Dr. John and staff believe that informed patients are better equipped to make decisions regarding their health and well being. For your personal use, we have created an extensive patient library covering an array of educational topics. Browse through these diagnoses and treatments to learn more about topics of interest to you. Or, for a more comprehensive search of our entire Web site, enter your term(s) in the search bar provided.
Also visit www.foothealthfacts.org to learn more about what conditions are treated by podiatric foot & ankle surgeons.
Many patients ask:
What is the difference between a podiatric surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon?
The short answer is that both podiatrists and orthopedists perform surgery on the foot and ankle. This is similar to neurosurgeons and orthopedists both performing back surgery or dermatologists and plastic surgeons both performing cosmetic surgery.
Yet there are some distinctions in choosing a podiatric surgeon for your foot and ankle care:
- While being the same 4 year length as osteopathic (DO) and allopathic (MD) medical school and covering the same basic and clinical sciences, the podiatric medical school curriculum provides additional intense focus on conditions of the foot, ankle and lower leg.
- Podiatric surgeons typically complete 3 years of intense residency training in complex foot and ankle surgery. General orthopedists who desire to pursue additional training in foot and ankle surgery typically complete a 1 year fellowship.
- As Fellows of the American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons, podiatric surgeons remain among a group of the only physicians who are Board Certified in Foot Surgery and/or Reconstructive Rearfoot Surgery.
Tarsal coalition is a bone condition that causes decreased motion or absence of motion in one or more of the joints in the foot. The bones found at the top of the arch, the heel, and the ankle are referred to as the tarsal bones. A tarsal coalition is an abnormal connection between two of the tarsal bones in the back of the foot or the arch. This abnormal connection between two bones is most commonly an inherited trait.
The lack of motion or absence of motion experienced in a tarsal coalition is caused by abnormal bone, cartilage, or fibrous tissue growth across a joint. When excess bone has grown across a joint, it may result in restricted or a complete lack of motion in that joint. Cartilage or fibrous tissue growth can restrict motion of the affected joint to varying degrees, causing pain in the affected joint and/or in surrounding joints.
Symptoms usually include an aching sensation deep in the foot near the ankle or arch, accompanied by muscle spasms on the outside of the affected leg. Nonsurgical treatments, such as corrective shoes or custom orthotics, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medication, are the first courses of action. Note: Please consult your physician before taking any medications. Surgery is sometimes performed in severe cases to allow for more normal motion between the bones or to fuse the affected joint or surrounding joints.