Problems with your feet can be caused by several conditions directly related to the feet. General ailments and diseases that affect the body as a whole can also lead to foot pain.
The following are several examples of conditions or diseases that can be the cause of foot pain:
- Metatarsalgia: This is a painful disorder that affects the joints and bones along with the ball of the foot. This condition is often caused by ill-fitting footwear or restrictive footwear. Orthotics are usually recommended to help reduce pain caused by metatarsalgia.
- Plantar Fasciitis: This condition can be caused by obesity, age, and standing for long periods of time on your feet. It occurs through pain felt in the heel or arch of the foot and along the sole of the foot. This is due to inflammation and tightness in the tissues along the bottom of the feet
- Heel Spurs: This is a bony protrusion on the heel that is usually made of some sort of calcium build-up. Many of the same risk factors that cause plantar fasciitis can also cause heel spurs. While the actual spurs are not painful they can poke the tissues in the heel and potentially cause severe pain.
- Diabetes: Diabetes can lead to foot problems because of restricted blood flow and nerve damage. When nerves are damaged through diabetes this is referred to as neuropathy, which can be particularly painful to deal with. When the muscles in the foot no longer function together properly this can cause unequal pressure on the foot. Unequal pressure can result in sores, infections, and even amputation in extreme cases. Proper footwear can help prevent foot problems related to diabetes.
- Arthritis: Arthritis is a common problem that can affect the joints throughout the foot, especially the big toe. Stiffness and swelling in the joints can eventually lead to permanent damage. This can affect the way you stand or walk.
Other conditions that can be helped with orthotics include:
- Patellofemoral knee pain
- Shin splints
- Achilles tendonitis
- Bunions
- Flat feet or over-pronation
- Morton’s Neuroma
- Heel or arch pain
The good news? Our foot pain clinics provide treatment to relieve pain and improve whatever condition you’re suffering from that is affecting your feet.
What to Expect at Your Assessment at the Orthotics and Foot Pain Clinic!
The first step to fixing your foot pain for good is getting a thorough understanding of what is going on and what may have caused the issue.
Medical History
Your assessment will start with a detailed discussion of your medical history! This will include questions not only about only foot pain, but other injuries as well! After all, the whole body is so interconnected!! We will also ask you about any family history of foot pain and your previous experiences with orthotics!
FOOT ASSESSMENT
After taking your history, the specialist will perform a number of different tests, including observing you sitting, standing and walking. We will also have you perform specific movements, to look at how you move in different sports and activity-like movements. Next, we will assess your foot and use our hands to passively move your foot, to assess the mobility in each little joint of the foot! We’ll thoroughly examine your feet assessing for issues such as calluses, corns, cracked heels, nail fungus, ingrown toenails, hammer toes, and more. The next step in the process is to do a specialized gait analysis! This means an analysis of how you load your feet while you walk or run!
Walking/Running Analysis
Looking at your feet as you stand or sit is only part of the picture. Foot pain is often the result of how we move! Luckily technology is on our side! By using a special mat, we are able to tell a lot about how you move! We are able to see how you put your body weight through your feet, not only in standing but with walking or running! The findings here not only help explain why you are having foot pain but also how we can fix it!
Outside of using fancy technology, we can tell a lot about what is going on in your body by watching you walk or run! This may involve getting you on the treadmill, taking some videos, and watching what happens through your whole body with these movements. The initial assessment, computer-generated walking data, and the visual assessment of how you move, all get woven together to provide you with not just a diagnosis, but a detailed treatment plan!
Running Shoe Assessment
Once the Chiropodist has an understanding of what is going on in your feet, treatment starts to focus on how we can support the foot to function not only better but the best it possibly can! This support may come from exercises designed to strengthen the muscles in your feet and legs to help support the function of your feet!
Another way that you can support proper foot function is through the appropriate selection of shoes! Bringing your old running shoes in can actually tell the specialist A LOT about how you move through life. Specifically, the wear patterns on your shoes can’t hide the effects of the many kilometers you have put on those shoes!
Luckily, based on the gait analysis the Chiropodist is able to recommend what shoe is best for your foot type! Unfortunately, mass-produced shoes are not always specific enough to solve all of your foot problems! Depending on your assessment, you may require something more specific and custom-tailored to your foot pain needs! And this is where custom Orthotics come in!
What Foot Care Treatments Are Available to Help You?
Your treatment will be individualized to address your specific issues and concerns. It can include the following:
- Custom orthotics
- Diabetic Foot Care
- Shoe advice
- Callus & Corn removal
- Ingrown toenail treatment
- Wart Removal
- Nail fungus treatment
- Foot Pain Treatment
- Shockwave
- Orthopedic Footwear
- General foot care
- Bunion prevention & treatment
- Compression stockings
Foot Care Services
We offer foot care treatments aimed at keeping your feet healthy and comfortable. Good foot care helps prevent problems, treat issues that arise, and make sure your feet stay strong and pain-free, which is important for your overall well-being. This includes:
Foot care addresses a wide range of conditions to keep your feet healthy and comfortable. Some of the common conditions treated include:
- Ingrown Toenails: When the edge of a toenail grows into the surrounding skin, causing pain and swelling.
- Cracked Heels: Deep fissures in the skin of the heels that can be painful and may lead to infection if untreated.
- Diabetic Foot Complications: Issues related to diabetes, including poor circulation, neuropathy (nerve damage), and slow-healing wounds.
- Corns and Calluses: Thickened skin areas that develop due to pressure or friction, often causing discomfort.
- Warts: Small, rough growths on the skin, often caused by a virus.
- Hammer Toes: A deformity that causes toes to bend or curl downward instead of pointing forward, leading to discomfort or pain when walking.
- Arthritis: Joint inflammation in the feet, which can lead to pain, swelling, and reduced mobility.
- Neuropathy: Nerve damage that can cause numbness, tingling, or pain in the feet, often seen in people with diabetes.
- Nail discoloration or thick toenail
Custom Orthotic 3-d Scan
If the Chiropodist has determined that a custom orthotic would be of benefit to you, he will begin the process of scanning you for your orthotics. Our clinic uses cutting-edge technology that takes a 3-Dimensional scan of your foot on which to base your orthotic design!
The procedure usually takes up to two minutes. All you have to do is lie on the table and relax as we make a quick but precise 3D model with high-resolution textures! This allows us to get quick but precise and comprehensive information about your foot size, how you walk, what pressure point you have, and MORE!
From there, the Chiropodist will place the order for your custom orthotics! It is that simple!
Benefits of Custom Orthotics
Custom orthotic inserts will improve how your feet and lower legs feel and function.
Custom orthotics will help:
- Reduce heel, foot & ankle pain
- Correct foot alignment
- Decrease stress on the skin of the foot
- Relieve knee, hip, and back pain
- Support for the arches of your feet
- Reduce pain related to standing, walking, running or sports
- Decrease pressure on the arch and ball of your foot
- AND MORE!
Orthotics resemble insoles but are specifically crafted and made of materials that will last longer than prefabricated orthotics. They are 100% custom devices that are individually created to uniquely fit your feet.
Although custom orthotics are more expensive than off-the-shelf devices, they last much longer and provide more support or correction.
Your orthotic is designed to provide customized support and is made to suit any type of shoe: casual, dress shoe, running shoe, court shoe, skates, soccer cleats, boots…and more!
PHYSIOPLUS CAN HELP YOU WITH FOOT PAIN!
If you’re in pain and looking for a specialist in FootPain in Bloor West Village and The Kingsway, your search can end here.
Contact us for more information on he can help you by reducing or even eliminating the pain in your feet.
