"Electric" Foot Bandage May Help Diabetics

A patented bandage with tiny batteries that run micro-currents through a wound to kill bacteria may hold promise for healing the stubborn foot ulcers that plague so many diabetics. "This electrical activity kills bacteria, keeps the wound clean and, in the studies we've had so far, has shown that this stimulates the wounds to heal," said Jeffry Skiba, president and CEO of Vomaris Innovations, based in Chandler, Ariz.

- "Electric" Foot Bandage May Help Diabetics video

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Most Neuromas Don't Need Surgery

Anyone who has experienced the shooting pain, and occasional burning, numbness and pins-and-needles sensation, of a neuroma of the foot remembers how he would have eagerly submitted to any kind of surgery to relieve the torture. But nowadays, surgery is only the most extreme intervention after three other remedies have been tried. A so-called Morton's neuroma is an abnormal fibrous growth around a foot nerve, usually in the metatarsal area between the third and fourth toes. The enlarged tissue, with the nerve in the middle, is squeezed between two metatarsal bones, producing the excruciating pain associated with the condition. It's especially agonizing when the foot is squeezed into a shoe.

- Most Neuromas Don't Need Surgery video

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New Shoe Fashions Are A Podiatrist's Nightmare

The latest shoe fashions from the runways of Milan, London and New York perch a woman so precariously that she's in constant danger of losing her balance and taking a nasty and embarrassing fall. Not to mention the fact that her feet and toes, painfully flexed by the shoes for hours on end, could become permanently damaged. The new shoe styles have the heels of a woman's feet high off the floor, as with traditional high heels - but there's no spike or pillar to support the heel. Instead, the woman balances on her toes and balls of her feet.

- New Shoe Fashions Are A Podiatrist's Nightmare video

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Nailing Toe Fungus

When toenails, or even fingernails, become thick, yellow or white, and crumbly, it's likely you have a nail fungus. Such a condition is not only unsightly, but, if left untreated, can spread to other nails or surrounding skin and can make it uncomfortable or even painful to wear shoes, walk, or stand for a long time. (Read more about Nailing Toe Fungus)

- Nailing Toe Fungus video

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High-Heels Linked to Long Term Ankle Pain

The types of shoes women wear, specifically high-heels, pumps, and sandals may cause future hind-foot (heel and ankle) pain, according to researchers at the Aging Research Institute of Hebrew SeniorLife. Nearly 64 percent of women who reported hind-foot pain regularly wore these types of shoes during some point of their life. Published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, the study is one of the first to examine the association between shoe wear and foot pain.
(Read more about High-Heels Linked to Long Term Ankle Pain)

- High-Heels Linked to Long Term Ankle Pain video

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5 Steps to Healthy Feet for Women

We often take our feet for granted - women included. Only when we get an injury or a bunion or heel pain do we realize that we rely on our two feet for just about everything, and virtually can't do without them.

So, as with every other part of our bodies from which we want to get peak and long-lasting performance, we need to take care of them. Here are some elements of how women can do that, according to Marlene Reid of the Family Podiatry Center in Naperville, Ill. (Read more about 5 Steps to Healthy Feet for Women)

- 5 Steps to Healthy Feet for Women video

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Chronic Heel Pain Eases After Radiofrequency Therapy

Applying a special radiofrequency treatment to patients with chronic heel or tendon pain significantly reduces or even eliminates their discomfort, according to a recent study. The results are important because this condition, often caused by repetitive activity such as running, drives an estimated 1 million to 2 million people to visit a doctor each year for their pain.
(Read more about Chronic Heel Pain Eases After Radiofrequency Therapy)

- Chronic Heel Pain Eases After Radiofrequency Therapy video

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Hammertoes Corrected by New Bone-Fusing Implant

Painful hammertoes, often caused by poor-fitting shoes that bend the second, third or fourth toe into an upside-down V at the middle joint, have usually been corrected by inserting a wire through the length of the toe, holding the toe bones in position so they can fuse together.

Trouble is, the so-called “K-wire” must protrude from the tip of the toe during the four to six weeks of healing that’s required, causing great discomfort and awkwardness, and elevating the chances for infection.

- Hammertoes Corrected by New Bone-Fusing Implant video

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Expert Commentary: Dr. Steven Abramow, D.P.M., FACFAS - May 11, 2009

While it is always interesting to hear about developments in surgical techniques, the initial approach should always be an attempt to resolve the problem with as little intervention as possible. Most times problems can be resolved.

Hammertoe is a deformity of the toe, in which the end of the toe is bent downward. Hammertoe usually affects the second toe, although it may also affect the other toes as well.

- Expert Commentary: Dr. Steven Abramow, D.P.M., FACFAS - May 11, 2009 video

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Podiatrists Examine Better-Health Walking Regimen

Among all of the painkillers and antibiotics a podiatrist might usually prescribe, foot doctors may soon be writing prescriptions for walking as a way to improve patients’ health, if a study currently under way proves the practice to be effective.
   
The study, which is a 48-week pilot walking program run by 16 member doctors of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) and funded by that group, randomly divides almost 250 patients from around the country into two groups. The first group will be provided with a walking prescription, a pedometer, a 12-week calendar to note the number of daily steps taken, and discussions with the doctor about the walking program’s benefits.

- Podiatrists Examine Better-Health Walking Regimen video

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