Category: Podiatry Problems

Children’s bodies grow and change so much in the first years of life that it can be hard to know what is normal, and what is not – which is why we get many parents calling or asking about podiatry for kids.

From flat feet to pigeon toes, ingrown toenails and making sure shoes fit correctly, our Redlands podiatrists are trained professionals in matters relating to the feet, toes, and lower limbs for every member of the family.

While there are many reasons a parent might seek out podiatry help for their child, some of the more common concerns are listed below.

Lower Limb Development

The good news is that often what might seem abnormal compared to adult feet, is quite common in children.

Things like pigeon toe (in toeing), duck feet (feet that turn out), bowed legs, knock knees, flat feet, even walking only on their tip toes, can be normal in young children, and in most cases will resolve on their own by the time a child reaches school age.

However if you notice that your child has developed an unusual gait, for example limping or favouring one side; or that they seem to trip or fall a lot more than their peers, taking your child to a podiatrist for an assessment is a good idea.

Uneven shoe wear can also be a sign that there is a problem with your child’s biomechanics (ie the way that they are walking and moving), which could potentially cause extra strain on muscles, ligaments and joints, or even increase the risk of injury.

Pain, Injury and Infection

Carrying the full weight of our body is no easy feat for our feet, no matter what age we may be!

Your child may complain of pain from an easily identifiable cause such as a plantar wart or an ingrown toenail, both of which could benefit from a visit to your local podiatrist for treatment so your child is running around again in no time.

However sometimes it may seem that there is no apparent reason for your child to be experiencing leg or foot pain.

A condition known as “Sever’s disease” may cause heel pain in one or both feet, and is most commonly seen in children between the ages of about eight and fourteen, particularly those who lead an active life. While this is one of those conditions that children do grow out of, in the meantime your local podiatrist is able to help with managing symptoms and reducing pain.

What about Growing Pains?

Some children suffer from growing pains, and even though we don’t fully understand the cause, the pain is very real.

Growing pains tend to occur in the muscles of the legs and get worse later in the day, even interrupting your child’s sleep – only to disappear in the morning. If your child is affected, try gently massaging the affected area, some over the counter pain relief, or a wheatie or hot water bottle to help with symptoms and soothing your child.

If however you notice that your child is experiencing pain during the day, is limping, or otherwise unwell, or their leg is sore to touch, further investigation is warranted as it could be a sign of an underlying virus, infection, or other problem requiring treatment.

How to Look after your Child’s Feet

While the usual foot care tips apply, there are a couple of extra things to be aware of when it comes to looking after your child’s feet:

• There is no need for shoes (except for warmth) in babies that are not yet walking.
• Your child’s feet can grow up to 17 sizes in the first dozen years of their life, so make sure that they are not restricted by booties, socks, or shoes that are too tight or rigid.
• Such rapid growth can make it tempting to buy your children shoes with plenty of “growing room” – however don’t go overboard, as poorly fitting shoes can increase the risk of injury such as a sprained ankle or foot fractures.

If you are looking for a Redlands podiatrist with experience in podiatry for kids, at Trevor Lane Podiatry we are here to help. You can call us today on 3207 4736 or make a booking online 24/7.

If you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes, suddenly your calendar will fill with appointments for a whole team of health professionals such as a dietitian, optometrist, endocrinologist, and podiatrist, as well as your GP.

Some will help you to manage your condition, while others aim to prevent some of the complications which commonly arise. For example, as a diabetic, your risk of developing foot problems rises significantly due to two common features of the disease:

1. Reduced blood flow to the feet – which means any sores or other problems will take longer to heal; and
2. Reduced sensitivity of the nervous system – which means the diabetic individual may not even notice blisters, pain or sores developing on their feet and lower limbs in the first place.

How Often Should a Diabetic see a Podiatrist?

Due to this increased risk of foot problems, it is recommended that diabetics visit their podiatrist for a diabetic foot assessment regularly; the frequency depends on the type of diabetes.

• Type 1 diabetes – for those with type 1 diabetes, a diabetic foot assessment every six months is advised.
• Type 2 diabetes – the risk is slightly less for those with type 2 diabetes, so an annual checkup is usually recommended.

While podiatry services in Australia generally aren’t covered by Medicare, as an individual with a chronic health condition you may be able to access a rebate if you have a referral from your GP.

What’s Involved in a Diabetic Foot Assessment?

As part of a diabetic foot assessment, your podiatrist will check:

• The blood flow to your feet by recording the pulse rate in two places – on the top of your foot (the dorsalis pedis), and the inside of the ankle (tibialis posterior). Should there be any concerns about reduced blood flow, your GP will be notified and you will need ultrasounds and further investigations.
• Your podiatrist will also check the sensitivity of the nerve endings in your feet. While you have your eyes closed, you will be asked to identify different sensations, such as sharp, blunt, hot, or cold. While most people take these sensations for granted, the nerves can be damaged by diabetes.

You can see why it’s really important for diabetics to take extra care of their feet: The decreased nerve sensitivity means that as a diabetic, you may not feel and therefore notice any sores or other problems; and the reduced blood flow means that the body’s healing ability is impaired.

As a result, if left unnoticed and/or untreated, sores, ingrown toenails and other problems may lead to infection.

Infection can cause serious health complications, such as ulcers and even the possibility of amputation of toes or feet.

Is There a Diabetes Podiatrist Near Me?

At our Redlands podiatry clinic, we offer personal diabetic foot care to help you manage the risk of complications, by providing you with education and support around:

• Foot hygiene and cleanliness;
• Daily foot examination, to check for visual signs of broken skin, punctures, cuts and wounds, because you may not feel or notice them otherwise;
• Cutting toenails correctly, to reduce the risk of cuts and infection;
• Footwear. This is crucial for diabetics, as poorly fitting shoes can lead to blisters, corns, calluses and worse. At our Redlands podiatry clinic we can provide guidance on the type of shoe and features to look for; we even offer a professional shoe fitting service and stock a range of quality footwear.

Regular appointments with your local podiatrist, in conjunction with the care of your GP, dietitian and other allied health professionals, will ensure that any potential problems associated with your condition can be detected as early as possible – when they are far easier to treat.

If you have ever wondered, “Is there a diabetes podiatrist near me?” – then call our Redlands podiatry clinic today on 3207 4736 to organise a diabetic foot assessment. 

I often encounter clients that say things along the line of: “My sprained ankle still hurts after 3 months!” or; “Ever since I had that sprained ankle, my foot has never been quite the same”.

Usually, they are having difficulties with things like wearing high heels or climbing stairs, or perhaps while exercising eg squatting or trying to get a good calf stretch – all because the ankle feels like it is “stuck”.

A sprained ankle is one of the most common sporting injuries, particularly within certain sports such as touch football, netball and basketball. Watching my daughter play netball one weekend recently, I noticed several players experience this terrible traumatic event.

When we sprain or roll our ankle, our immediate reaction is to catch our breath from the pain.

Often it will seem to swell up before our very eyes, or the area will become quite bruised over the next few days, making it quite clear that we’ve sustained some sort of ligament or muscle damage.

But My Sprained Ankle wasn’t even that Bad!

For others, however, there may be no visible signs of injury and they may be able to walk normally pretty much straight away, not realising the damage that’s been done.

It’s only further down the track they gradually realise that their ankle just hasn’t been the same ever since –  3, 6, 12, or even 18 months afterwards!

There are two main reasons why these individuals are experiencing pain and discomfort so long after they sprained their ankle:

1. Twisting, rolling, or spraining your ankle places incredible abnormal forces on the bones and joints in your foot and surrounding structures. With 26 bones and 43 joints in the foot, there is a lot of potential for something to go wrong!
2. Spraining your ankle can disrupt the neurological pathway connecting your foot to your brain. Normally, we don’t need to think about being able to walk; our brain automatically knows the position of our feet, and how to move them. However, an ankle sprain can interrupt these messages between the brain and foot.

As a result, the individual begins to realise that the ankle is still hurting months after the event.

In the immediate aftermath of rolling or spraining your ankle, applying ice will help to reduce swelling and bruising – if it is particularly painful, x-rays may be called for determine if there have been any foot fractures. For many people, a day or two of resting the ankle may well be all that is required to get them back to normal.

If Your Ankle Still Hurts After 3 Months

If pain or discomfort persists however, further treatment may be required. You may find yourself limping in high heels, struggling to sit on the ground with crossed legs, or or even experiencing secondary problems such as sore knees and lower back pain, ever since you injured your ankle.

Fortunately, there is a treatment option: Foot Mobilisation Therapy, a fairly recent development in the field of podiatry. It is a simple process incorporating gentle traction or stretch, while placing the joint through the normal range of movement.

The foot mobilisation technique allows the joint to simply realign itself. Sometimes, the patient may be lucky enough to hear a click or a pop when this happens, though not always. It’s not painful, and the pop or click does not indicate any form of damage – rather, that full range of movement in the joint has been restored.

Treatment for Persistent Ankle Problems

At Trevor Lane Podiatry we are proud to be the first (and currently only) podiatrist in the Redlands providing Foot Mobilisation Therapy.

Once the ankle joint has been gently persuaded back into place, the focus is on restoring the electrical pathways between brain and foot (and vice versa). Your podiatrist may apply kinetic tape, to remind your body how the foot is supposed to function; and you may be prescribed certain exercises to help you regain balance and muscular strength in the affected foot and leg – for example, stretches using a resistance band (or theraband).

Suffering with a sore ankle for several months following a sprain, isn’t something you should just “put up with”, or dismiss as part of “old age”.

If you are suffering any pain or difficulties with movement in the months following an ankle sprain, call for an appointment today on 3207 4736. Although this type of podiatry treatment is not covered by Medicare, at Trevor Lane Podiatry we strive to keep our fees affordable for all.

It may seem strange to think of somebody going to a podiatry clinic, when they actually have a problem with their back.

After all, podiatry is the branch of medicine which diagnoses and treats issues related to the lower limbs – heels, toes, feet, ankles and knees.

And yet I see many patients complaining of leg or heel pain, for example, only to discover that their foot pain is caused by back problems, even though the back itself isn’t hurting!

Is Your Foot Pain Caused by Back Problems?

When I was in Cubs and Scouts years ago, we used to sing about how the knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone, and so on.

We thought it was just a silly song, however in over twenty years of podiatry practice I have come to realise just how much truth it holds: the body is indeed a series of connective tissues, bones, nerves and systems, that all work in harmony with each other.

So when a patient is experiencing foot pain, it could in fact be something called “referred pain”. That is, although they may not have pain there, it is actually a back problem which is causing the symptoms in their feet, knees or legs.

Conversely, lower back pain may actually be related to poor biomechanics of the feet. In such cases, a podiatrist may be able to address the back pain, by prescribing certain shoes or orthotics that improve your overall body balance.

The Connection Between Feet and Back

The lumbar region at the base of the spine consists of five vertebrae, which play a really important role in how we use our lower limbs.

So when a client presents at our podiatry clinic with pain in both feet, we not only check for conditions such as spurs, ligament or tendon damage – but we also need to consider the body as a whole.

It is extremely rare for a patient to have an identical injury in the same location on both feet at the same time. Instead, we usually find that there are lower back issues, or other pathologies such as:

• thyroid disease;
• osteoarthritis;
• limb length discrepancies;
• scoliois (curvature of the spine).

These conditions can put pressure on the nerves, which then refer that pain to whatever they innovate. The lumbar region, for example, refers pain to your legs and feet.

A Whole of Body Approach

This is why a good podiatrist needs to assess your whole body, and not just your lower limbs.

Whatever we do to your lower limbs impacts on your hips, your back, and right up to your neck. When we treat foot pain, we don’t want it to cause an increase in lower back pain or headaches instead!

So in addition to looking at your foot type, the surface you stand on, your shoes and how they are wearing – your podiatrist should also check things like:

• Your body’s symmetry: are your legs the same length? Are your hips and buttocks level? Are your shoulders level or dropped to one side?
• The condition of various muscles: are they tight, or weak?

Because of the way the various parts of our body are connected and impact on each other, there are times when as a podiatrist I may refer a patient to other allied health care professionals.

At our Redlands podiatry clinic, we have a great working relationship with some of the local physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths and the like, to ensure the best of care for the whole of your body in these particular situations.

The Problem with Growing Older

No body is perfect and we all have alignment imperfections. However as we grow older, our body’s ability to deal with these alignment anomalies starts to falter, so symptoms start to appear.

Patients often ask me: Why now? When I was younger I never had this problem!

And that is exactly my point – the body is no longer coping with or compensating for a certain twist in the back, a short leg, a bow in the bone, etc.

So next time you visit our podiatry clinic, don’t be surprised if as well as considering your fallen arches, or sore achilles tendon, we also assess your whole body alignment.

At our Redlands podiatry clinic, we treat each patient as a whole person, rather than just a foot! Call today on 3207 4736 for an appointment, if you are experiencing foot or leg pain.

Participating in sports such as football or netball, or activities such as running, gymnastics or dancing, are the main culprits when it comes to foot fractures.

That’s why there’s a whole branch of our profession, dedicated to sports podiatry!

However even if you’re not into sports, you could sustain a painful foot fracture:

• in a car accident;
• falling from a great height;
• or even after a simple stumble.

And some trivia for you – men tend to be more often affected by foot fractures, than women (even though women are more likely to wear high heels)!

The Foot Care Professionals

Podiatrists are the foot care professionals, undertaking four years of training so that they can provide expert diagnosis, treatment and management of all concerns relating to the feet – toes, ankles, toenails, heels and lower limbs. In order to practice, they must also be registered, which entails keeping up to date on all the latest developments in the foot care field – including the treatment of foot fractures, sprained ankles and the like.

A correct diagnosis is crucial if you are to receive the right treatment – that’s why we recommend a trip to your local podiatry clinic if you have sustained an injury to your foot and are experiencing pain and/or swelling, and suspect a fracture or sprain. Most people think of going to a doctor or hospital Emergency Department, not realising that a podiatrist is the expert when it comes to all things feet.

Sadly, we often see patients at our podiatry clinic, who have already visited a GP or physiotherapist regarding a foot injury – but have not received the correct diagnosis. Often this is because they were never sent for an x-ray, which would have revealed that a foot fracture was present.

You do not require a referral to visit a podiatry clinic, and just like a GP, we can give you a referral for an x-ray to determine if there is a fracture present. Currently there are no out of pocket expenses for these x-rays, as they are covered by Medicare.

Recovering from Foot Fractures

Once your podiatrist has arrived at a diagnosis, they can prescribe the best treatment and rehabilitation options – so you will be running around again in no time!

If you suspect that you may have a foot fracture, or just want some advice on another aspect of foot care, call us today on 3207 4736.