Foot and Ankle Pain Information

Ankle

Prolotherapy for Plantar Fasciitis?

Prolotherapy are injections that we give right into the foot.

First, we anesthetize the foot so you don’t feel the needle, and then we get right down to the part where the spring ligament, which creates the arch of the foot, attaches to the calcaneus (heel bone) at the bottom of the foot. Prolotherapy stimulates an inflammatory response that grows back and strengthens that attachment.

Foot Pain

When I perform Prolotherapy treatments on the foot, depending on the area, I often prescribe a walking boot for faster healing.

The reason for this is that the body’s weight continually impacts the forces on the foot and stretches it as we walk, often blocking a quick healing. The walking boot keeps the foot in a neutral position and stops the stretching motion that causes the inflammation and the foot pain.

Plantar Fasciitis is a painful foot problem associated with excessive standing or walking, or running on hard surfaces. The arch of the foot is often collapsed, especially if the patient is overweight. The pain is most often felt on the bottom of the foot near the front of the heel bone.

A good start in healing this inflammatory problem is to have us mold orthotics specifically for your foot (not off the shelf) to create a good arch support.

In conjunction with orthotics, I often use Prolotherapy injections to treat foot pain, I inject 3 cc of dextrose and lidocaine after spraying the area to be injected with a coolant to numb the skin.

The needle is very thin and is tolerated well. For complete healing of foot pain, it often takes about 4 injections over a period of a month, and results do vary depending on the patient’s activity level.

Another common foot pain problem is the improper diagnosis of Morton’s Neuroma. I have yet to see an actual case of a nerve entanglement between the toes or at the base of the balls of the foot bones near the toes.

The real problem is most often Metatarsalgia, which very simply is inflammation of the same area. The Prolotherapy that I do in that area is with a 30 gauge needle that is similar to an acupuncture needle. The cold spray is also used to numb the area, and a walking boot is often prescribed for quicker healing.

There are many other foot problems that are healed with Prolotherapy. Basically, if I can touch a needle to bone, Prolotherapy is the answer.

Obesity and Tendinitis

Researchers writing in the medical journal Foot & Ankle International say that “being overweight or obese significantly increased the chances of having tendinitis in general,” and that “Tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, and osteoarthritis usually are secondary to overuse and increased stress on the soft tissues and joints, which may be directly related to increased weight on these structures.”
Frey C, Zamora J. The effects of obesity on orthopaedic foot and ankle pathology. Foot Ankle Int. 2007 Sep;28(9):996-9.