Bunion & Co. E-Book

Patrick Hofer

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 102

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

On the list of the most frequent foot complaints, problems of the forefoot follow closely behind heel pain. The preconceived notion that such problems can be attributed solely to the wrong choice of shoes is rarely true. Bunion, metatarsalgia, as well as the frequently misunderstood Morton neuroma, are closely related to the complex relationships between foot position and gait behavior. As a result, these problems of the forefoot appear very different in each human being. In this book, Patrick Hofer describes the connections that can lead to forefoot problems over the years in a familiar and comprehensive manner. He shows ways in which those affected should react to such problems and how to prevent them. The complications related to the forefoot mentioned in his first book, "Feet, Knowing and Treating Foot Problems", are presented here in greater detail and supplemented with further information. He does not shy away from considering old teachings from a controversial point of view. Few books offer patients and those interested in learning, explanations and recommendations on the most common problems with the forefoot in such an depth.

Leseprobe

»The normal foot is fiction«

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Splayfoot (Pes transversoplanus)

Metatarsalgia (Midfoot pain)

Morton's neuroma

Bunion (Hallux valgus)

Sesamoiditis (Inflamation of sesamoid bones)

Tailor's bunion (Bunionette)

Hammer toes and claw toes

osteoarthristis

Rigid big toe (Hallux rigidus)

Rheumatism and gout

Metatarsal fractures

Kohler's disease (Morbus Kohler II)

Calluses (Hyperkeratosis)

Ingrown toe nails

Nail bed and nail root injuries

Ganglion (Ganglion cysts)

Athlete's foot (Fungual infection)

Nail fungus

Corns or plantar warts

Ledderhose disease (Morbus Ledderhose)

Foreign body granuloma

Diabetic foot syndrome

Neuropathy (Nerves disease)

Burning feet syndrome

When to go to the doctor

Metatarsal pads

Splay foot bandages

Toe spreader

Hallux valgus splint

Kinesio taping

Gel insoles

Cusomized insoles

Rolling aids

Soft shoes

Butterfly rolls

Soles stiffeners

Foot training

Medication

Surgery

Foot bath

Common mistakles

Conclusion

Preface

Dear Reader,

Time and again, patients come to my practice because of forefoot pain.

The causes for this are manifold and not always quite clear. Poor foot function such as spreading feet or misalignments of the big toes and wrong footwear are jointly responsible. A gait analysis and a footprint in the context of diagnosis are helpful to determine the reasons of the complaints. The therapy of these mentioned foot problems can be very complex. Through orthopedic insoles and appropriate training of the foot muscles the forefoot pain can be reduced or even eliminated. Despite the use of special splints, anti-inflammatory medication and physiotherapy, an operative therapy cannot always be avoided.

Dear readers, I hope that this informative book will help you to get your complaints under control as quickly as possible and will provide some useful tips.

Have fun while reading!

Alexandra Buchbauer-Kollar, Doctor of medicine

Specialist in general internal medicine

Introduction

"Anyone who feels healthy does not have a diagnosis yet."

We are paying more and more to get well, and yet we are more sick. As a result of altered thresholds, increasingly accurate screening methods, and new devices, the number of diagnoses of hypertension, osteoporosis, diabetes and cancer has exploded in recent years, while the number of deaths has remained almost constant. Thus, millions of people without symptoms are made into patients and treated for illnesses that might have never affected them. Health care, and above all the pharmaceutical industry, is shifting the boundaries from healthy to ill in search of further and bigger markets.

Perhaps you have experienced it too: you go to the doctor because of an ailment and, unexpectedly, you get treated for a disease that has nothing to do with your original ailment. The primary symptoms then often lose their importance and you suddenly feel a lot sicker than before the doctor's visit.

Overdiagnosis is not a misdiagnosis, but the exact, early detection of an abnormality, which does not show the least or only slight symptoms. And of which one does not know at all whether it will ever affect the quality of life. New diseases are being created and what once was regarded as healthy has abruptly a name and is considered a disease. Surgeries are proposed without complaints being made. We patients become insecure and we have no choice but to trust the expert.

On the other hand, the actual complaints did not get further examined. Connections between different symptoms are hardly established, instead, highly specialized medical experts are assigned to do symptom treatment. Finally, the diagnosis is usually something that can be easily treated or operated.

This development, from the point of view of the progressive cost explosion in health care, should make us think. After all, it is mainly us patients who support this trend through our behavior. How is it that we trust a doctor more than our own body? We have to learn to be responsive to our body as a whole and to relate the relationships of different symptoms to each other and to our own behavior.

Often, patients are astonished when I ask them about their specific complaints. My questions are astounding, because the patients had not asked themselves such questions before: Where exactly and how often do I actually have complaints? For how long? What intensifies or reduces the pain and so on?

Our body often speaks to us in the form of malaise and pain. If we do not understand or do not listen, it must become more direct and strengthen the complaints. Once the suffering has reached a certain intensity, we go to the doctor, who is to understand our body for us with modern measuring instruments and imaging procedures. Without an unhampered and open discussion with our own body, it becomes difficult to cure diseases. If we do not understand our body, how can a doctor understand it? Putting our entire well-being into the hand of doctors it often leads to disappointments with modern medicine.

Yes, I know what you are thinking now: the doctor knows much more about anatomy, pathology, and physiology than we do. Of course, you are right, but sometimes all of this knowledge does not help, but blocks the view of the essentials. Medicine is team work, in which the self-responsible patient should play the most central role. It makes me think when I see that physicians advise their patients with anomalies such as Ganglion, Hallux valgus or Morton Neurom to get surgery without hesitation, but would never do it to themselves.

Trauma oder disease

Another important finding that I would like to make you aware of is that many of the ongoing complaints resulting from an overload are due to micro-injuries of the tissue. For example, if we suffer persistent pain after a long hike for a long time, small injuries to tendons, ligaments, muscles or cartilages are often the cause of this. As a result of the constant and uniform mechanical load during walking, the weakened body tissue may gradually be damaged. This usually happens at a weak point of the gait apparatus, due to possible misalignments. The subsequent pain comes from an inflammation with which the body reacts to the damage.

An inflammation is the local reaction of the body to an internal or external stimulus, which endangers the physiological processes. The goal of the inflammation is to eliminate the damaging stimulus and create the conditions for repair procedures (healing). Inflammation is thus an expression of the immune reaction of the organism and often requires a change in our behavior.

Important: The content of this book is based on my own long lasting experiences and serves exclusively for your information. It is neither scientifically based nor does it replace the diagnosis or treatment by a doctor. The basis for reliable decision-making for the use of aids or therapies can only be the appropriate diagnosis by a doctor. Despite careful research, I cannot guarantee the completeness, accuracy, and topicality of all information in this book. The introduced measures are applied at their own risk. Liability claims in any form which may arise from the application and implementation of information contained in this book are in principle excluded. Please consult your doctor or pharmacist about the risks and side effects of the indicated remedies and the tolerability in your personal case. I am looking forward to receiving your feedback and suggestions.

Do not trust anyone who claims to know everything, be critical and trust your own intuition.

I wish you a lot of fun while reading!

Splayfoot

The splay foot is called Pes transversoplanus (transverse foot flattening) in technical language and describes, according to general teaching opinion, a misalignment of the metatarsal. The intermetatarsal angle increases, so that the forefoot widens, spreads and the metatarsophalangeal joints diverge. At the same time, the anterior transverse arch is lowered, resulting in increased pressure on the metatarsal heads II, III and IV. Often one says, "the transverse arch has been crossed". The splay foot is also clearly referred to as the most common abnormal foot position. It is so widespread that more observations are required.

Everyone who has been working with feet and has already seen numerous examples, will ask himself sooner or later: are there any adult feet that cannot be classified as a splay foot? Or in other words, is there a cross-arch at the top of the foot or something like a splay foot? In any case, I cannot claim to have ever seen an anterior transverse arch in a standing foot.

Of course, if this is the case in all textbooks, no one is likely to doubt it, and it is always better to have a logical theory at hand than just open questions.

In the last few years, the anterior cross-arch has become more and more an "intellectual construction of the anatomists and joint mechanics", and it has been agreed with advanced experts to avoid the diagnosis of the splay foot.

If we look at the primitive peoples of the Amazon or the pygmies in Africa, we surprisingly find that an increased spreading or divergence of the metatarsal bones, which until now have been used as a distinguishing feature for the splay foot, is normal in these people.

This is particularly surprising, as these people have been walking without shoes for generations, and the wearing of unsuitable shoes has been the main responsibility for the development of splay feet.

How can it be that groups of people who travel only barefoot in the jungle over long distances all have pronounced splay feet, but at the same time hardly suffer from any forefoot problems? Forefoot problems, which according to textbooks, are all caused by splay feet.

So where is the cause of all of these forefoot problems, which I will present in this book, if they are not caused by splay feet?

Let us first look at the mysterious anterior transverse arch. All too often the mistake is made to portray humans as static objects, which stand motionless and upright like a tree. Certainly, this simplifies the observation enormously, but carries the risk of capturing only a small part.

Humans can swim, climb, crawl, bounce, run and, above all, walk. During all movements, many groups of muscles work together in a finely coordinated manner in order to allow for a continuous movement. In each phase of these movements, a further partial image is formed, which occurs only in the chain of these movement steps and hardly occurs in a static manner. This is also the case with the anterior transverse arch on the foot, which should rise briefly during the rollover process.

The erection of the transverse arch during the unrolling is provoked passively, when examining the forefoot. In this important test, all the toes of the foot are examined passively and pulled up by hand as far as possible (dorsal extension). In the case of an intact foot, this results in a slight, convex transverse curvature along the base of the toes, while the weakened foot is characterized by a concave curvature.

Through this reflex-like transverse curvature of the forefoot, we apply the force to the far-apart midfoot heads one and five, thus stabilizing the foot and the one-legged state during said gait phase.

When we wear shoes, they take over a large part of the stabilization work and thus the muscles of the feet are much less needed, with the result that the anterior transverse arch gradually recedes.

If we look at the feet of the barefoot populations again, we notice a marked spreading of both, the metatarsal and the toes, which remind us a little of fins. By the way, this also corresponds to the picture of our feet after birth, with clearly fanned toes (picture on page →). As it is easy to see, the natural foot shape of these people hardly matches our common shoe styles. The toes are actively used and spread apart clearly. Due to the strong foot muscles, the forefoot is wide and resembles our image of a splay foot.