Our Podiatrists on CBS-6 - Watch Video!

 

Check out the video above of Dr. Waskin and Dr. Mount on CBS-6’s Virginia This Morning, talking with Bill Bevins about Bone & Joint Health National Awareness Week and also Pediatric Bone & Joint Health Week.

 

The foot is a very complicated thing, and one of the most overworked parts of the human body. 

In fact, one-quarter of all the bones in our body are in our feet, and our feet are pretty complicated structures. With all the pressure coming down onto all those little bones in our feet, and how is it that they don’t just collapse? It’s due to the intricate relationship of how those bones function, for example, cushioning the impact when you step down, and evenly distributing pressure throughout the foot and other parts of the musculoskeletal system.

 

What causes children’s feet to hurt? Is that growing pains?

It really depends on the situation. If you’re walking around at King’s Dominion, your feet are going to hurt, but it shouldn’t be happening all the time with normal activity. As far as growing pains, that’s kind of a hotly debated topic. Growth shouldn’t hurt, and the reason why some people’s feet hurt at night is not completely understood; it may be related to restless leg syndrome, but the jury is still out on that.

 

A lot of other problems are connected to foot problems.

We see a lot of people with foot problems, but they’ll also have lower problems, knee problems. I had a long-distance runner who came in for a pinched nerve in her foot, but she happened to mention she was having a shoulder problem and no one could figure out what was causing that. We made her some custom shoe inserts to balance out her feet for the nerve problem. She came back a month later and said for the first time in years, her shoulder pain was gone.

 

Can feet be corrected permanently, or is that something that we have to do as life goes on? 

There are a lot of surgical procedures that allow us to realign the feet. Especially in pediatrics, some children will have severe flat feet and sometimes a simple shoe insert won’t help, so we’ll sometimes do a surgical realignment, in fact that’s one of Dr. Mount’s areas of expertise.

 

Are people born with flat feet?

Everybody is born with flat feet, and generally you’ll get an arch as you age. The funny thing about flat feet, is they don’t have really good public relations, they get a bad rap in a lot of ways, but they’re able to adapt to uneven surfaces, but they also have a tendency to be more painful than higher arched feet. It does come to surgery sometimes, but a lot of times people can get better with shoe inserts or better shoes.

 

What causes children to get back pain and heel pain?

The most common cause of heel pain in children is usually at the back of the heel, and there’s a growth plate there that helps their heel expand lengthwise. What happens is the Achilles tendon attaches to that growth plate, there’s a lot of stress that goes through the Achilles tendon. Children, especially once they hit around 9 years of age, are starting to put on a little weight, they’re becoming more active, and they start stressing the Achilles tendon, so the growth plate could have pretty severe pain at the back of the heel. It’s got this horrible name called Sever’s disease, but usually with some simple treatment it will go away. Eventually, it’s pretty self-limiting; over time, if you’re willing to wait a few years, it will eventually go away on its own, but it’s usually better to get treatment for it.

 

Remember, The Foot & Ankle Center is Richmond’s all-in-one, total foot pain clinic for all ages. If you or your child are experiencing any kind of foot problem, we can help! Just use the button below to request an appointment.