Providing Orthotics to St. Louis, Fenton, and Maryville
Orthopedics is a branch of medicine that focuses on the musculoskeletal system. The musculoskeletal system involves the bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Orthopedics takes both a nonsurgical and surgical approach to treating musculoskeletal injuries and disorders. A sub-specialty of orthopedics that focuses on the musculoskeletal system involving the foot and ankle is podiatry.
Orthopedic Conditions of the Foot and Ankle
There are a variety of conditions that involve the foot and ankle that require an orthopedic approach. These include:
- Fractures and other trauma of the ankle, foot, and toes
- Arthritis including degenerative and rheumatoid
- Congenital deformities such as club feet and flat feet
- Acquired deformities such as adult acquired flat feet, hallux valgus, and diabetic foot disorders
- Other conditions such as heel pain, plantar fasciitis, bunions, nail problems, tendinitis, morton's neuroma, and tumors
Non-Surgical Treatments
With proper treatment, many times an ankle and foot condition does not require surgery. Some non-surgical treatments include:
- Orthothotics - a device that can be placed inside the shoe to help balance the foot
- Physical Therapy - may be recommended to help strengthen muscles and relieve pain
- NSAID's - may be prescribed to reduce inflammation and pain
- Shoes - simply changing to a different type of shoe may be enough to alleviate symptoms
Surgical Treatments
When a non-surgical approach fails to treat the problem, then surgery may be necessary. Some surgeries that can be performed are:
- Bunion repair
- Hammer toe repair
- Metatarsal surgery
- Ankle fusion for arthritis
- Ankle replacement
- Achilles tendon repair
- Morton's neuroma excision
- Plantar fasciitis release
- Fracture repair
- Tendon surgeries
- Tibialis posterior reconstruction
- Congenital repairs