surgery

Managing Foot and Ankle Pain After Surgery

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

foot pain after surgeryFoot and ankle surgery is common for deformities such as fractures and sprains. Pain is an unavoidable part of surgery recovery. That being said, there are methods you can use to manage the pain. Understanding the significance of the pain, the cause, and the severity is the key to correct management.

Injuries to the ankle and foot, as well as any resulting surgery, causes acute pain that can be directly correlated to the damaged structured.  After surgery, pain is related to damage and inflammation of tissues.  As structures heal, the pain will resolve quickly.

Pain from Foot & Ankle Surgery

Surgery for the foot and ankle is similar to an injury – it causes damage to tissue but it is done to correct an abnormality in order to reduce problems in the future.  Pain related to surgery is from the incisions and tissue manipulation, which stimulates the sensory nerves and inflammation.  Post surgery, treating pain with anti-inflammatory medications along with analgesics is often necessary.

Pain is normal, but should be easy to control and will dissipate as healing progresses.  Icing for the first 2 days after surgery and keeping the foot elevated keeps the inflammation, swelling, and pain under control.  The most important thing to do post-surgery is to follow the doctor recommended activity restrictions. This will improve your recovery speed.

Hypersensitivity and CRPS

Damage to the foot and ankle in about 5% of cases can cause severe, abnormal pain with hypersensitivity.  When this occurs, special pain management is necessary.  Sympathetic hypersensitivity, know as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS – “crips”) causes severe extremity pain and despite normal treatment, it still hurts.

This condition requires a high level of intervention with medications, special therapy, and nerve blocks before and after any surgery and recovery requires the skills of an experienced team of an orthopedic surgeon and a pain management specialist. Many physicians “give up” when they see these issues with ankle and foot injuries, but when treated aggressively and correctly, these injuries can be significantly corrected.  Having the best team to treat foot and ankle issues reduces or eliminates long-term problems.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment Options

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

Carpal Tunnel Treatment st. cloudAs a follow up to our previous post about the causes and symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, we have put together this post outlining some treatment options for CTS. Carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated both surgically and non-surgically depending on the severity of symptoms.

Non-Surgical Treatments

For mild forms of carpal tunnel syndrome, non-surgical treatments are usually the best option. Here are some treatments that can help alleviate pain without having to undergo surgery:

  • Icing your wrist and hand. Applying cold to the area can decrease inflammation.
  • Taking breaks from activities that may be aggravating the condition, such as typing on a keyboard.
  • NSAIDs. Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (such as aspirin or ibuprofen) can be used to temporarily reduce pain from carpal tunnel syndrome.
  • A wrist splint can be applied at night or during the day when wrist movement is not needed.
  • Corticosteroid injections. These cannot be administered at home, but by a skilled pain management doctor. Injections like cortisone can cut down on inflammation, which in turn, decreases pain.

Surgical Treatments

If none of the above treatment options work for you and your symptoms persist or  worsen, surgery may be the best path.

Generally, surgery for this condition will be endoscopic or open. In endoscopic surgery, a small telescope-like device is inserted through a small incision. This allows the surgeon to perform the operation in the least invasive manner. With open surgery, an bigger incision must be made and the surgeon must cut through ligament to solve the problem.

5 Must-Have Surgery Recovery Items

/ Thomas Cohn, MD

foot surgeryNote: This is a guest post from the folks at GoodbyeCrutches.

If you have to have surgery on your foot or ankle, you have some preparations to do in order to help the process go as smoothly as possible.  In the past, when you injured yourself, you would simply have to suffer through it.  Today, however, there are many inventions that can help you relieve yourself of the discomforts that surgery and injuries can bring to your life.  As you go through the recovery process, consider using a few of these items to help you get through it with more comfort.

1. Comfy Cozy Cast Toe Warmers

When you have a cast on your foot, your whole foot is covered, except your toes.  They are exposed and they can often get cold, even in the summer.  In past years, you just had to stretch a sock over your foot and do the best you could.  Today, though, comfy cozy cast toe warmers fit right over your exposed toes like a slipper and fasten around the back with Velcro.  Your foot might still hurt, but your toes will be warm.

2. Shower Stools

Taking a shower is tough no matter what when only have one foot to use.  It will never be easy, but in the past you just had to balance on one foot and do your best.  Today, there are shower stools available so you can sit and not worry so much about falling over.  You can also enjoy a longer shower since you will be sturdy and ready to go.

3. Cast Coverz

In the past, you would get a white cast and that was the only option.  After that, you had color choices, but once you picked one color, you had to stick with it for the duration of your recover.  Today, there are Cast Coverz that help you get through the recovery process in style.  There are a lot of different colors and patterns that you can choose from to make yourself feel better about your situation.

4. Cast Coolers

Casts can be rather itchy and hot.  If you needed relief in the past, you only had that straightened out coat hanger to help.  Today, cast coolers can be hooked up to your cast and a vacuum cleaner to suck the air from beneath your cast out.  They will dry the cast out and cool the area beneath it leaving you with a fresh, clean feeling that will allow you to feel and smell better.

5. Alternatives to Crutches

Crutches are wonderful mobility devices that can really help you balance and get around, but they can also be cumbersome and make you sore.  If you think you might be better served by something else, Goodbye Crutches has several great alternative options to crutches.

The recovery process is certainly never going to be easy, but today at least you have plenty of items that can help you make the time you have to spend on one foot easier, more comfortable, and as bearable as possible.