Is foot care a priority for you? Visiting your San Francisco, CA, foot doctors, Dr. Richard Rolfes and Dr. Jasper Lee of Stonestown Podiatry Group, is a simple way to keep your feet healthy and reduce your risk of foot and ankle conditions.
Your foot is one of the most amazing parts of your body. Feet not only support your weight and make it possible to walk, run and jump easily but also serve as natural shock absorbers. Unfortunately, they're susceptible to injury and infections that may cause pain or affect mobility. Whether you already have a problem or want to prevent a foot or ankle issue, your foot doctors at the San Francisco, CA, podiatry office can provide helpful treatments.
You'll enjoy these four benefits when you see a podiatrist:
Protect your feet with a visit to your foot doctor in San Francisco, CA! Call Dr. Rolfes and Dr. Lee of Stonestown Podiatry Group at (415) 731-6700 to schedule your appointment.
Stonetown Podiatry Group, serving San Francisco, CA, and the nearby region, sees patients regularly who come in for bothersome heel pain. Fortunately, Dr. Richard Rolfes and Dr. Jasper Lee offer treatments that can target the root of the problem and help alleviate your pain. It's important, though, to understand the potential causes.
Plantar fasciitis affects the band of tissue that runs from your heel bone to your toes. With this particular condition, you notice pain in your heel, particularly, in the bottom of your heel. Often, with this issue, you experience a mild ache in the back of the affected leg or above the heel. However, more severe pain is possible. Tenderness and stiffness may arise, and these issues are usually worse in the morning.
This issue may stem from increasing your running performance, either by intensity or duration. If you play certain sports, such as basketball or tennis, you're also at risk. Your chances of developing it are higher if you're middle-aged.
Achilles tendinitis affects the Achilles tendon -- a band of tissue that runs from your heel bone to your calf muscle. When you overuse this tendon, it becomes inflamed and causes you pain.
Runners and individuals who only participate in sports like basketball and tennis on the weekends are more susceptible to this injury. The individuals most affected are those who are middle-aged. This is because, although this condition is from repeatedly working the tendon, age can weaken the tendon, making it more vulnerable to injury. Increasing the intensity of your physical activity abruptly and significantly increases your risk as well.
Usually, Achilles tendinitis begins as a dull or mild ache that extends directly above your heel bone. In more serious cases, the pain can be severe. This is especially the case if you continue to train and ignore the initial pain.
You have a bursa between your Achilles tendon and the heel bone. When you overwork it, you could experience heel pain. The heel pain tends to worsen when you stand on your tiptoes. Serious cases can lead to you having difficulty moving your ankle or foot. Besides pain and movement issues, you may visibly have swelling. Tenderness and a change of skin color are also possible.
Dancers and athletes are most at risk, which is why our doctor in San Francisco, CA, will want to know about your lifestyle.
Don't let heel pain stop you from doing what you love or functioning in general. Dr. Rolfes or Dr. Lee of Stonetown Podiatry Group, serving San Francisco, CA, and the general vicinity, can help. You can reach us at (415) 731-6700.
Dealing with painful and achy hammertoes?
A hammertoe is a less talked about foot deformity compared to bunions, but they aren’t any less of an issue. A hammertoe causes one or more toes to bend downward, resembling a claw. Since hammertoes can cause pain and other issues, you may wish to speak with our San Francisco, CA, podiatrists Dr. Richard Rolfes and Dr. Jasper Lee about the best ways to manage your hammertoes.
The most common reason a hammertoe forms is a muscle imbalance in the foot. Most people don’t notice this imbalance unless they visit our San Francisco, CA, podiatrists for a routine evaluation. Over time this imbalance causes the toe to bend downward and also leads to structural changes in the foot.
Once a hammertoe has formed, wearing tightly fitted shoes or shoes that force the toe into a cramped position can make this problem worse. Always opt for shoes that provide your foot with ample support and give your toes enough room to wiggle and move around.
Here are some telltale signs that you may have a hammertoe,
In most cases, people can manage their symptoms and prevent their hammertoe from progressing by using these simple nonsurgical methods,
If the toe has become fixed in place and rigid, the only way to correct the severity of this condition is with surgery.
Dealing with foot pain due to hammertoes? If so, our San Francisco, CA, podiatrists at Stonestown Podiatry Group can help you find effective solutions for managing this common foot deformity. To schedule an evaluation, simply call us at (415) 731-6700.
You may have felt initial symptoms of a developing heel spur and thought the pain would subside eventually, however, you may be feeling the consequences of ignoring heel pain. Dr. Richard Rolfes and Dr. Jasper Lee with Stonestown Podiatry Group in San Francisco, CA, understand how heel spurs can keep you from engaging in your usual daily activities and are prepared to discuss the best-personalized plan to relieve your pain.
Plenty of stress and strain are placed on our feet daily, and in the case of heel spurs, pain tends to be felt at the bottom of the heel bone. A calcium deposit (heel spur) usually begins to form slowly as a result of constant overuse of the feet, as well as any of the following:
Heel spurs are not visible to the naked eye, but by visiting with Dr. Rolfes and Dr. Lee in San Francisco, CA, you can expect that through an x-ray, they can best determine the cause of your heel pain. Symptoms of heel spurs often tend to look like:
Sometimes people that have heel spurs don't experience any symptoms and may only learn of having one through an external cause. Even so, there are general guidelines to follow when you have heel spurs:
At Stonestown Podiatry Group, Dr. Rolfes and Dr. Lee don't want to see their patients experiencing persistent pain. They encourage you to visit with them in San Francisco, CA, by calling our office today at (415) 731-6700!
Learn more about bunion surgery and when it might be time to consider it.
You’ve been told that you have a bunion. Now what? While most people with bunions can ease pain and discomfort through sporting the proper footwear and changing their lifestyles, sometimes these habits just aren’t enough. When bunions have become so enlarged and painful that they impact your daily life, our San Francisco, CA, podiatrist Dr. Richard Rolfes can provide surgical relief to correct this common foot deformity.
Bunions are considered progressive. While wearing the appropriate shoes and properly caring for your feet can certainly slow the progression of this deformity, it will continue to grow larger over time. How quickly a bunion progresses varies from person to person. Some bunions develop rapidly while others may be slow to develop.
This is the number one question we hear from our patients. They often don’t know if their bunion symptoms warrant getting surgery. Here are some signs that it might be time to talk with our San Francisco, CA, podiatry team about bunion surgery:
There are several surgical techniques for correcting bunions, and this is something that our San Francisco, CA, foot doctor will discuss with you during your evaluation. While there are various techniques for correcting this deformity they all involve repositioning the deformed joint back into the proper alignment to alleviate pain and improve mobility and functionality of the foot.
This surgical procedure is performed under local anesthesia with IV sedation. The procedure can take as little as 45 minutes or up to three hours, depending on several factors including the severity of the deformity and the technique Dr. Rolfes and his team utilizes.
From customized bunion treatment plans to minimally invasive bunion surgery, our San Francisco, CA, podiatrist Dr. Rolfes and the team at Stonestown Podiatry Group are here to make sure that your feet get the care they need so you can continue to live the life you want. To find out if it’s time to consider bunion surgery, call us at (415) 731-6700 to schedule an evaluation with our team.
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