Pediatric podiatry
Correcting certain conditions in our childhood will be the key to avoiding problems as adults. See a podiatrist so that with a correct diagnosis and treatment we can become healthy and balanced adults.
Sometimes it can be due to a bad alignment of our foot or an incorrect footprint.
Some common pathologies in children may be:
– Ingrown toenails.
– Papillomas or plantar warts.
– Toe-in or toe-out gait.
– Flat feet.
– Heel pain (Sever) sometimes caused by growth or impact sports.
Geriatric foot
In an increasingly long-lived population, the feet of our elders suffer as the years go by. We pay special attention to palliate deformities and atrophies as much as possible to enable our elders to have a good quality of life and allow them to lead an increasingly active life.
Some of the pathologies that can occur in patients of this type:
– Onychogryphosis: deterioration of the nails which is usually associated with thickening and alterations in colour and which is sometimes very annoying due to the pressure exerted by footwear.
– Arthritis and arthrosis, which causes digital deformities in the forefoot, sometimes the solution is surgery, but in cases where the patient, due to advanced age, does not decide to have surgery, the solution is to make custom-made silicone orthoses to alleviate the discomfort caused by footwear.
– Deterioration of the plantar fat, the plantar fat has a cushioning effect on the sole of the foot, to alleviate this discomfort sometimes the solution is to make custom-made plantar supports with an accommodating and comfortable effect for our patients.
Diabetic foot
What is it?
It is a foot that usually presents certain alterations both at a neurological level, such as loss of sensitivity, and at a vascular level, alterations both at a venous and arterial level.
It is essential that a qualified professional monitors the health of the foot in this type of patient.
The use of personalised plantar supports if necessary and a periodic check-up to check both the sensitivity and vascularisation of the foot is essential to avoid the dreaded amputations in diabetics, which end up causing a high cost for social security and a problem in the quality of life of these patients.
Sometimes the best way to control these patients is in a multidisciplinary team, where nurse, podiatrist and vascular surgeon must go hand in hand to have our patients well controlled, as they say “prevention is better than cure”.
Fungal infections
Sometimes they must be treated with creams, as in the case of dermatomycosis or athlete’s foot, and if the problem persists it is advisable to take a skin biopsy to see what is happening. Prevention and good foot hygiene and the correct use of footwear and socks are key to avoiding these problems.
When the fungus affects the nails (onychomycosis) it can be treated with different nail varnishes or nail polishes and if the infection persists a culture of the nail is done and in this case after a previous analysis of the liver function an oral treatment can be prescribed to eliminate the mycosis. In this case, we use a laser treatment which is completely painless and highly effective.
Sweating (Hyperhidrosis)
The feet have around 250,000 sweat glands. Good hygiene and the use of suitable materials in both socks and footwear for our day to day lives helps to reduce excess sweating. Sometimes it is advisable to visit a professional to prescribe a product to treat this alteration, whether it is a product sold in pharmacies or made to measure for each patient (magistral formula).
Hallux valgus (bunions)
Hallux Valgus or bunion is the deformity of the first metatarsophalangeal joint of our foot, sometimes it is determined by the shape of the bones of our foot or by an alteration in the soft parts (tendons that generate tensions that cause the toe to deviate), it can be caused by the way we step, sometimes by the use of inappropriate footwear.
Sometimes a custom-made plantar support can alleviate some of the discomfort caused by this deformity and other times it is more effective in a surgery that, depending on the degree of deformity, will have to be more or less aggressive.
It is an outpatient procedure performed under local anaesthesia and the patient usually has a good postoperative period and a quick return to normal life.
Morton's neuroma
What is it? Thickening of the intermetatarsal nerve in the third space, caused by an increase in pressure in this space or by the use of inappropriate footwear (high heeled shoes) or because the patient has compromised this space. Treatment depends on the stage of this pathology, and can range from conservative treatment: infiltrations, use of personalised plantar supports or radiofrequency to surgical treatment, where a resection of the nerve is usually carried out to provide definitive treatment for this problem.
Claw toes
It is usually alterations in the toes that are very uncomfortable with certain types of footwear due to alterations in the tendons and bones of the foot. In cases where conservative treatment is not sufficient (change of footwear or use of silicones), it is necessary to resort to surgical treatment.
Plantar warts
Plantar warts are very contagious when we frequent public baths, swimming pools and spas. The causes can be very diverse and the treatments are specific for each case. At Clinica del Pie Buenavista, we help you to prevent them and to treat them if you suffer from them. There are different ways to treat these warts, from topical treatment with a product, multipuncture (under local anaesthesia), surgery in the case of more stubborn or recurrent lesions or even the use of k-laser, where the only thing the patient notices is an increase in temperature in the area.
Helomas
It is the result of the foot rubbing against the materials of the footwear, friction, or irregularities in the bony part of the feet. The use of custom-made insoles is one of the best defences against helomas.
Odour on the feet
Due to the bacterial flora that inhabits our skin sometimes there is an alteration and causes bad smell, sometimes it can be due to inappropriate footwear, some work shoes such as the dreaded safety boots or even fungal infections or alterations in sweating due to some hormonal cause.
In order to do this, the patient must be assessed and an attempt made to find the source of this annoying problem and to recommend the most effective treatment for each case.
In this case, good hygiene and a correct education in healthy habits are also important.
Hardness
Hardness usually appears on the feet due to an increase in pressure on some part of the sole of the foot, which in these cases can give us clues about the patient’s way of walking. It is usually eliminated with the use of a scalpel and sometimes it is advisable to use plantar supports in order to eliminate this pressure.
Other times it can be caused by the rubbing of footwear as a consequence of a toe deformity. For this reason, silicones are sometimes made to measure to avoid this rubbing.
Plantar fasciitis
Plantar fasciopathies are a problem that causes us podiatrists a lot of headaches and where the causes can be very diverse, from a biomechanical alteration in some types of patients (flat feet, pes cavus), increased physical activity, type of footwear, etc. The treatment of choice in some cases is plantar supports.
The treatment of choice in some cases is plantar supports, sometimes ultrasound-guided infiltrations are used and in this case interdisciplinary treatment is very important, where the physiotherapist helps us to recover this type of patient.
It is very important that the patient is aware that the plantar support alone does not recover from this discomfort, it is very important that they are aware that they must perform a series of exercises at home in order to recover.
Ingrown toenail
It can happen that the toenail grows into the skin creating a serious infection. The most common causes are inadequate nail cutting, too tight shoes, stockings or socks, poor perspiration of the foot or even a blow to the nail.
It is done on an outpatient basis under local anaesthesia and depending on the stage of the infection or deformity, one technique or another can be chosen.
We have a high number of patients in our clinic who have undergone surgery with a high rate of satisfaction and with their problem solved for life. In the last year we have incorporated a new technology to solve this problem such as the use of laser (K-laser®) to eliminate the matrix of the nail and solve the problem.