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

Welcome back Dr. Michele McGowan to the Center for Ankle and Foot Care!

If you are a patient of the Center for Ankle and Foot Care, then you are aware that Dr. McGowan has been away from the practice for the last 6 months. She has returned this April to start seeing patients. If you do not know Dr. Michele McGowan let us introduce you. 

Dr. Michele McGowan is originally from Willingboro, New Jersey right outside of Philadelphia.  She grew up in South Jersey where she played competitive soccer well into her early 20's.  Dr. McGowan became a Nittany Lion and attended The Pennsylvania State University from 1992 until 1996 where she graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Biology with a Vertebrate Physiology emphasis.  While attending Penn State, Dr. McGowan took the opportunity to shadow many different medical specialties.  "I originally wanted to be a pediatrician, but after two weeks of shadowing 2 different pediatricians, it wasn't for me" Dr. McGowan explained.  "In my sophomore year at Penn State I shadowed an orthopedist and a podiatrist, and I really fell in love with the podiatry specialty! There is something so gratifying to be able to help someone, sometimes on the same day they come in feel better walking out of the office. "

After completing her 4 years at Penn State University, Dr. Michele McGowan went on to Des Moines Medical University in Des Moines, Iowa. "I knew I picked the right specialty for me, when I could spend 6 hours in a library studying a day and enjoyed it" McGowan explained.  Dr. McGowan loved being at the library so much she got a job there where she would work 6 hour shifts, so she could study and get paid! 

While attending podiatry school Dr. McGowan met Dr. Timothy Henne a fellow student at the time and now her husband of almost 18 years.  The two made a great team from the beginning, from journal clubs to jazz clubs they had fun whatever the venue was. Both Dr. McGowan and Dr. Henne were accepted after their 4 years in podiatry school in Iowa, to the prestigious and highly sought after surgical residency program at the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.  "I was very excited to have the opportunity to attend the same surgical program as Tim.  The city of Pittsburgh was one of my favorite places I ever lived!"

While Dr. Henne was finishing up another year of surgical training, Dr. McGowan moved to Florida and opened their first office for podiatry in Clermont, The Center for Ankle and Foot Care.  "I did everything that first year almost entirely by myself. I answered phones, made appointments, did my own billing,developed x-rays(we have digital x-ray now), I roomed patient and checked them out by myself for at least the first 7 months" Dr. McGowan explained. "It was fun, patients thought I was crazy but they came back because I helped them, and that's what patient really care about. Now we have this fancy office and gadgets, but patients still just come back because we help them!"

Dr. McGowan and Dr. Henne live here locally in Lake county and have 3 amazing children that keep them on the go constantly. "I used to think when they were babies it would be easier when they were older, but now between 3 children we have the following activities: soccer, basketball, tennis, track, cross country, golf, robotics, cello, guitar and piano! But I would not change it for the world" explains McGowan.  The children of Dr. Henne and Dr. McGowan are a big part of their office life. " Our children have been a part of this family business from the beginning. When they were babies they would eat, sleep and play in the office. Now that they are big kids they have their own room to hang out in, but that doesn't stop our youngest Emma, who is 6, from coming out into the waiting room and trying to sell patients pictures she drew on her days off from school!" 

If you are having foot pain call the Center for Ankle and Foot Care to make an appointment with one of our great doctors!  

Office number 352-242-2502

Office address:

3190 Citrus Tower Blvd Ste A

Clermont, FL 34711

The Lazy Man's Guide to treating your Heel Pain!

My name is Dr. Michele McGowan, and much like the President for the Hair Club for Men, who is not only the president but a member of the organization himself because he has no hair, that is how I feel about heel pain or plantar fasciitis. I am a foot doctor who treats heel pain multiple times daily and has struggled with heel pain a couple different times in my life.  I help people get better all the time for this yet my inability to take my own advice was my downfall.

I can say that over the last 15 years of private practice in podiatry in Clermont Florida, the frequent flyers we see with heel pain that suffer longer or take longer to get better take all shapes and sizes. But they have one thread in common, which is they are usually too lazy to keep up with a stretching program to get better or stop stretching the moment the foot feels better. When I suffered with heel pain the first time I was a bad patient! I tell my patients all day long that they need to stretch but I suffered with heel pain for longer than I needed to due to my lazy streak and not wanting to stretch. 

Of course, once I started stretching and icing for my heel pain I started to get better and once I felt 100% better I stopped stretching! In order to ward off the return of this horrible pain you have to keep stretching.  This I find super annoying to say over and over again to the same patient year after year, whether the patient is a frequent flyer or myself.  Recently my paradigm has shifted in how I teach the lazy like myself to get better and stay better.

In 2015, when I had plantar fasciitis where it hurt so bad to walk, I decided to purchase a night splint.  This is a pretty simple device that you wear when you sleep that holds your foot in a complete stretch while you are sleeping, genius right? Well turns out this device is not super comfortable to sleep with it on.  This device spent more time with my toy fox terrier dog cuddled inside of it at bedtime then on my leg for the first few weeks.  But then my heel pain got so unbearable that I had to do something, because even the dedicated times during the day that I was stretching was yielding absolutely no result.  

I decided that I could no longer live like this and out of desperation I started to wear my night splint any time I could.  As I do not have a sit down job in one place going from room to room to see patients, my husband thought it was unrealistic to even bring the splint to work but I did.  But he was totally right, I couldn't wear it while seeing patients, but I put on around 11:45am until 1pm during my lunch break.  I would then lug that boot home( I was too cheap to buy 2 boots to keep one at work and one at home) and after soccer, track and music lessons for my girls I would put the boot on again when I was reading, watching TV or finishing up paper work from the office. 

At night I had a very particular regimen,  at about 8 pm I would prop up my leg on a couple of pillows and add a gel ice pack into the foot part of my night splint, place the night splint on and watch TV or finish up my work.  I did this for 2 months and my heel pain went completely away.  Until it came back a year later because I stopped stretching! 

So now I wear my night splint when I am sitting down in my house relaxing watching a movie or playing on my computer.  I currently have no heel pain but I feel like even the couple times a week I wear the splint it prevents me from having to have that sharp pain in the morning feeling and keeps my foot healthy! 

This is basically a little life hack for the lazy who have heel pain.  If you have any other foot problems feel free to learn more at our office website at http://centeranklefootcare.com/

Michele McGowan DPM

3190 Citrus Tower Blvd Ste A

Clermont, FL 34711

352-242-2502