With the summer sunshine out and perfect weather on the 10 day forecast, many of you are out about taking in all of the extra Vitamin D. After hibernating for several months though, your muscles may be out of practice for all of the physical activity you are wanting to do. Because of this, some of your muscles and your muscle tendons may become overworked from the new stress that is being put on them. This stress can result in small microtears in the muscle body or in the tendinous attachment to the bone. This can cause you to have anywhere from a dull to an unrelenting amount of pain in the area of this muscle. Some common locations for this to happen in the foot are on the back of your heel or on the inside or outside of your foot. These three locations are where some large muscles attach and their attachments can become inflamed from repetitive movements that they aren't used to anymore.

If you have been running, biking, swimming, playing tennis, beach volleyball or any other activity and you have noticed that you are having new onset of pain, you should seek the help of your local podiatrist. These injuries often begin minor, but if you continue to work out the injured muscle, you can eventually end up tearing the muscle or tendon. There are several different treatment plans that you can use for your injuries. One of these includes immobilizing your foot to allow the tendon to heal without it being further injured by stretching the tendon. Another option is laser therapy. Laser therapy is a treatment that uses low energy wave-lengths to stimulate the injury to return to an acute injury. By returning to an acute injury it is able to use the molecules that promote healing and restore the tendon to its original state.

If you have been experiencing any pain in your feet or legs since beginning a new workout route and you live in the Methuen, North Andover, Lowell or Tewksbury, Massachusetts area, our office staff would be more than happy to help you set up an appointment. Dr. Wachtel will be able to use imaging studies to determine the extent of your injury and what the best treatment plan for your condition will be. Before you know it, you'll be back out there enjoying the sunshine and all of the summer activities.

Foot Fungus: That Nasty Bug Tinea Pedis

Tinea Pedis, commonly referred to as Athlete’s Foot or Ringworm, is a common ailment of the summer time. Tinea Pedis is a fungus that affects people’s feet. The fungus loves wet, warm areas such as in between the toes or inside a person’s shoes. It is important that when you are stepping out of the shower that you dry your feet thoroughly, especially in between your toes. If you are a person who tends to have very sweaty feet, it is important to change into dry, clean socks regularly and to keep your shoes clean with a shoe disinfectant. Athlete’s foot is an extremely contagious fungus, so it is necessary to wear shower sandals to prevent picking it up in public showers.

Athlete’s Foot is a condition that has specific symptoms. Typically these include cracked, flaking, peeling skin between the toes or on the side of the foot. There can also be red and itchy skin, a pain that is burning in sensation, like your feet are on fire and there may be some pus filled bumps that form on your feet. Sometimes evidence of athlete’s foot will travel to your nails causing them to become yellow and disfigured.

The treatment of athlete’s foot is pretty straightforward. Sometimes, your podiatrist may want to take a skin biopsy or culture if you have had this ailment for a long time. This is to ensure that the bug you are dealing with is in fact athlete’s foot. Once it is determined that athlete’s foot is in fact what is affecting you. There are several over the counter drugs that contain –azoles, a fungus fighting group of drugs. You need to keep using the medicine for about 2 weeks, consistently. If these do not work, then there are prescription drugs that are available from your podiatrist, these include stronger anti-fungal prescriptions than what are available in the drugstore. It is very important that you continue to keep your feet dry, wash them thoroughly and keep your socks dry while treating them as well as afterwards.

If you or someone you know in the Methuen, Lowell, North Andover, Tewksbury, or Boston, Massachusetts area and you have any of the symptoms of athlete’s foot, our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment. Dr. Wachtel can help you determine exactly what is causing your symptoms and help you to cure the condition.  

Diabetic Ulcers

Diabetic ulcers are often the result of diabetic neuropathy, a condition that results in the inability to feel pain or pressure. Not being able to feel this pain means that something as little as a pebble or a stick can get inside of your shoe and you won’t be able to feel it. The constant rubbing of your foot against the item in your shoe can result in a wound that can affect as little as the top layer of skin and extend as far as down to the bone. The farther that your injury extends, the greater the likelihood that the wound can be infected and potentially lead to an amputation.

One of the many reasons it is important for a diabetic patient to be working with a podiatrist is to allow for annual check-ups of your feet. Many times, a person may not examine all of the parts of their feet thoroughly. This can result in a wound that someone may not even notice.

Once an ulcer is found on a diabetic patient, it is very important to treat it aggressively. A lot of diabetics do not have as good of blood circulations as people who do not have diabetes. As a result, it is much harder for people to heal an injury. This means that they will require a greater amount of observation and treatment.

Diabetic ulcers require a good deal of removing the dead tissue to allow for new tissue to grow and cover the wound. The ulcer site needs to be cleaned out with a large amount of fluid to help remove any bacteria or germs that are inside the ulcer. Depending on how deep the injury site is, it may be necessary to take a biopsy from the site to determine if there is an infection that needs to be treated more aggressively with prescription medications that are specific to the type of bug in your wound. The wound then needs to be properly wrapped and protected from the environment.

If you or someone that you know has diabetes and would like to see a podiatrist, our office staff would be more than happy to help you set up an appointment with Dr. Wachtel. If you live in the Methuen, Bradford, Lowell or Tewksbury, Massachusetts area, please give us a call and we would love to help you get back up on your feet.

The Truth About Diabetes

So, what is with all the hype about diabetes? Diabetes is a condition where your body is unable to process the sugar obtained from your daily diet, glucose. Insulin is substance inside your body that processes sugar. When it is not present or it does not work, your body is unable to process the sugar and it builds up inside of you. When this happens, your body is not receiving the energy that it needs to make it work. The extra sugar is floating around inside your body and is eventually let out of your body in your urine.

Not processing the sugar that is inside your body can lead to a wide array of symptoms including neuropathy (the inability for your feet to feel pain or pressure), kidney disease, high blood pressure, blindness and heart disease. Any one of these conditions can be debilitating, but a combination of all of them can lead to many health conditions. This is why it is so important to control your sugar by using the treatments that your physician prescribed for you and eating a healthy diet.

Diabetes is a condition that gradually develops new conditions throughout the years. The more uncontrolled your sugar is the more quickly your conditions will develop. By keeping your sugar within the recommended range your doctor suggests, you will be able to drastically slow down the effects of your condition. It is very important that once you are diagnosed with diabetes that you maintain a close relationship with a podiatrist. Through routine foot check-ups, your podiatrist will be able to gauge the rate at which your condition is progressing and make appropriate recommendations to prevent any additional complications including ulcerations and amputations that are commonly caused by diabetic neuropathy.

Each of the above conditions can be treated through the joint effort of your podiatrist and primary care physician. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with diabetes, our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment. Through the patient physician relationship that you can form with Dr. Wachtel, he will be able to help you find the best ways to manage your condition and lifestyle. If you live in the Lowell, Methuen, North Andover or Bradford Massachusetts area, please give us a call and we would love to help you get back up on your feet.

Skechers Shape-ups Settlement

Sketchers has recently agreed to pay a 40 million settlement to refund people for their purchase of Shape Ups. Claims have been made that the company mislead consumers with false information claiming that these shoes would make you fit by just walking around. People have been outraged at the amount that they paid for no results. Skechers does claim however, that they were targeting young women that were already in shape and it was just supposed to be extra boost.

The truth about the shape up shoes is two-fold. First, wearing a particular kind of shoes is not going to make you look like Tyra Banks or any other toned individual. The reality is that kind of fitness takes hours in the gym paired with good nutrition and self-discipline. As nice as it would be to find the miracle cure, unfortunately you just have to get out there and work-out. The second thing that is important to know about these shoes is that they are used in podiatric medicine. However, they are not used for people who want to tone their legs, but instead they are used for people who do not have enough range of motion in their joints to meet the requirements for walking. This shoe is referred to as a “double rocker” and it allows your foot to roll through the gate cycle and push off the ground. They are a very unstable shoe though and so they are only prescribed for one foot due to their inherent instability.

Podiatrists have a vast array of shoe modifications in their tool bag for treatment. These include different types of shoes, padding to off-load a painful joint or bump and orthoses to hold your foot in a position favorable to your everyday activities. Unfortunately, none of them are marketed as being a weight loss miracle. However, for the people who have painful bunions, limited range of motion, high arches, heel pain, plantar fasciitis, and a whole slew of other conditions these modifications can give them unbelievable relief.

If you or someone you know in the Methuen, Lowell, North Andover, Tewksbury or Boston Massachusetts area are suffering from a painful foot, our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment. Dr. Wachtel will be able to help you figure out the best treatment plan and get you back up and on the go.

Extreme Foot or Leg Pain: Compartment Syndrome

Your leg and foot are divided into compartments based upon the different layers of muscle. There is tissue that separates the different compartments similar to the walls of a house that divide the rooms. This tissue, just like a wall, will not stretch when the pressure increases in a compartment. As a result, the pressure will push against your muscles, nerves and vessels. This can result in extreme amounts of pain, cut off circulation, and numbness.

Compartment syndrome is traditionally a result of a car accident, crush injury or some other form of trauma. A minor form can also occur as a result of activities like running that have repetitive movements, in this case the pressure will build up during the activity and then go away once you stop. The symptoms of compartment syndrome traditionally include severe pain that won’t go away with medicine, decreased sensation, paleness of skin and weakness. When you come into the office the doctor will do several tests to confirm the diagnosis including visually examining the area, squeezing the compartment to see if pain can be elicited.

Once the diagnosis is made, if it is the result of a cast or bandage, then the cast or bandage will need to be removed. If the cause is trauma related, then surgery is the necessary treatment plan. If the condition is treated quickly, then you will have a very good recovery and successful condition. However, if you hold off on treatment, it can result in loss of muscle function, permanent nerve injury, or even amputation.

It is very important that if you are having any medical conditions or foot pain that you get it checked out immediately. With any medical condition, the odds of it getting better with time is slim, but the likelihood of it getting worse is much greater. It is much easier to heal your injury and restore your body to its original condition if you treat it from the beginning. If you or someone you know living in the Methuen, North Andover, Tewksbury or Lowell, Massachusetts and you are having any form of foot pain our office staff would be more than happy to help you set up an appointment with Dr. Wachtel.  

Thick, Yellow, Fungus Nails

As the temperatures are getting warmer, the sandals are starting to come out and people are beginning to show their toes. For some people though, this can be an embarrassing time of year due to their thick, yellow, fungus nails. There is no need to hide those pigs though, due to a newer form of treatment known as laser therapy. Through several short treatment sessions, your toenails will look as good as new and you will be able to wear any type of sandal you want to.

Laser therapy is a non-invasive treatment that employs the usage of lasers tuned to a specific frequency. These lasers effectively pass through your skin and nail without leaving any damage to you, but still killing the fungus. This method allows you to kill the source of the discoloration and thickening of your nails while not leaving any injury to you.

Many people who have these thick, yellow nails have tried every nail fungus lotion, cream, paint, etc. Unfortunately, these treatments don’t work on everyone and leave people feeling frustrated. Laser therapy has shown a high success rate in individuals who have not had any improvements with other therapies. After the first or second treatment you will start to see positive results. Nails grow at a slow rate though, about 6 months for the entire toenail to regrow. As a result of this, it will take a while before your nail will appear completely “normal.” Laser therapy is a great way for your nails to look the way you want them to and give you no reason to not show off those toes.

If you live in the Methuen, Lowell, Tewksbury, or North Andover area and you struggle with thickened, yellow, bumpy, fungus nails, our office staff would be more than happy to make you an appointment. At Dr. Wachtel’s laser therapy treatment center, he is up-to-date on all of the newest and latest techniques involved in laser therapy. He will be able to work with you to determine the best treatment plan for your toenails and get you back into those sandals.

Tallest Man Travels to Massachusetts for Shoes

The tallest man in the United States flew to Massachusetts last Thursday to be fitted for proper shoe gear. Igor Vovkovinskiy currently measures in at seven feet and eight inches. His shoe size is about a 22-25. It is safe to say that those shoe sizes are not found in any typical shoe store. The company Reebok has teamed up to design and produce shoes for Igor that will allow him to get out of the house and go about his daily life, something that he has not been able to do for many years. This is because the shoes that Igor needs cost around 12-20,000 dollars due to the reinforcement and materials that need to be used to support his frame. In order to do this, Reebok is making usage of some techniques that can be readily done at your podiatrist’s office. These include foam impressions that form a mold of your foot, a 3-D scanner to determine the shape of your foot and measuring devices that determine your range of motion. Since Igor has been through many surgeries in his life due to the weight that his feet carry to support his frame, these shoes will also need to accommodate his foot type.

Foot pain is a common ailment whether you wear a size 25 shoe or a children’s size 8. Regardless of your foot size, this pain can be a debilitating complication that leaves you feeling sore and grouchy. The techniques that are being used on Igor can also be used to make adjustments to your shoes or design orthoses to accommodate your feet. There are several different forms of casting, measurements and gait analysis that can be done to determine the best treatment for you. Through these modifications, your foot can be placed into a position that will allow you the relief that you need.

If you or someone that you know in the Methuen, North Andover, Bradford or Lowell, Massachusetts area and you are experiencing any form of foot pain, our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment.