Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeons

Orthopedic Doctor: Foot Fitness for Life

Guide to Keeping Your Feet Young and Healthy

We all know how to keep our biceps in shape, but few of us know how to keep toes in good condition. They take significant abuse from the hours we spend on our feet each day, especially in high-heel shoes. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society recommends doing these simple exercises to strengthen your toes and prevent foot discomfort. Dancers, runners and, frankly, all shoe wearers, will benefit from these exercises.

Foot and ankle surgeons say routine self examinations of the feet are an important way to find skin cancer early, when it's easiest to cure. Half of the people who learn they have melanoma of the foot die within five years because the cancer had already spread throughout their body by the time it was diagnosed.

With every step we take, our feet cushion a force of up to three times our body weight. That works out to millions of pounds of pressure every week. Indeed, as time marches on, it marches on your feet!

Although often ignored, your feet are the foundation for the rest of your body, and it is never too late to begin a foot fitness program with this advice from qualified orthopedic foot and ankle surgeons:

Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Surgeons

Orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons are medical doctors (MD and DO) who specialize in the diagnosis, care, and treatment of patients with disorders of the musculoskeletal system of the foot and ankle. This includes the bones, joints, ligaments, muscles tendons, nerves, and skin. Orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons use medical, physical, and rehabilitative methods as well as surgery to treat patients of all ages. They perform reconstructive procedures, treat sports injuries, and manage and treat trauma of the foot and ankle.

Orthopaedic foot and ankle surgeons work with physicians of many other specialties, including internal medicine, pediatrics, vascular surgery, endocrinology, radiology, anesthesiology, and others. Medical school curriculum and post-graduate training provides the solid clinical background necessary to recognize medical problems, admit patients to a hospital when necessary, and contribute significantly to the coordination of care appropriate for each patient.