. Generally both of their feet will be flat, but it can be just on one side. We often times prescribe custom inserts to encourage good support to the feet and to alleviate over-stressing certain tendons and ligaments. We also find adults tend to have progressive flat feet, that continue to get worse with age and activity. Custom inserts often times can prevent further stressing of the posterior tibial tendon, a problem which can cause pain and arthritis.

Now that I know about my flat feet, what can I do about them?

There are many ways to treat flat feet. The first thing your doctor will probably do is modify your footwear. Sometimes a simple change in shoes, or an insertion of custom foot orthotics, can make all the difference. An orthotic designed especially for your feet can support your arches and ease that flat-footed pain. If that doesn’t work, there are a number of other treatments available, such as medicines or injections, rest, physical therapy, as well as other treatments. The right treatment for your foot depends on the type of flat foot you have and how much pain it is causing you.

 

If you’re tired of feet as flat as boards and the pain they cause, come visit us at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center. Here you will find the right treatment and diagnosis for your feet. The doctors at Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center will be sure to get you back on your feet (without the pain) as soon as possible!

 

To schedule an appointment with one of our podiatrists, please call our office at (919) 850-9111 or use our online Request an Appointment form. We serve patients from Raleigh, Cary and Wake Forest in Wake County, NC and surrounding communities in and around the Raleigh-Durham Area and the rest of North Carolina. Hablamos Español.
 
At Raleigh Foot & Ankle Center, we are dedicated to giving our patients the information they need to get back on their feet as soon as possible. Our goal is to educate you so that you better understand your foot and ankle injuries. Our informational brochures will help you learn what it takes to be back to the activities you love in no time at all. If you would like your free copies of our brochures, please request your copies here!