The Woes of Athlete's Foot

As the warm weather is starting to come back, so is sports season. There are many things that young athletes can suffer from. These issues include athlete’s foot. School locker rooms are frequented by a multitude of different students. At some middle schools and high schools, you can have 100s or even 1000s of students passing through the locker rooms every day. This means that all of the germs and fungus on each of their feet is growing and mixing together to form one giant cesspool.

Teenagers are not the most cleanly people and as a result they carry a great deal of dirt and grime on their feet. The fungus of athlete’s foot grows best in dark, wet places. So, a locker room shower is the ideal place for the fungus to multiply. The fungus that is involved is extremely infectious and is difficult to treat. You will have a pretty good idea that this is the cause of your children’s discomfort if their feet are itching, have blisters or even have open sores.

There are over the counter medications that work for athlete’s foot, but they are not always very good. They sometimes will work on your child’s feet, but they do not always work. It is very important to seek help from your podiatrist in this matter, because athlete’s foot is very contagious and comes back easily if not completely gotten rid of.

So, if you or someone you know has itchy, dry feet and are having difficulty getting rid of the problem, 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 feet. 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 Twisted Ankle

Have you stepped off the sidewalk the wrong way or rolled your foot while wearing very tall shoes? It is possible that you may have stretched or torn some ligaments in your ankle. A sprained ankle can be a very painful condition that can result in a great deal of pain that can be very uncomfortable.  With spring here and summer fast approaching, this is an injury that is very common both on the field and on your dangerous sidewalks.

Ankle sprains can vary in their severity from a day of pain to a broken ankle. There is such a great amount of variability in the presentation that it is really important that you have your ankle checked out. There are so many times that people come in weeks to months after the event and they are still having pain, only to find out that they broke their ankle, tore a ligament or tore a tendon. In these circumstances, the healing process is now a much greater problem.

Treatment for an ankle sprain can range from resting, icing and elevation to needing to have surgery for a broken bone. In order to determine the type of treatment that is going to work for you, you need to have a thorough examination and x-rays taken of your foot and ankle. Once a podiatrist has seen you, they will be able to tell you how your ankle can best be treated to get you relief from your injury. This process can be a short one or it can take months.

So, if you or someone you know has injured their ankle 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 ankle. 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.

 

Painful Toe Nail

Do you have pain in your big toe that feels like there is something pressing up against your toenail? It is possible that you have a bone spur on the bone under your nail. If so, your nail may look perfectly normal, but your nail may hurt unbelievably. Now, the pain may be a lot better once you take your shoes off. This is because you no longer have pressure pushing against the prominent part of your bone.

There are multiple conditions that can cause pain in a toenail. You may have an ingrown toenail, fungus growing inside the nail, you may have dropped something on it and bruised it, or you could have a spur growing underneath the nail. There are multiple exams that your podiatrist can do to figure out what type of condition you are specifically dealing with. These including palpating the area around the nail to see where specifically the pain is coming from, taking x-rays to see what is going on with the bone and inspecting the color of the nail.

So, what if you do have a bony spur on your big toe? There are several options for helping treat the pain. The first couple are very conservative and may or may not help. You can put a cushioning sleeve over the top of the nail to keep your nail from bumping up against your shoe. You can also get deeper shoes so that your toe won’t bump up against them. Eventually though, if the pain isn’t going away, there is surgery that can be performed. It’s very minor and just involves shaving the excess bone off your big toe.

So, if you or someone you know has pain in their toenail and it is causing them a great deal of pain, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Stoneham or Middleton, 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.

 

Cracked Heels and Flip Flops

Have you noticed cracking at the back of your heel or dry skin along the bottom of your heel? This dry skin could result in skin cracks that go so deep that can cause bleeding and a lot of pain. This can actually be as a result of wearing flip flops.

Flip flops are shoes that don’t provide you any support and also expose your entire foot to the environment. As a result, you are putting a lot of pressure on your heels without any support. This can cause them to break down. Also, since flip flops are not easy to keep on your feet, you can actually end up walking on your heels a lot, as a result of slipping out of them.

So, what can you do to avoid this problem? For one, you can wear shoes that provide you better support than flip flops. Yes, it is summer time and you get hot, but there are plenty of sneakers that are very breathable while at the same time providing you arch support and heel support. Another possibility for shoe wear, is finding sandals that have multiple straps to them as well as are closed in the back of the shoe. These shoes can protect your heel from your everyday life while at the same time providing you with a good amount of support.

What happens if you already have cracked, dry, bleeding heels though? Your podiatrist can take off all of the thick callused skin that is preventing your skin from healing and being healthy. Your podiatrist can also prescribe you a deep moisturizing ointment or lotion that will help to soften the skin and give it a lot of moisture. This will also help to slowly get rid of your pain, because it will close up your skin and prevent healing.

So, if you or someone you know has a dry, cracked, bleeding heel and it is causing them a great deal of pain, you should seek help from your podiatrist. We also offer a free book on our website that talks about the many different causes of heel pain and suggests ways that you can find relief. If you live in the Boston or Bradford, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your heel. 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.

Diabetic Foot Care

Are you a diabetic patient? If you are, there is a lot of good that a podiatrist can do for you. Podiatrist can check your feet and ensure that you don’t have any additional problems that are affecting your feet as a result of the diabetes. Diabetes can cause conditions such as neuropathy, ulcerations and poor healing.

Neuropathy is a condition that results due to damage to your nerves. When your sugar is consistently too high, it causes your blood to not run as well and causes your nerves to not function properly. You will start out feeling tingling and shooting pains. Eventually, this will progress to the inability to feel things touching your feet. This can result in a lot of damage, because if you don’t feel something like a rock in your shoe, you can end up rubbing a blister or even an ulcer on your foot.

Another problem that can result from diabetes is poor blood flow. It is important that you regularly have your pulses checked. This is the first signal that will show your doctor that you may need further tests to make sure that you are getting enough blood and nutrients to your feet. If you are not, this can end up cutting off blood from your feet and end up causing ulcers.

Another issue is that sometimes, you may not be able to see your feet well due to damage to your eyes from your diabetes. In this situation, it is really important to see your podiatrist, because they will be able to check your feet for any ulcers or ingrown toenails.

We offer a free book from our office that outlines diabetic foot problems and treatment. You can order it from our website. So, if you or someone you know has diabetes, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Tewksbury or Reading, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help inspect your feet. 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.

New Spring Workouts

Running season is on the horizon and with it comes all of the new workout regimens after months of not working out as hard. So, it makes sense that people would have injuries after hibernating for so long. The best question you can ask though is what can you do during your workout to prevent injury.

First thing, that is the most important, is you need to stretch.  After months of not working out, your muscles are going to be very tight. It is good practice to stretch right before and after you work out. This will prevent some of the soreness that you have as well as decrease the chance of injury. Stretching will help to prevent things such as inflammation as well and give you a greater amount of flexibility allowing for proper running form.

Another important thing to note is shoe wear. If you are not wearing a shoe that is the proper type of support for your foot, you open yourself up to being more likely to roll your ankle, cause arch pain and cause heel pain. In order to determine what type of shoe is best for you requires a proper foot exam. This can be done by a podiatrist that can help you figure out what kind of supportive shoe would work best for you.

So, if you or someone you know is starting a new running workout and is having pain as a result of their workout regimen, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Reading or Bradford, Massachusetts area, Dr. Wachtel would be more than happy to see you and help treat your running 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.

Thick, Yellow, Crumbly Toenails & How to Get Rid of Them

So, you would think that spring and summer should be here, but in some parts of the country, the snow just won’t go away. Some parts of the country are starting to warm up though and in those parts it is time for flip-flops. For those of you that are ready for the warm weather, some of you might be a little nervous about taking off those shoes and socks and showing those toenails. There are many people that have yellow, thick, crumbling nails that are embarrassed to bear their nails in public.

Your nails can turn all yellow and thick as a result of fungus. The fungus gets inside of your nails and attacks them turning them yellow and sometimes black. As we start to get a little older, our immune system doesn’t work as well. Fungus takes advantage of the situation and attacks your nails at their weakest moment. Unfortunately, once fungus gets a leg in the door, it can be a real beast to kick it out. There are several options for treatment including oral medications, lotions, creams and drops. There is a newer treatment though, that involves a laser that is seeing great results.

The laser is tuned to a particular frequency that kills the fungus but doesn’t harm your body. The laser may need to be used a couple of times, dependent upon the severity of your fungus. Once the laser has been used though, it is important to remember that it can take a year for your nail to grow out new. So, you have to be patient in order to see results occur.

So, if you or someone you know yellow, thick, fungus toenails and it is causing them a great deal of pain or to be self-conscious, you should seek help from your podiatrist. If you live in the Tewksbury or Boston, 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.