8 tips to help you relieve heel pain There are many reasons that can cause heel pain, for example it may be caused by wearing tight shoes or exercising too much, so you should choose your shoes carefully.But if you already suffer from heel pain, here is some tips that can help: Rest & raise your heels. Apply ice packs on your heels for 20 minutes every 2 to 3 hours. Wear comfortable & low-heeled shoes with a soft sole. Support your heels & ankles by wrapping a bandage around them. Try stretching exercises regularly. Take over-the-counter pain killers as paracetamol when needed. Avoid walking or standing for long periods. Do not wear high heels or pointed heeled shoes. But you will need to consult a doctor if: The pain is severe or is preventing you from doing normal activities. The pain gets worse. The pain persists for two weeks after following the aforementioned advice. You feel tingling or numbness in your feet. You have diabetes. While you should go to the hospital or emergency department immediately if: You have severe pain. You feel dizzy or faint from the pain. There has been a change in the shape of the ankle or foot. Heard a sound when injured. You cannot walk. Since, these could be signs of heel fracture or broken ankle.

Did you know that your feet can tell a lot about your health?! For example, joint stiffness might be a sign of arthritis, but numbness could be a sign of diabetes, while swelling may indicate kidney disease or heart disease. Therefore, you should devote part of your time to taking care of your feet, & don’t neglect the signs that your feet sent to warn you, especially that your feet health can give a clue about your overall health. For that reason, podiatric medicine was invented, a medical branch dedicated to preventing, diagnosing, treating feet & lower limbs problems, it’s also specialized in the rehabilitation of medical & surgical cases, preventing deformity & correcting it too. Podiatry helps in the diagnosis & treatment of sports injuries of the foot. Thus, a podiatrist needs to employ several skills, such as patient counseling, asking the patient about his medical history & performing a physical examination to secure a diagnosis & select the most appropriate treatment plan. Clinical evaluation techniques help in the diagnosis & prediction of disease complications since it takes into consideration the patient’s medical & surgical history, the shoes he uses, his profession & lifestyle. The diagnosis is made using various equipment such as vascular scopes or radiology. While computerized techniques are often used to perform gait analysis, these techniques may include a range of motion studies, postural alignment assessments, or dynamic force & pressure studies. Podiatrists can recommend prescribed foot orthoses that can redistribute pressure; hence they are considered as permanent solutions to treat & prevent corns, callous and necrotic ulceration, & are used in acute & chronic foot conditions such as tendinitis & recurrent ankle sprain to supplement & enhance clinical care. What are you waiting for after knowing the importance of foot care? Visit Health & Style Medical Center to get the necessary care, just book your medical visit by calling 026330515 or 0555116072  

3 common causes of foot pain Feet bears your body weight, but many of us neglect them & don’t take care of them. Foot pain can limit your mobility; hence we should not ignore the pain of the feet, especially it may be caused by infections, fractures, sprains, or even nerve damage! 1. Pain in the ball of the foot: The ball of the foot is the padded portion of the sole between the arch & toes. Pain may occur due to nerve or joint damage. Treatment may include: Taking steroid injections. Wearing supportive pads to relieve pain. In some cases, surgery is performed. 2. Plantar Fasciitis: Severe pain in the heel especially when standing after rest characterizes plantar fasciitis, which is more common in women & people who are overweight or suffer from flat feet. Treatment may include: Rest Applying ice packs Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Stretching 3. Achilles tendon injury: The largest tendon in our bodies is Achilles tendon. Achilles tendinitis is a common condition that occurs due to tendon inflammation. Symptoms of the injury may include swelling, mild pain after workout & exercise that gradually get worse & stiffness that disappears after a warm-up of the tendon Treatment may include: Rest & massage Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Supportive devices Stretching Surgery   Although these were the most common causes of foot pain, there are many other causes; hence you should always consult a doctor for proper diagnose & the right treatment for you. Also, you can call us on 026330515 or 0555116072 to book a medical appointment with a podiatrist at Health & Style Medical Center.

Bunion: Types, Symptoms, assessment, and Treatment A Bunion is a bony growth normally affecting the big joints of the feet. Genetic factors are being considered as the major cause of bunions.  However, there are some other factors such as types of shoes that you wear, activities, and other injuries that you had in the past that could all influence the occurrence of a bunion. These factors can also cause a small bunion to develop into a larger one. How to prevent bunions formation? Generally, there is not a really great answer to this concern. It is always suggested to protect your feet by wearing good shoes and pay attention to any pressure that is being placed on the toe. Bunions are generally painful and they start off mild and can get worse. It comes in all sorts of sizes and shapes. There are mainly two types of Bunions. One is being formed due to wearing bad shoes. It pushes your big toe over the little toes and the inflammation overtime builds bone. In the other type, you are born with bunions. The definition of bad shoes has no relation to how expensive your shoes are. Sometimes the most expensive shoes can be worse. You should always need shoes that will fit your foot. How to Treat Bunions? As a bunion gets more symptomatic and starts to rub on your shoe that is the time when you should treat it. If a bunion development is found, the treatment starts with easy conservative measures to hopefully avoid it from progressing. But, it is not always successful. Bunions treatment uses different devices like toe sleeves or toe spacers and bunion splints which are used to wrap around the toe to pull it over. Sometimes you need to have surgery that will help to ensure that the bunion is not as much of a problem.  In the case of surgery, the surgeon will try to tailor the particular surgery to the individual as there are many other options. It will involve correcting both alignments of the bones, joints, and even correcting the ligaments. The recovery time after surgery can be varied depending upon the particular surgery that is being chosen. In some cases, you can use boots or shoes immediately after the surgery to walk. But there are other cases where you have to be very careful to protect the bunion. You are not allowed to wear shoes and walk for the first few weeks until it is safe to do so. The techniques and the options which correct bunions have grown to the point where fast recoveries are possible with less invasive techniques. At present, bunion recovery is much easier than it has been in the past. WE HELP YOU STAND ON YOUR FEET Health & Style Medical Centre, the first private podiatry practice in Abu Dhabi, aspire to provide the most up to date knowledge and understanding of the lower limb whilst delivering world-class service to our patients with the aid of state of the art Podiatry equipment. HSMC will do the most effective and advanced treatment for Bunions. Click – https://hsmc.me/      

Feet helps us stand high and proceed further. From crawling to running, feet is our ultimate companion. But often we ignore and tend to take less care of our feet. We do take care of our hands since they are more visible, but somehow we end up forgetting the necessity of taking care of our feet. Like that was not enough, the cherry on the top is we often harbor some common myths about our feet. These myths have no scientific logic or explanation but because great grandma told us so, we consider it as an ultimate truth. These myths need to be addressed. 4 Myths about Foot Care Myth 1: Diabetic Foot Ulcer Doesn’t Need Treatment Since It Doesn’t Hurt Truth: What if we tell you that there is pain but you just don’t feel it? Yes, that is true. Diabetes can damage your nerve and that is why you don’t feel pain. Diabetes can even result in poor blood flow to your feet which increase the probability of having ulcer and infection. Therefore they should never ever be ignored. Myth 2: Plantar Warts Can Be Dealt with Duct Tape or Salve Truth: We have a whole article on this subject. Do visit our blog about plantar warts to know more. In a nutshell, you cannot solve plantar warts with mere duct tapes and salve. They can even spread and cause more infection. So if you are facing this problem, do consult with doctors or contact us. Myth 3: The development of bunions entirely depends on the shoes you are wearing. Truth: Again we have an article on this subject too, read it here. Yes, it is true that shoes can be one of the reasons of bunions but obviously not the only reason. Bunions are mostly resultants of ankle twists and they can also be inherited or from any kind of previous deformity. Myth 4: Heel Pain Means Heel Spur Heel spur is surely one of the reasons for heel pain but there are several other reasons too. Do check our blog on heel spur. Few of the reasons for heel pain can be • Plantar Fasciitis • Achilles tendinitis • Arthritis • Infection • an autoimmune problem trauma • a neurological problem • some other systemic condition So crux of the matter is, if there’s a pain in your heel, better consult with a doctor and don’t act one. We are expert in any feet problem, feel free to consult with us for any problem that you are facing.

Fitness is a very important aspect of life and wise people say until and unless you are completely fit and healthy, no matter how wealthy you are, you can never be happy. A lot of people correlate physical activity with fitness which is a right thing to do. Having said that, there are a lot of myths about different physical activities/exercises which we would like to break in our myth breaker series. In this first episode of the series we would like to break few myths about running and jogging. Running and jogging are known to be one of the most effective exercises. After swimming, running and jogging are the most effective exercises to burn calories. Since swimming is not feasible for a lot of people, many people depend on running/jogging for their daily exercises. But there are certain myths around jogging which we would like to address here. Here are 5 Common Jogging or Running Myths Myth 1: You Will Be Burning 1000 Kcal for 1 Hour of Jogging Truth: The amount of calorie you will be burning is completely dependent on the pace that you have. Yes, you can burn 1000 kcal in an hour of jogging but only when you run 10 km/hour speed. If you run at 6 km/hour speed, you will be burning close to 600 kcal. Myth 2: It’s Good to Run On Road or Hard Surface in The Park Truth: It is never ever recommended to run on a hard surface. It can lead to multiple complications of your feet. It can increase the possibility of heel spur, it can also cause plantar fasciitis. If you are facing any heel pain or feet problem, you should immediately consult with a doctor. You can also reach to us here. Myth 3: Your Normal Sneakers Are Fine for Jogging/Running Truth: When you are running or jogging, you are putting a lot of stress on your feet and therefore your feet needs special care. Just any random sneakers will not do justice to your feet since the requirement is entirely dependent on the design on your feet, your biomechanics, your weight, and any injury if you might have. Therefore you would need a specially designed shoes custom made for you. This might cost you some extra money but if you get injured, that will cost you even more. We would recommend contacting PodiatryAbuDhabi for any such requirement. Myth 4: You Need to Jog/Run Every Day Truth: The frequency of your jogging and your resting both are equally important for your healthy body. If you run 7 days a week, you wouldn’t get any resting period and thus it will not do any good to you. We would recommend jogging 5 days a week. Myth 5: With Proper Practice, Everyone Can Run Marathon Truth: It might sound demotivating but around 20% joggers/runners will never be able to complete a marathon since they don’t have a muscle mass which can help them to run long distance. Therefore if you cannot complete a marathon, don’t lose heart, it’s not the end of the world. Hope this knowledge helps! For any complication for your heel/feet, feel free to contact us here.

Although our feet do a lot of work for us, they are often the most ignored part of our body. A good foot massage can have many benefits for us and hence it has been practiced in different cultures as part of its traditions. Here are the Top 5 Unexpected Benefits of Foot Massage Helps us Sleep Better: A relaxing foot massage can help the body unwind. A foot massage just before going to bed will encourage restful sleep. There are many acupuncture points on our feet which when massaged or pressed with a right amount of force helps us to sleep better. Improves Blood Circulation: Even 10 minutes of daily foot massage can help improve blood circulation. Also foot massage will stimulate the lymphatic system and prevent varicose veins. Although a foot massage does wonder to our circulation system, but it is not always enough. You need to wear proper footwear which will not hamper the normal circulation in the feet. That is why it is not advisable to wear very tight shoes. Helps you Relax: Many of us due to our jobs have to wait and stand for long hours. After a long tiring day the best way to rest is through a soothing foot massage. It relives the feet of stress and fatigue. Fights Depression: Although this might not be known but a study published in 2010 had proved that foot massage provides consolation in times of adapting to changes in life and during grieving periods. This has something to do with the science of reflexology and acupuncture. Relief from Pain: It is advisable to use warm oil for foot massage so that it easily penetrate deep in the skin. You can start with gentle yet firm strokes at home. For reflexology you can visit our podiatry clinic to get treatment from experts for any kind of foot ache.