How To Tie Your Shoe for More Ankle Support

Both our Blacksburg and Troutville Medical Assistants attended an Orthofeet Conference in Charlotte last weekend and learned how to tie your shoes in order to give you more ankle support!

Check out our video below and underneath are the 1, 2, 3 steps:

Step 1: Untie "additional" eyelet at the top of your shoe closest to your ankles
Step 2: Create a bunny ear with the additional eyelet
Step 3: Take top of lace back down into bunny ear hole on each side
Step 4: Proceed to tying your shoe normally

4th Quarter Injury?!

Can you imagine getting injured during the 4th quarter of a game? Let alone the Superbowl? How many saw cornerback Richard Sherman go down and gasp at the unfortunate event? Luckily, with the Seahawks in the lead there was no rush to put Sherman back in the game. The last quarter was the second time Sherman hit the bench due to his injured ankle.

Due to Sherman ignoring his injury and pain when he originally hurt his ankle in the beginning of the game, Sherman may have caused an even more severe injury. In both our Blacksburg and Troutville offices, we never want you to ignore your pain! Forget the phrase, "walk through the pain" as we don't want to injure yourself even more! Just remember, your feet shouldn't hurt! Now onto the reason we actually watch the Superbowl: commercials! My favorite is absolutely the Budweiser puppy commercial If you or any loved ones have any pain or discomfort, don't hesitate to give our office a call! We will do our best to work with your schedule and get you in quickly!

Does Turning 30 = Foot Pain?

I'm sure by now you've seen the hit website, Buzzfeed, which displays popular social content on the web. Well, the other day I was scrolling through and an interesting title, 30 Unexpected Things You Learn in Your Thirties, caught my eye.

Working at Shenandoah Podiatry, naturally #16 jumped out at me:

I love the reference to orthotic shoe inserts as they really are an investment and they really do help with back pain (in addition to knee and foot pain!)

So our question is, when you hit the big 3-0 did you experience back and foot pain out of the blue? If you are experiencing any pain or discomfort, give our office a call! We do our best to work with your schedule and get you in quickly to see one of our doctors! We are conveniently located in Blacksburg (right off of 460) and in Troutville (North Roanoke right off 81).

Worker's Hand Attached to Foot!

A worker's hand was cut off by a machine late last month and was temporarily attached to the man's foot in order to preserve the hand! Who knew you could do that?? After doctors worked on other injuries for the man, they removed the hand from the foot to reattach to his wrist. Despite having to wait for him to recover in order to complete the reattachment, the man is doing well and will need to have several other procedures conducted once the hand is reattached.

source

So basically we want to stress, if your hand gets cut off in an accident, let the docs know they can attach it to your foot to prevent it from dying (temporarily).

What Causes Gout?

"Gout is caused by an increase, or build up, of uric acid in the body.  It is usually a result of a decreased excreation of uric acid in our urine.  Initially the uric acid is found in the blood, but over time it will defuse throughout the body.  This includes the joints.  As uric acid increases in concentration in the joints it is more likely to crystallize.  These crystals can cause a lot of pain during an acute gout attack. 
 

The question can be asked: Why is gout usually seen in the feet?  Uric acid is not water soluble.  This means that it will crystallize if given the right conditions.  First, in high enough concentrations it can crystallize.  Second, as temperature decreases it is more likely to crystallize.  Gout can be found in any joint, but I believe it happens more in the feet because of the decreased temperature found in the feet.  The feet are the structures in the body that are furthest from the heart, making them the coolest. 

Symptoms of an acute gout attack include pain, edema (swelling), and erythema (redness) around the joint involved.  It is common to see a patient that was drinking alcohol or eating a steak dinner one evening to wake up the next morning with an acute gout attack.  The pain is usually 10 out of 10 and can be so painful it hurts to even let the bed sheets rest on the affected area.  An acute gout attack can mimic different arthritic conditions, including septic arthritis.  A diagnosis is made definitively through joint aspiration, which is then sent to a pathology lab."

- Dr. Marshal Gwynn