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On a Saturday recently SoldierFit hosted a tournament called Mission Submission, which included different disciplines of Martial Arts to showcase their abilities. They are known to be the Greatest Grappling Tournament in the DMV area!

Common Injuries of Grappling?

Overtime the constant jamming or micro-trauma to the big toe joint (1st metatarsalphalangeal joint (1st MPJ)) can turn into Turf Toe, yes even though grappling usually occurs on mats. The term Turf Toe originated from football players wearing their flexible cleats, allowing their big toe to jam into their 1st metatarsal head, at each push off for a tackle or a sprint. With each hyperextension of their 1st MPJ it causes micro-trauma to the joint, resulting in chronic painful movement down the line.

Hallux Limitus/Hallus Rigidus

Turf Toe official term is Hallux Limitus/Hallus Rigidus (HL/HR). You might start complaining of a painful big toe, with a constant aching, dull, and/or throbbing pain. This pain could result from some acute trauma or a repetitive micro-trauma, such as pushing off the mat while preparing for Mission Submission grappling tourney. You might experience decrease range of motion (up and down motion) in your big toe joint.

Treatment Options

Conservative treatment options for hallux limitus/hallux rigidus are orthotics, rocker bottom soled shoes, NSAIDs or intra-articular corticosteroid injections. There are also multiple surgical options for HL/HR that can be discussed and scheduled with anyone of your wonderful doctors.

If you or someone you know might be interest in discussing more about your hallux limitus or hallux rigidus, come into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at any of our 3 offices in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD.

What is Sever’s disease?

Sever’s disease is also known as calcaneal apophysitis. It is not as severe as its name may lead you to think. Sever’s disease is an inflammation (swelling) of the growth plate in the calcaneus bone, or the heel bone. SD is very common in active growing kids, effecting boys more than girls. SD usually occurs during a growth spurt around the age ranges of 8-13 years old in females and 10-15 years old in males. Kids often complain about certain shoes or cleats hurting them during practices, games, or even at recess. You will notice a decrease in physical activity in your child. Certain extreme foot types can exacerbate their symptoms, such as a flat feet or high arches. SD is also common in overweight children.

How is it treated?

Sever’s disease, or childhood heel pain, is often treated similarly to adult heel pain (plantar fasciitis). Stretching exercises are usually the first line of defense. You really need to help release all these tight posterior compartment muscles in your lower leg, i.e. your calf muscles. Your local podiatrist should have more information and can properly train your child on how to do these exercises. There’s also RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. The RICE treatment is used to relieve some of the swelling at the heel bone. Also heel cups and inserts can be worn in shoes, such as sneakers and cleats, to help the posterior calf muscles pull less on the heel bone. If the pain isn’t relieved by the above listed treatments, maybe an oral anti-inflammatory medication would help relieve some symptoms. However, oral anti-inflammatory medicines will only help with symptom relief and won’t be treating the underlying cause. To treat the root cause, one must loosen up the posterior calf muscles and allow the heel bone to rest. This is the main source of treatment for Sever’s disease.

If you or someone you know might be interest in discussing more about your child’s heel pain, come into the office of Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment for you, at any of our 3 offices in Frederick, MD and Urbana, MD.

How to prepare your kids feet for the busy start of a new school year?

Everybody looks forward to the new school year; whether it’s the kids growing tired of the summer camps and preseason and missing their school friends, or parent’s anxiousness to get the kids out of the house again. So many focus on all the brand new supplies and fresh clothes that each new school year brings, but you also must have those final health checkups to start the year off right. There is a pull in the healthcare community for more preventative medicine to help patients be made aware of possible future health issues; opposed to having to treat something that could have been avoided all together. So before you send your kids on their way to a new school year, make sure that you visit your podiatrist to check up on their foot and ankle health.

What do you need to have checked up on?

Kids are constantly growing and developing, especially in the early years of life. You hear of the astonishing stories that some kids grow up to 6 inches in a summer, but no one really talks about how that growth spurt can affect their feet. Not only can their feet get bigger and require larger shoes, but it can also mean major changes in their foot type, rectus, flat foot (no arch), or even cavus foot (high arches).

How important is having a proper foot check?

It is vital that we keep an eye on our little ones feet as they are growing; some conditions they can naturally grow out of, for example, toe walking or a pigeon-toed gate pattern. However, more severe pediatric conditions need further evaluation and treatment.

If you or someone you know might be interest in discussing more about your “back to school feet”, come into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at any of our 3 offices in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD.

Hey all you FFA bloggers! Do you ever have a tingling feeling in your feet and legs after you start an afternoon walk or evening run? Does it ever feel like you are stepping on pins and needles during or after your exercise? Do these pains ever keep you from your exercise routine? If so you might want to consider coming into our office to discuss your symptoms.

There are many reasons that might cause you to have this type of pain. However, most of the time people complain about burning, pins and needle pain; they have some sort of nerve conduction disorder.

You might be asking yourself what in the world is a nerve conduction disorder? Nerves are what allow us to feel different sensations. They also sends signals to our muscles to move. Even though you might have good muscle strength, you might be suffering from a nerve problem. This type of nerve disorder might be from damage, previous trauma, including micro trauma, or other disorders. Basically, there is a disconnect from one nerve ending to another nerve ending creating misfire of the electrical impulses, thus causing you to feel pins and needles in your lower legs and feet. There are many tests and procedures that your local podiatrist can do to help you and your nerve disorder.

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about the pins and needles you get when exercising with me or another one of our knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into the office of Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle concerns; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists! Don’t waste your time come on in to avoid any summertime sadness.

Hey all you FFA bloggers! I hope you have been enjoying your summer so far! This hot and sultry weather has taken Frederick polar opposite from this past winter. I love it here in Maryland! Maryland gives its residents the opportunity to experience all the four seasons in each extreme. Even though humidity is the worst, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

If you follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts you already know that we sent a FFA running team to participate in the Baltimore 10 Miler and the Fairfield, CT Half-marathon. The half-marathon was in a cute little beach town right up I-95, from MD to CT. The course had many more hills than what you would expect for a beach course to have.

At both of these races we noticed a few participants running without shoes. That’s right, I repeat, they were running without shoes, socks, nada! And what was so disturbing was that they were running faster than me! Believe me when I say that I was keeping up a good pace throughout the races. When I was abruptly passed by a group of barefoot runners, I was thinking to myself, “Wow! They must have trained themselves to withstand harsh jagged rocks and the scorching hot pavement.” However, after the race I found this mysterious group of barefoot runners and here they were tending to their fresh foot wounds and limping around like they were in old age. And I, myself, was walking around like I could do round 2 with ease! So I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to run barefoot, especially on long distance races!

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about what shoes would best fit your particular foot type with me or another one of our knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle concerns; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists! Don’t waste your time come on in to avoid any summertime sadness.

Hey all you FFA bloggers! Are you guys ready for the summertime? This past weekend was gorgeous; I hope many of you got to enjoy some family time outside, whether if it’s swimming, biking, or hiking! But if you have had some unsteadiness walking you must get checked out by your local podiatrist. Make sure that you are getting in to see your podiatrist for your fall risk assessment.

This fall risk assessment is something we do in the office to rate the amount of risk that you have of falling. Your unsteadiness might come from weak muscles, bones, unclear eyesight, or even your perception of the ground being altered. We take all of these risk factors and give you a score. Depending of this score you may need some anti-fall braces.

Anti-fall braces are lightweight and custom molded to fit each patient perfectly! They easily slip into your shoes and are comfortable to wear during any of your normal day-to-day activities. Anti-fall braces provide you with an equal balance of comfort and stability that you need when you are active and independent!

If you or someone you know has an unsteady gait (or walking pattern) and might be interested in discussing more about your foot and ankle health, a fall risk assessment, and anti-fall braces with me or another one of our knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle concerns; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists! Don’t waste any time this season and come on in to avoid any summertime sadness.

Hey FFA bloggers! I hope you guys are getting ready for Maryland Blue Crab season, I know we are here at FFA! This is our favorite time of year. Who doesn’t like some sun, an ice cold beer, and some old bay seasoned, freshly steamed blue crabs? But beware of indulging too much!

You might be asking yourself what is exactly is gout and what does Blue Crab season have to do with it? Gout is a painful condition with occasional flare ups that causes your joints to be inflamed and painful with movements. This is actually because of a buildup of uric acid in your body causing the acid to crystallize in your joints. This can either be because your body is over producing or under excreting uric acid.

And what does your diet have to do with gout? Well the types of foods you eat are many times the cause of these flare ups. For instance, diets heavy in beer, wine, cheese, red meats and seafood can predispose you to a flare up. If you want a full list of what to eat and what not to eat, swing by our office and we can give you a proper gout free diet!

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about your foot and ankle health and possible gout flare ups with me or another one of our knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle concerns; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists!

Hey FFA bloggers, how was your Memorial Day Weekend? I hope it was full of sun, sand, and sunscreen! That’s right folks, I know Memorial Day is the unofficial start of showing some skin in the summertime, but FFA wants to remind you the importance of using sunscreen!

Memorial Day weekend is the first exposure to the sun for a lot of people, and it is crucial to use sun block. As too may of us know, one bad burn can be the start of a rough season! All of us want that golden bronzed look that is plastered on all the magazines and TV shows, not to mention all the golden tanned guests at Kim Kardashian and Kayne West’s wedding!

Even after applying sunscreen, make sure that you are covering all the exposed areas like your feet and ankles, as these places are often missed! Also make sure you are reapplying as instructed! Applying once isn’t enough for a day at the beach or for the entirety of a BBQ session outside. As the summer season approaches make sure that you are protecting yourself and your family from the deadly rays; this is the time where the prevalence of skin cancer increases exponentially!

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about your foot and ankle skin health for the upcoming summer season with me or another one of your knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into the office of Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle concerns; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists!

How many of you bloggers are diabetic or know someone who is diabetic? All of us occasionally have a sweet tooth, but over time this can develop into a serious condition, Type II diabetes.

Type II diabetes really means that your body doesn’t react normally to you eating sugar. When you eat, this causes a rise in sugar (glucose) in your bloodstream, which is normal. However, the way a diabetic body reacts to sugar is abnormal. Usually your pancreas produces insulin into your bloodstream which retrieves that glucose and feeds it to your muscles, heart, brain etc. BUT in a type II diabetic person this streamlined system runs amuck. The insulin doesn’t pull out the glucose from your blood and you can get hyperglycemic, which is a fancy way of saying too much sugar in your blood. The can cause multiple systems to slowly start to malfunction over years of dealing with diabetes. The nervous system in your feet is most commonly the one that starts to go bad first.

You might feel little pins, burning, or the sensation of needles on the bottoms of your feet or a the tips of your toes at first. Then it might start to intensify and become more frequent. It will eventually progress into feeling unsteady or your shoes are too loose when walking. This is because slowly your perception nerves are dying because of the high sugar in the blood system. That’s why we recommend that all of our diabetic patients come in and get a diabetic foot risk assessment and to get a new pair of diabetic shoes yearly. These special shoes are made only for diabetic patients. They offer a larger toe box to protect your toes from getting stubbed and it also allows for a deeper heel depth to allow room for an orthotic to help realign you in your gait. Also there are special features of the shoes that allow the lacing to be more formfitting to your foot!

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about your diabetic foot and ankle health risk assessment with me or another one of your knowledgeable podiatrists, come on into the office of Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle pains; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists! We hope to see you this upcoming week to get your diabetic shoes for the summer!

What did you do this Sunday to celebrate your mom this weekend? Did you shower her in gifts, take her to the spa or out to brunch? We have so many mothers that work at Frederick Foot and Ankle we would like to give a big round of applause to them for what they do at home and at the office; without them we would truly fall apart because they are the backbone of our FFA family!

If you didn’t see your mother on Sunday hopefully you had a chance to make a phone call or even Skype her! Make sure you check up on her occasionally! Mother’s tend to cater to the family and they often overlook their own issues, especially foot problems!

Many women develop changes in their feet after welcoming their new bundle of joy. Some of these changes include splaying of the toes, widening of the foot and collapsing of the arches. OUCH! So if not for the love of Mother’s Day, just from her sacrifices you should be taking your Mom to your local podiatrist to get her feet and ankles checked out!

If you or someone you know might be interested in discussing more about foot or ankle health to get you or your mother into tip top shape for the summer, come on into our office Frederick Foot & Ankle. We would be more than happy to schedule an appointment, at either of our locations in Frederick, MD or Urbana, MD. We can set you up the proper evaluation and treatment plan to help you relieve your foot and ankle pains; don’t hesitate visiting your local podiatrists!