No one looks forward to surgery, but sometimes, a surgical procedure is the best solution to a chronic, painful foot or ankle condition. In most cases, foot surgery is chosen as the last available option for conditions that have otherwise been unsuccessfully treated.
Foot or ankle surgery may be necessary for several reasons, including the removal of foot deformities (e.g. bone spurs or bunions), arthritis problems, reconstruction due to injury, and congenital malformations (e.g. club foot or flat feet). Regardless of one’s age, foot surgery may be the only successful option for treatment for certain conditions.
Surgery Can Range From Minimally Invasive to More Involved
The type of surgery one undergoes depends on the type of foot condition the patient has. For the removal of a growth, such as a bunion, a bunionectomy is necessary. If the bones in the feet need to be realigned or fused together, a surgical fusion of the foot is needed. For pain or nerve issues, a patient may require surgery in which the tissues surrounding the painful nerve are removed. Initially, less invasive treatments are generally attempted; surgery is often the last measure taken if other treatments are unsuccessful.
Surgery Might Be an Option for These Common Conditions
Our combined expertise and experience enables us to provide a complete spectrum of foot and ankle procedures and surgeries. These include:
- Achilles tendon injuries
- Ankle stabilization
- Arthroscopic ankle surgery
- Bone lengthening
- Bunion correction
- Cartilage repair/replacement
- Charcot foot
- Ankle reconstruction
- Complex wound closure
- Correction of high arch (Cavus Foot)
- Dropfoot repair
- Endoscopic plantar fasciotomy
- Flatfoot repair
- Hammertoe repair
- Heel pain
- Joint distraction for joint salvage (arthrodiastasis)
- Joint replacement
- Neuroma removal
- Neuropathy
- Reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle
- Skin substitutes for wound closure
- Tailor’s bunion correction
- Tendon repair
- Tendon transfers for neurologic conditions
While in many cases, surgery is considered a last resort, choosing surgery comes with certain benefits. The associated pain experienced in relation to the particular condition is often relieved with surgery, allowing patients to resume daily activities. The greatest benefit, however, is that surgery generally eliminates the problem immediately.
Podiatry history has shown that foot treatments continue to evolve over time. In the field of foot surgery, endoscopic surgery is just one of the many advancements. As technology vastly improves, so will the various techniques in foot surgery, which already require smaller and smaller incisions with the use of better and more efficient tools. Thanks to such innovations, surgery is no longer as invasive as it was in the past, allowing for much faster and easier recoveries.