Got Black Toenails?

Is your nail black? There are two main causes that can make your toenail turn black. The first is toenail fungus which has a tendency to affect more than one toenail, but it can’t be ruled out if there is only one showing signs, because it may have just not spread to the others yet. The other is trauma. You may have dropped a hammer on it, jammed it into a door or even be wearing to tight of shoes and banging it into your shoe while running. All of these things are capable of causing you an injury.

So, what is the black from? Well, you can think of it just like you would a bruise on any other part of your body from an injury. Once you have injured that specific area, you actually have blood that is under your nail that will slowly heal with time. The nail itself will grow out or fall off with time and a new one will replace it.

The only problem that this condition can pose is that if the pressure from the blood under the nail is significant enough, it can end up causing you a great deal of pain. In this situation, we may either make a hole in the nail, just like a pressure release, or actually remove the entire nail. If this is necessary, it is important to have your podiatrist do it, because you do not want to injure the nail bed beneath and cause yourself to have no nail or a deformed one as a result.

So, if you or someone you know has injured their toenail and it is causing them a great deal of pain, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Bradford or Burlington, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your nail. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

Is It Getting Hot Out Here?!: Tips on Staying Hydrated and Beating the Heat By: Andrew Schneider

Picture yourself four miles into your long run on a swelteringly humid summer afternoon. Are you sweating right now? You better be. A sudden cessation in sweating is your body's way of telling you it needs water and fast! There's no doubt that as this summer progresses, we will likely reach record breaking temperatures yet again, affecting runners across the entire country. For runners this means being extra cautious and staying hydrated!

There are ways to tell if your body is becoming dehydrated. Of course, you may find yourself feeling extremely thirsty, but this isn't always a reliable method of assessing your need for water. Other signs and symptoms of mild dehydration include a dry or sticky mouth, dry skin that has lost some or all of its resilience, drowsiness or exhaustion, constipation, decreased urine output, headache and dizziness. Severe dehydration will result in little to no urine, low blood pressure, a lack of sweating and even delirium or unconsciousness.

An excellent sign of dehydration is the color of your urine. As a rule of thumb, the darker your urine, the more dehydrated you are. For most healthy adults, dehydration can be treated simply by refueling with water and Gatorade. If you find yourself suffering from one or more of the above symptoms, stop running immediately and get fluids into your system!

During large summer races, we are so caught up in the excitement and adrenaline, we too often forget that the heat and humidity can be deadly. Know in advance what the weather is going to be like come race day. Pay close attention to what your specific race will do if temperatures rise to dangerous levels. Many races are now adopting a heat and humidity measurement standard that is in accordance with the American College of Sports Medicine's recommendations for participation in endurance events through use of the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature. These races have flags throughout the course to tell a runner what their risk is. For example, a yellow flag indicates a moderate risk in which runner's should slow their pace as the heat increases. A complete list of these can be found on the Chevron Houston Marathon's website.

So what can you do to beat the heat on your outdoor summer workouts? First, always run early or run late. Running in the hours just after sunrise or before sunset allows you to avoid the most intense rays and heat of the day. If you typically train as part of a group, you could even try working out after nightfall. Another method to stay cool is by running with a hydration pack. These are especially useful if you are conditioning for a marathon or ultra-marathon in which you are logging a large number of miles on a daily basis. If you don't find the hydration pack comfortable, as these can be heavy, you might consider a hydration belt instead.

Dr. Andrew Schneider is a podiatrist in Houston, TX. He is dedicated to educating runners and triathletes about the health and safety of their feet. For more information about foot health in sports, including informative videos, visit his website.

Stress Fractures: A Pain in the Foot

What is that pain you are feeling in the middle of your foot? It could be a stress fracture. One of the more common problems that runners, especially newbie runners, experience is stress fractures. They are due to the repetitive nature of the exercise and the constant pounding of your feet against the ground. As you hit the ground all of the force from your body is pushed back into your foot and it cause a small fracture line to form in your foot.

So, what can you do for these fractures? If it is bad enough, you will need to be in an off weight bearing shoe that allows pressure to be removed from that area of your foot. If it is mild, then you will just need to rest. By elevating your foot to reduce swelling, icing your foot and taking some time off from running your fracture should heal with no problem.

Fractures are unique to each individual though, because different people heal at different rates. With this in mind, you could be feeling great in a week or two, or it could take you a couple months. It is all dependent on the severity and your body’s healing rate. Some things that can slow the healing down include smoking, continuing to run on it and if you have poor nutrition.

So, if you or someone you know has pain in their foot and you have just started working out again, you should seek help from your podiatrist. People who have just begun a new workout routine are at risk for many injuries and you need a full workup including x-rays to assess the extent of your injury. If you live in the Tewksbury or North Reading, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your injury. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

Boston Marathon Amputations

It is a tragedy that has happened in our state this week. An event meant to celebrate the accomplishments and hard work of many quickly became a tragedy this past Monday at the Boston Marathon. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are the prime suspects in this case and the hunt for them finally ended on Friday. As our state and cities begin to recover from this tragedy, it is important that we remember and acknowledge the extreme life changes that happened to the men and women that lost their lives and were injured during the tragedy. Many of these injuries were to the foot and leg and will leave a lasting impact on them for the rest of their lives.

Amputation is a difficult event for people to handle whether the cause is an injury, an infection or an accident. Our technology has drastically improved over the past several years though, because the development of better physical therapy and prosthesis has helped these people to live a better lifestyle. The learning curve is steep though and there is both a physical and emotional component to any kind of amputation. One of the most important thing for the amputee patient to do is reach out to someone for advice and empathy. This may come in the form of a religious leader, family member or therapist.

The people that suffered from this tragedy deserve our full support. Their lives will be forever changed and will be very different for them. Both their families and the individuals themselves need to be kept in our thoughts and uplifted to get through this tragedy.

So, if you or someone you know has either had an amputation or is about to have one,  you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Boston or Burlington, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your injury or infection and point you in the proper direction for counseling and support. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

Kobe Bryant Tears Achilles

Kobe Bryant is a name that is known in houses nationwide. He is a legend when it comes to basketball and a person that people love to see play. He’s also a person that makes other teams nervous when they are about to play him. But, after Friday night’s game between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors he may not be bringing fear into anyone’s heart for a while. He tore his Achilles during the game while playing the same way he says he always has. He ended up tearing his Achilles and it will take many weeks of recovery and rehab to get him back.

The Achilles is the most common tendon that is injured in the human body. It seems to happen in the most obscure ways: a wrong step here, a step off a curb not quite right or a wrong landing. Once it happens though, there are two ways that people can react. You will either hear a pop and fall to the ground in pain or it may just feel funny but you walk it off and don’t realize until the next morning when you are all swollen. Either way, this is an injury that is time sensitive, and the more time you wait, the longer the healing period.

You need to get to your podiatrist right away so that they can quickly get you into surgery and repair the damage. If your surgery can be done within the first 48 hours, it will prevent the tendon from pulling back into your calf. If the timing has been longer, then it doesn’t matter when your surgery is because it has already receded. In the meantime, you need to rest, ice, compress and elevate the leg to help it reduce the swelling and the pain. You can also take Tylenol to help with the pain and inflammation.

So, if you or someone you know has injured their achilles, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the North Reading or Tewksbury, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your achilles. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

Arch Pain at the End of the Day or After Running

Do you have pain in your arch after standing for a long day or running? This pain could be due to your flat feet. Many people have flat feet and as a result they have pain in their arches. After a long day on their feet there arch will flatten out even more putting stress on all of your foot structures in the area of your arch. Since your arch is not being supported, it is being flattened out and tension resulting in pain results in your arch.

So, what can you do for your arches? Well, orthotics are a wonderful way to add an arch support inside of your shoe that will hold up your arch throughout the day and prevent it from being flattened and causing undue pain.

There are several types of orthotics that are exist. The two main ones are over the counter ones,  like Dr. Scholl, that are just made to an average foot type. If they work, that is awesome, because they are cheaper and over the counter. Unfortunately, many times, these orthotics don’t work for people that already have pain. So for these individuals, a custom orthotic that is molded to their specific foot, is key for ensuring that you are truly correcting the position of your foot as well as getting rid of your pain.

So, how is a custom orthotic made. There are several different ways that we can take a mold of your foot including a foam box, a plaster cast, a fiberglass cast or even a laser 3D imaging scan of your foot. Once this is done, your scan or cast will be sent out and used to make you orthotics. They will then be given to you with specific instructions for breaking them in and proper usage.

So, if you or someone you know has flat feet and are having a lot of pain, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Bradford or Burlington, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your calluses. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

Kevin Ware's Broken Leg

There has been a lot of press recently covering the Louisville basketball player, Kevin Ware, and his broken leg. If you haven’t seen the youtube coverage, the replays on the news or hear everyone talking about it then you have been living in a media bubble, because this story has gone viral. It certainly isn’t every day that you see a person’s bone sticking out of their leg. This can be attested to by his teammates and those of the players on the Duke team.

So, you might be wondering why a perfectly healthy young man could break his leg so severely. The bottom line is, it all has to do with the angle and mode of injury. In Kevin Ware’s case, you can look at his jump and see his landing and the way his ankle twisted out from under him to tell that was not a good landing. The commentators were initially saying that it was a nasty sprain before they saw the bone hanging out.

The truth is, that in a lot of these injuries, there can be a sprain initially, but if the momentum carries the injury farther, the sprained ankle becomes a torn ligament, which can then become broken bones. This is a step-by-step process because your ligaments protect your joint and hold them together, once they are gone, there is nothing holding that joint together anymore. Once your joint is no longer held together, it leaves your bone unprotected because they move over the joint and if moved far enough they snap. It is a very intricate system held together by a network of intricate stabilizers that once they are removed, there is no stabilization.

For Kevin Ware, this is an unfortunate event because he will be out for the rest of the season. However, his support of his team and putting them first has been unwavering. It has been a true testament to what the word teamwork means and he continues to push forward. His recovery road is long, but he will make it through with the support of his family and team.

If you or someone you know has broken or injured their ankle, it is important that you see your local podiatrist. If you live in the Boston or Newburyport, Massachusetts  area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your injury. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.

The How and Why of Athlete's Foot

Do you have itchy, dry, flaky feet? If you do, you could have athlete’s foot. As people are starting to head back out to the old, beaten path, there is a good possibility that quite a few of you may develop a case of athlete’s foot. It is one of the worst things that can plague you, because your feet are just nonstop itching and burning. Some people have described their pain as being unbearable, just from a bad case of athlete’s foot.

Athlete’s foot can show up looking like a wide variety of things on your foot. You can just have dry, flaky skin, clear up to blisters and even splits in your skin. There are different types of athlete’s foot and some of them are far worse than others.

So, what are some preventative measures you can take for athlete’s foot? There are a couple of things that fungus like. They like warm, moist area; i.e. your shoes. One of the things that you can do is change your socks throughout the day. As your socks get moist, they can hold your sweat and create a perfect breeding ground for fungus. Another option is to wear socks that are multi-material, this means don’t wear just straight cotton, and some good suggestions are any athletic sock. Another option is to buy two pairs of shoes so that you can wear one and then the next day wear a different pair so that the other can dry out. You can also wear a different pair of shoes when you are running so that all of the sweat you gather in those shoes is not then worn the rest of the day.

Treating athlete’s foot is a pretty straightforward problem to deal with. There are multiple antifungal creams that can be used. Sometimes, athlete’s foot if not treated can become a super infection where both fungus and bacteria can infect the area leading to a full blown infection.

If you or someone you know has itchy, dry, flaking feet, it is important that you see your local podiatrist. If you live in the Reading or Tewksbury, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your Athlete’s foot. We are also happy to announce our Methuen and North Andover offices located at 451 Andover St. Suite 300, North Andover MA 01845 and 87 Jackson St, Methuen, MA 01835.