Jump into 2021 with 2 good feet!

Don't let your feet be a disaster in 2021!

If there is anything we have learned in 2020, it is that the future is never certain for anyone.  But we all can take precautions for our health to keep us at our best.  As this new year begins we wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year! We also wanted to assure everyone that we take your health and safety very serious at the Center for Ankle and Foot Care, and want to let you know we still have all of our Covid protocols in place. 

Our doctors and staff are working very diligently to keep you healthy and our office as a safe place for you to have your foot or ankle problem addressed. Dr. McGowan and Dr. Henne want you to be safe and stress free while they help you with your problem. 

We are continuing to have no waiting room, this decreases any patient to patient contact and to decrease any gathering in an enclosed space.  Every treatment room is thoroughly cleaned in between patients. "We are lucky enough in this environment to have an office that is big enough to accommodate multiple patients in individual treatment rooms, so people rarely have to wait in their cars" Dr. McGowan explains. "Patients just call when they arrive at the office and then they are instructed to what treatment room to go into when they enter the building."

Our facility is is equipped with onsite X-ray. This becomes such a great asset to the patient who has fallen and the pain is only in the foot, ankle or lower leg. We are able to accommodate same day appointments for foot and ankle related injuries.  "I think it is a great sense of comfort for patients to be able to get into a smaller environment like our office instead of an emergency room.  You don't need to avoid treatment if you have had trauma to the foot or ankle, you need to seek out your specialist who have the capabilities in their office to treat your problem.  Covid is not a reason for you to walk around on a broken ankle for 6 weeks" Dr. Henne explains.  

 

We have about 28 bones in each foot. Our feet take a big beating sometimes with everyday wear and tear.  When we walk, about two and a half times our body weight goes through our feet and running about 4 times or more our body weight.  These are things many of us do each day.  Without the right support or protection of your feet, these simple activities can cause foot and ankle problems like: stress fractures, tendonitis, plantar fasciitis and more.  

Getting any pain in your foot or ankle means your body is telling you that something is wrong and you should go get it checked out.  Ignoring foot pain very often turns into a much bigger problem than it originally would have been.  "It is not uncommon for people to ignore foot pain, but during the fall months of 2020, we saw many patients who just ignored real foot problems for 6 months or more. These people's prognosis was much worse.  Some diabetic patients who ignored a small wound for months went on to amputations.  Other patients who thought the pain in the ankle would eventually go away, had Achilles tendon rupture or other tendon problems that pushed them to surgical intervention versus the conservative route that would have helped many months ago" Dr. McGowan reflects. 

As 2021 is off and running, we want to make sure you know we are happy to see you in our office and get you back on your feet as quick as possible. Happy New Year from our family to yours!

The Center for Ankle and Foot Care

Michele McGowan DPM 

Timothy Henne DPM

3190 Citrus Tower Blvd STE A

Clermont, FL 34711

352-242-2502

Centeranklefootcare.com

Red, Hot and Swollen in the foot is bad...Especially if you are diabetic!

RED, HOT AND SWOLLEN IS BAD!!!!! SEE YOUR DOCTOR!!!!!!

So while keeping yourself safe from Coronavirus don't let yourself go on to limb loss.  These are crazy times we are currently living in, but we still need to maintain our health of our total body.  We pride ourselves on limb salvage and helping our patients keep their limbs at all cost.  Before you ignore the red swollen toe, foot or ankle think again.  Diabetic foot infections happen quick. You should be checking your feet daily and inspect for anything abnormal.

Diabetic Foot Facts:

• Podiatric medical care in people with history of diabetic foot ulcer can reduce high level amputation from between 65% and 80%  Gibson, et al, Int Wound Journal, 2013
• Diabetes kills more people annually than breast cancer and AIDS combined. American Diabetes Association, 2009
• Chronic wounds affect some 8 million Americans each year. That’s one wound every 3.8 seconds in the USA, alone.
  Harsha , 2008 and Tomic-Canic 2010
• Diabetic foot ulcers double mortality and heart attack risk while increasing risk for stroke by 40%
  Brownrigg, et al, Diabetologia, 2012
• Every 30 minutes a limb is lost due to a landmine, Every 20 seconds, a limb is lost due to diabetes. Bharara, Mills, Suresh, Armstrong, Int Wound J, 2009
• 
  The relative 5-year mortality rate after limb amputation is 68%. When compared with cancer – it is second only to lung cancer (86%).  (Colorectal cancer 39%, Breast cancer 23%, Hodgkin’s disease 18%, Prostate cancer 8%) Armstrong, et al, International Wound Journal, 2007
• Diabetes contributes to approximately 80% of the 120,000 nontraumatic amputations performed yearly in the United States.  Armstrong et al. Amer Fam Phys 1998
• More than half of all foot ulcers (wounds) will become infected, requiring hospitalization and 20% of infections result in amputation.  Lavery, Armstrong, et al.  Diabetes Care 2006
• Up to 34% of those with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer. Armstrong, Boulton, Bus, New England Journal of Medicine, 2017
• 60-70% of those with diabetes will develop peripheral neuropathy, or lose sensation in their feet.  Dyck et al.  Diabetic Neuropathy 1999
• The estimated annual US Burden of Diabetic Foot Ulcers is at least $15 Billion Rice, et al, Diabetes Care, 2014

Tony Finau... Ankle Dislocation! He is now my second favorite golfer!!

When Tony Finau hit the Par 3 Hole in One Contest at the Masters this week his celebration caused for jubilation for his achievement, that quickly turned into horror by the spectators and Tony himself.  The video below from ESPN shows Tony Finau discussing his phenomenal day of golf at the Masters after possibly dislocating his ankle.




As Tony's excitement for nailing this shot in one try turns into the 100 meter dash, it quickly turns bad as he turns twisting and we see his foot go one direction and his ankle go the other. Yikes! I'm a foot doctor and even I find this difficult to watch,  But what comes next in this video might be even more shocking, Tony leans over to his left side, uses the ground to push his foot back in the correct direction and stabilizes his ankle with counter pressure to pop that ankle back in place like a robot or something. What? Insane right! Then he gets up and not with the speed he made his way down the fairway but walks back toward the tee box! I have watched football and basketball players dislocate their ankles but they don't get up like this. It was incredible! They literally could use this video in podiatry and orthopedic residencies on how to relocate an ankle.

At first when I heard the news of Tony Finau's ankle dislocation but then saw he played the next day and was leading, I immediately thought he couldn't have possibly dislocated his ankle.  But then I watched the video and it looks like it to me! He apparently had a MRI that shows no structural damage he said, but it looks like his soft tissue could not have been spared. There he was there at the Masters the very next day crushing it on the golf course.

I know in my practice if we are treating an ankle dislocation conservatively, especially if the patient is a super hero and has relocated it himself and there is no associated fracture, we wouldn't recommended golfing the next day, or the next day. Our goal would be control the swelling and having the patient ice and elevate as much as humanly possible for a week or more and an anti-inflammatory by mouth for a week or two.  They would be made non weight bearing but given a pneumatic cam-walking boot for touch down with crutches or a knee walker.  This type of injury can require repair of the soft tissues affected, but even with out surgery they are usually in a cam walking boot for 6 to 8 weeks.

So to see Tony out golfing the next day really made me rub my eyes in disbelief!  Could I have imagined his injury was worse than it really was? No I watched the video again, we all saw it.  So it does beg the question of what is the doctor doing? I'm hoping for Tony's sake he is just icing, wrapped really well by a good trainer and maybe on a steroid by mouth.(again this would not be my recommended treatment regimen)  This is in no way, shape or form ideal, but maybe when you make to the big show like the Masters Golf Tournament you do whatever it takes to compete.

As we have one little golfer in the family, I explained to her what happened(I didn't want to show my 12 year old the video) and I told her to not run while golfing. She replied "Mom, I golf so I don't have to run!".  Which is even funnier because our oldest daughter is a runner and youngest a soccer player! She is my favorite golfer but now I have a second favorite golfer in Tony Finau!!

My hopes and prayers are for a fantastic rest of the Masters for Tony Finau.  I have seen a lot of things in my 44 years here on this Earth, but watching him pop that ankle back in place and then play like that... he is amazing! I also wish him a speedy recovery because he's going to need a lot of rest, ice and elevation after this!

If you would like to learn more about ankle sprains, the less serious injury that can happen when your foot rolls under the ankle follow the link here to learn more:  http://centerforankleandfoot.blogspot.com/2016/12/ankle-sprain-how-do-i-treat-ankle-sprain.html

Michele McGowan
3190 Citrus Tower Blvd Ste A
Clermont, FL 34711
352-242-2502