Footcare
At Ozvald Foot Clinic, all footcare services listed below are provided by a registered Chiropodist, the only Canadian profession that specializes exclusively in foot care and foot health issues.
Ingrown toenails are a common condition in which the corner or side of a toenail grows into the soft flesh. The result is pain, redness, swelling and, sometimes, an infection. Ingrown toenails usually affect your big toe. Most often these can be successfully treated in the clinic without surgery.
Nail fungus is a common condition that begins as a white or yellow spot under the tip of your fingernail or toenail. As the fungal infection goes deeper, nail fungus may cause your nail to discolor, thicken and crumble at the edge. It can affect several nails but usually not all of them.
Corns and calluses are thick, hardened layers of skin that develop when your skin tries to protect itself against friction and pressure. Treatment includes painless debridement and footwear advice and/or modification to help prevent re-occurrence. Orthotics may also be beneficial.
Plantar warts are hard, grainy growths that may develop anywhere on the bottom of the feet. They are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). The virus enters your body through tiny cuts, breaks or other weak spots on the bottom of your feet. Treatment requires killing the infecting virus, therefore complete resolution is possible.
Skin infections are most often due to either bacteria or fungus. The treatment for these are different, so a proper diagnosis is essential to assure proper treatment. The wrong treatment can easily make the infections worse.
Orthotics
An orthotic is a custom made, removable device that is placed within the shoe to control excessive foot motion, improve foot function, and reduce stress on muscles and tendons. Learn more on our Orthotics page.
Heel pain is usually focused on the underside or the back of your heel. If your pain is on the underside of your heel, its likely cause is plantar fasciitis. Pain on the back of your heel, where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel bone, is Achilles tendinitis. Although heel pain is rarely a symptom of a serious condition, it can interfere with your normal activities, particularly exercise.
Arch pain can be from several different causes. It may be arthritis in the midtarsal bones, and extension of plantar fascia pain or specific tendon pains that have their insertion in that area. A complete biomechanical assessment, and possible orthotic therapy is indicated.
Sprains and strains are common injuries that share similar signs and symptoms, but involve different parts of your body.
A sprain is a stretching or tearing of ligaments — the tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect two bones together in your joints. The most common location for a sprain is in your ankle.
A strain is a stretching or tearing of muscle or tendon. A tendon is a fibrous cord of tissue that connects muscles to bones. Strains often occur in the lower back and in the hamstring muscle in the back of your thigh.
Joints develop arthritis easier and are more painful if they are not functioning in their optimal alignment where they have natural grooves to fit together perfectly. The alignment of the bones in the foot will impact how all the bones above (in the legs and back) are positioned. Due to this, knee pain, hip pain and back pain can often be influenced by a properly made pair of orthotics.
A bunion is a bony bump that forms on the joint at the base of your big toe. A bunion forms when your big toe pushes against your next toe, forcing the joint of your big toe to get bigger and stick out. The skin over the bunion might be red and sore.
Wearing tight, narrow shoes might cause bunions or might make them worse. Bunions can also develop as a result of an inherited structural defect, stress on your foot or a medical condition, such as arthritis.
Smaller bunions (bunionettes) also can develop on the joint of your little toes.
Hammertoe and mallet toe are two foot deformities that occur most often in women who wear high heels or shoes with a narrow toe box. These types of footwear may force your toes against the front of the shoe, causing an unnatural bending.
A hammertoe has an abnormal bend in the middle joint of a toe. Mallet toe affects the joint nearest the toenail. Hammertoe and mallet toe are most likely to occur in the toe next to your big toe.
Relieving the pain and pressure of hammertoe and mallet toe may involve changing your footwear and wearing shoe inserts. If you have a more severe case of hammertoe or mallet toe, you may need surgery to experience relief.
Compression Stockings
Compression socks and stockings help to prevent swelling in the legs and feet by applying external pressure to the legs to help circulation return to the heart.
Varicose veins are gnarled, enlarged veins. Any vein may become varicose, but the veins most commonly affected are those in your legs and feet. That’s because standing and walking upright increases the pressure in the veins of your lower body.
Edema is swelling caused by excess fluid trapped in your body’s tissues. Although edema can affect any part of your body, it’s most commonly noticed in the hands, arms, feet, ankles and legs.
Edema can be the result of medication, pregnancy or an underlying disease — often heart failure, kidney disease or cirrhosis of the liver.
Venous insufficiency will cause swelling in the legs and feet causing them to feel heavy and achy. The pooling of this blood also causes all the toxins and waste products of the used or deoxygynated blood to affect the tissues in the are causing further aching. Compression stockings help to keep the blood circulating properly, actually improving how we feel by the end of the day.