Ankle Pain Specialist

Once we have ruled out any underlying disease or problem such as fracture, the most common causes of ankle/foot pain are mechanical in nature. Incorrect alignment and muscular imbalances of the ankle and foot are often common causes. Poor biomechanics like flat arches of the foot leading to over-pronation or even poor footwear can be major contributing factors. Mechanical instability from prior injuries can also lead to abnormal movement patterns leading to tissue irritation and pain.

Once we have ruled out any underlying disease or problem, the most common causes of knee pain are usually mechanical in nature. Other than trauma from injuries or over-use, another commonly overlooked factor in knee pain, are changes in the function of the lower back, pelvis, and hip causing stress on the knee. If these areas are not well balanced it changes how we bear weight on the knee. Improper weight bearing on the knee joint over time is a common cause of knee injury and pain. 

With elbow tendon pain the damage can become so severe that it is difficult to hold up a glass of water or even do the normal activities of daily life such as buttoning your coat or lifting your purse or briefcase. The good news is there are some excellent treatments, that don't require surgery and can resolve the problem fairly quickly.

At our office, we take a holistic approach to ankle pain. We treat your entire body and not just the ankle/foot itself, not just at the site of injury. We do this because there can be many remote factors contributing to ankle/foot pain, so it is essential we provide a comprehensive approach.

Our process involves a thorough examination process, we where will perform a range of orthopedic, neurological, and musculoskeletal tests in order to find out what is the problem.  Sometimes we will call on imaging such as an X-Ray or High-Resolution Ultrasound examination, both of which can be done in the office and often on the first visit.

Once we have all of the information we need, we sit down with you to discuss our findings. From there we create a personalized treatment plan designed to help you recover naturally, if possible. Our treatment approach may include hands-on manual treatment from an Osteopathic Medical Physician or a Physical Therapist to help improve joint function and alignment. It may involve custom prescription rehab exercises and stretches to stabilize the foot and ankle mechanics.  We might call upon medication or even an injection if necessary to ease pain and help you heal faster so you can perform the necessary therapies to correct the problem. We will also look at the lifestyle and biomechanical factors that have led to the injury and help you make modifications as necessary to prevent future instances. 

In the end, our goal is to take a comprehensive non-surgical approach to care to get you back to the things you love without the risk or downtime of the invasive ankle or foot surgery. 

From here we create a personalized treatment plan, designed to help you recover, naturally if possible. Our treatment approach may include manual therapy by an Osteopathic Medical Doctor, Chiropractic adjustments to the joints of the body particularly the lower limb, Physical Therapy with custom rehab exercises and stretches, and maybe even Acupuncture. We may also suggest prescription medication or an injection to relieve the pain faster and help you heal. Last but not least, we examine lifestyle factors and habits that may have worsened the problem and help you make modifications as necessary to prevent future problems.

We believe we have one of the most comprehensive approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of knee pain you can find anywhere. We combine the best of our multiple disciplines to get faster pain relief that lasts. If you look at some of the comments our patients make, it looks like they agree with our approach!

Without this step, we have seen many patients fail to get better and get worse with treatments that inadvertently hurt the tendon, not helping it. 

Note: We find patients who have been told to stretch, massage, and exercise their “tendonitis” only to complain that they feel worse after treatment. Why? If you have a small tear not just inflammation (tendonitis) then pulling on the tear either through stretching or exercise can cause make it larger. We avoid these mistakes by imaging the tendon first before we start therapy. Tears are more common than you'd think with elbow tendon pain which may be one of the reasons why so many people fail to get better even with treatment like Physical Therapy. 

One of our favorite tools for treating Golfer’s or Tennis Elbow is “PRP”, which stands for Platelet Rich Plasma injection. This is a non-invasive, in-office treatment, where we take small quantities of blood through a simple blood draw technique and concentrate the number of naturally occurring platelet cells. We then inject the “Platelet Rich Plasma” directly into the tear under ultrasound imaging guidance, in essence using the power of these healing cells to “seal” the tendon injury without surgery. (Platelets produce growth factors and other compounds that stimulate repair when they are placed in an area of tissue injury. They are the same lifesaving cells that stop the bleeding and repair a cut in your skin when you hurt yourself). 

Thankfully PRP does not generally require many visits either, usually, 1 - 3 to three treatments are enough to manage most elbow tendon issues that we see.  The result is that our patients can get back to the things to things they love quickly, even when they have been in pain for long periods of time and failed other forms of treatments. 

The result is our shoulder treatment programs have been very successful at returning most of our patients back to normal active lifestyles without surgery.  We think our unique way of combining different disciplines all focused on getting you better faster, is what makes us special.  From the comments that our patients make, they think so too!

We think our unique way of combining different disciplines all focused on getting you to better faster is what makes us special. We believe we have one of the most comprehensive approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of neck pain you can find anywhere. We combine the best of our multiple disciplines to get faster pain relief that lasts. If you look at some of the comments our patients make, it looks like they agree with our approach!