Heel pain, plantar fasciitis or heel spurs can be extremely painful and uncomfortable for patients. A large percentage of the patient population we see at our clinic is for heel pain. Plantar fasciitis is extremely common as the literature reports as high as 60% of American adults will experience it at some point. The most common symptoms associated with heel pain are pain in the morning or a bruise throbbing type sensation in the heel. Often times patients come and wonder what caused the plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis often originates with increased activity levels or increased stress on the foot structure.

Your plantar fascia is the main supporting network of the foot and people that have flatfoot for tight calf muscles are often predisposed to developing heel pain. Heel pain often starts slowly and begins to progress with time. The most important thing to understand in treating heel pain is to have it treated early. We find it much easier to get rid of it permanently if patients present earlier in the inflammatory process. The ultimate goal is to prevent it from becoming a chronic injury that can take months to get better. If you’re suffering from heel pain or pain when you get out of bed in the morning or after prolonged periods of walking, please give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online and we will help you.

Bunion surgery provides great outcomes for patients that want relief from foot pain. Foot pain associated with a bunion can be very difficult to manage from a conservative standpoint. A lot of patients have tried getting bigger or wider shoes, which can create more room for the bunion to grow and make the situation worse. Patients will also apply pads, straps, splints or tape to the feet. This can be time consuming and cumbersome and again does nothing to fix or reverse the cause of bunions. The only way to actually fix the bunion is surgically. Bunion surgery has come a long way there are now new techniques we utilize to decrease down times and post-operative pain.

New techniques offer shorter recoveries and quicker returns to activity. Pain control can be challenging for both patients and physicians that are not as familiar as we are with modern techniques and medications. We use a long acting anesthetic to make the foot numb and prescribe different medications based on each individual patient and procedure performed. We have taken years to perfect our pain control regime and find the majority of our patient’s rate their pain as being well controlled. If you are contemplating bunion surgery come see us. With our pain control regime, onsite surgical center and years of experience this will create the best possible experience for you.

If you have bunion pain, give us a call today at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online.

Some patients begin to notice a bump that is developing on the inside of their foot. They start to get pain with walking and exercise and they wonder what is happening. Often a patient will visit the shoe store or seek advice from nonmedical personnel as to what it is. It is important when been dealing with medical issues to seek the advice of someone who has had years of training and experience in that particular field. Your foot and ankle health is essential for long-term well-being of your overall general health. Bunions are the most common cause of pain and irritation around the big toe joint. The bunion is a bony deformity that often appears as a protuberance around the joint.

The majority of bunion deformities are an inherited foot structure. Patients can often trace to other relatives that have similar foot conditions. The pathology itself continues to progress with time and there is no conservative measures that reduce or correct the deformity. It is important to understand that conservative measures can sometimes help alleviate pain and increase overall functional performance. However, the bunion can only be fixed surgically. The surgical procedures depend on the patient’s overall foot structure, degree of deformity and activity levels. All bunion deformities that require surgical correction are done in the office and no longer require any hospitalization. All bunion procedures that we perform at Issaquah Foot and Ankle Specialists allow patients to be weight bearing and do not require prolonged periods using crutches or knee scooters. If you have a bunion deformity and would like to have it evaluated for either conservative or surgical measures please give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today.

I’m still constantly surprised on a daily basis how many people live with chronic heel pain. Plantar fasciitis or heel pain can be so challenging for patients and really be detrimental to their life. I see a lot of patients that have suffered for years and years from heel pain and have seen multiple physicians and are still having pain. I empathize with these patients and understand their frustration as this can really impact their life and the things they want to do. Having suffered from plantar fasciitis and heel pain myself and knowing how it impacted my life, I really enjoyed treating heel pain patients.

I now important it is for me to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle and I really want to provide this for my patients as well. Often times the majority of heel pain gets treated as plantar fasciitis when there are quite a few other pathologies that can cause heel pain. I can’t stress enough compounded is to find the underlying causes of heel pain which allows proper treatment plan to occur. If you suffer from heel pain for plantar fasciitis and are continuing to suffer please make an appointment or give us a call today at 425-391-8666 today and we will help you stop it once and for all.

Treating bunions without surgery can be fairly challenging for patients that currently have pain or difficulty fitting shoe gear. Bunions or bone deformity can be inherited from your mom or dad. It is not uncommon for bunions to begin early in adolescence and continuing to develop into adulthood. Patients are often interested in conservative measures that are available to help with bunion pain. It is important to note that there are no conservative measures that are going to fix your bunion deformity.

Quite a few patients come in with all sorts of strapping devices and splinting devices from the Internet. None of these tools fixture bunion or change the shape of your bunion as this deformity is a malalignment of a joint and bone. However, it should be noted that we have many options for people that are having bunion pain and do not want to have surgery performed. The most important issues to address are the mechanical instability and the joint pain. Often times stabilize the foot structure can significantly helped slow the deformity and reduce the pain. There are many options for the arthritic joint that can provide long-term relief. In office evaluation and x-ray are central to recognizing what type of bunion is developing how to best rectify the pain. At Issaquah Foot and Ankle Specialists we have seen thousands of bunions and have many different options available to save the patient’s lifestyle. Please give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online if you have bunion pain. 

At Issaquah Foot & Ankle Specialists we are the leaders in treating pediatric patients. We are the number one referral center for Pediatricians that are looking for a foot and ankle specialist. We have over 40 years of experience treating pediatric patients. The most common presentation we see is a child with heel pain. Kids begin to present with heel pain as sports start back up, especially soccer and basketball.

Typically children relate a pain that wraps around the back of their heel that often feels like a bruise and gets more painful with activities. Sometimes there is a family history of heel pain in a brother or sister or even mom and dad. I encourage parents to have their child examined as there are many causes of heel pain and those should be ruled out. Apophysitis or Sever’s Disease can be the cause of heel pain in children. This is a type of growth plate irritation that can be extremely uncomfortable. However, it should be noted that there are other causes and I would stress that parents should have their child evaluated before beginning treatment for apophysitis. If your child is suffering from heel pain give us a call today at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online and we will help.

Bunion surgery in the past was only performed in a hospital setting and patients often stayed the night at the hospital. Things have really changed and now patients do not stay the night in a hospital and most bunions are performed in a surgery center. The average bunion surgery takes less than 2 hours and patients will only require IV sedation as opposed to general sedation. This type of sedation makes for a much quicker recovery from anesthesia and often less side effects. I like to provide all my patients with a nerve block so they will get a good night's sleep the evening of surgery.  The majority of patients will be pain free the first night. 

The next day most patients will have pain that is well controlled with pain medication. Often patients will just take prescription pain medication for the first 24-48 hours and then switch to over the counter pain control.  We utilize advanced techniques that allow all our bunion patients to walk after surgery thereby minimizing down time and speeding recovery.  We have protocols to help get your ankle and toes moving right after surgery to decrease stiffness and swelling. Additionally, we will provide patients with exercise guidelines to help them stay fit and active during the recovery phase. One of the best aspects of our practice is we perform bunion surgery every single Monday and have fixed 1000’s of bunions.  Another enormous advantage of our clinic is an onsite surgery suite that will save patients thousands of dollars on the surgery as we have special discounted pricing compared to other doctors that must take you to a hospital or surgery center. Do not let your bunion keep your from wearing a normal shoe or enjoying the activities you love give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online so we can help.

The weather is starting to get nice and all of us are wanting to get outside. I know I have dusted off my running shoes and have began to pound the pavement. I have suffered from heel pain in the past and as I start to run again it can rear its ugly head. I will often be a little sore after my run and it reminds me I need to take care of my feet. I once again start my routine of calf stretching and make sure to ease into my mileage. I will find my pro-stretch and specifically start targeting my plantar fascia. I will search the freezer for my frozen water bottle and start rolling my heels out after my runs.  Does all this sound familiar? Heel pain can really derail our exercise routines. 

I have found if I stretch and wear my prescriptive orthotics my heel pain is nonexistent. My prescriptive orthotics are specifically designed for running.  These are not inserts that are purchased at a shoe store or a running store. These are prescriptive medical devices that can only be made by a foot and ankle physician. I have been running for years and have spent year perfecting my orthotics. I love to pass on this knowledge to other runners that have suffered from heel pain. I even see a lot of runners that just want to prevent injury and wear and tear on their joints and these running orthotics really help your lower extremities. If you are a runner and are ready to take care of yourself give us a call today 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online.

Warts can be very unsightly especially when on top of the forefoot or the toes. It often times may get hard to wear sandals or flip flops during the summer. Quite a few people come in to have these removed. Often times they have seen other physicians that have been unsuccessful. Plantar warts are caused by human papilloma virus and can be a challenge to both physicians and patients alike. There are many different modalities to get rid of warts - it depends on the location and the size and the number.

We recommend having an evaluation to make sure the lesion is a wart before proceeding with treatment options. Treatment options run the gamut of topical medications to lasers and even injection therapy. Our success today with treating warts can oftentimes be close to 100% after just a few treatments. The majority of treatments for plantar verrucae is a relatively pain free and highly successful. If you suffer from warts and have tried multiple different treatment options contact our clinic today.

Give us a call today at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online.

Neuromas or Morton’s neuromas can cause a lot of pain especially in people who partake in physical activities. Often times patients present with burning or tingling in the foot. The pain can subside with massage or taking off the shoe. Patients often relate numbness or tingling to the third and fourth digits and have done online research about Morton’s neuromas. The third interspace is by far the most common spot to get a Morton’s neuroma because the medial and lateral plantar nerves come together in this location.

Patients often have tried cortisone injections or other conservative modalities and then often times consider surgical removal. I always recommend an additional consultation for having a Morton’s neuroma removed because alcohol therapy can be so successful. At our clinic we use an ultrasound-guided alcohol injection therapy and often times see about a 90% resolution of symptoms. If you’re considering having your neuroma removed surgically please see us prior to doing this to see if you are a candidate for this therapy.

Give us a call today at 425-391-866 or make an appointment online today.