This is a transcript of a Dr. Jay Show broadcast on 1560TheGame in Houston, TX. Dr. J. Michael Bennett is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and a Fellowship Trained
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| The Achilles' tendon. PD image from Gray's Anatomy, from bartleby.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Sports Medicine Physician serving patients from Katy, Fort Bend County, Metro Houston and Southeast Texas from offices in Richmond and Sugar Land, TX. Dr Bennett is will begin to see patients at a new office in Houston on May 3, 2012. Call 281-633-8600 for an appointment.
Our special guest is Dr. Mark Vann, a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in foot and ankle injuries.
Here’s the transcript of the third portion of the Show:
BENNETT: Dr. Vann, can you elaborate on exactly what each of those is and what the treatment options are?
VANN: The more important of the two is definitely going to be the Achilles tendon. The plantaris tendon is a smaller muscle belly and tendon that’s there, but is minimally functional. A lot of times we’ll actually harvest that and use it in other parts of the body, like it’s a spare part. When we’re talking about the Achilles tendon, you are exactly right. The typical story is that the patient was playing tennis or was playing basketball, and the patients I usually see are around 35 to 45 years old. For me they are typically male and are trying to re-live those glory days of high school and they almost always have the same complaint: They think that somebody kicked them in the back of the leg or, being from Detroit like I am, people sometimes say, “I thought somebody shot me in the back of my leg!” Usually they have ruptured their tendon and that’s what they find out when they come into my office. That’s one of those things that if you have that pain, you need to be seen sooner rather than later. You don’t want to wait and have this become a problem because repairing this later is always more difficult than taking care of it primarily. And it doesn’t always require surgery. Sometimes we can treat this with a splint or cast-type device.
BENNETT: I think that if you do have any of these symptoms, get it checked out. Because a lot of times we need an MRI to determine how bad that tear is and that can determine a lot of times what that treatment is going to be and whether it’s surgical or non-surgical. Like we mentioned in our previous shows, a lot of the orthopedic injuries we see are treated non-operatively. It’s definitely in the minority that we see that operative intervention is indicated, so a lot of these things can be treated by just putting someone in a boot or a cast or a splint or something along those lines and then undergoing the appropriate rehabilitation and therapy afterwards. Dr. Vann, I wanted to ask you this, a lot of patients come through and ask if shoes really do matter. Does it make a difference what shoes you wear in regards to ankle and foot injuries?
VANN: Absolutely and I’d say that the number one reason why is because not all feet are the same. There is no “one good shoe” for everybody. The thing I typically recommend to patients is something I call the pushdown test. It sometimes annoys the salespeople in a store because you want to take a shoe off the display and you put the toe of the shoe directly down on a flat surface and you push on the heel. You want to see how much that sole breaks in or bends. And the reason for this is you want that foam sole to actually absorb the majority of the impact when you are running. Now although that is important as far as the impact, the other issue is that some people have flat feet and other people have a very subtle high-arched foot. People with a higher arched foot do not tolerate some of these motion controlled type shoes that well and the reason is that their foot is not the more common flattened foot that’s going to require an arch that’s built into some of these shoes. So if you have a shoe that has this motion control or even one that has a higher arch or instep in it and perhaps you already have a high arch, you’re going to set yourself up for some difficulties.
BENNETT: I definitely agree, 100 percent. A lot of these running places you can actually go and get your foot evaluated, they can look at the way you walk or run and they can tell you what you need in regards to an orthotic and I think that does make a big difference. Anyway, we’re here with Dr. Mark Vann and talking about ankle and foot injuries. We are taking calls. Our number is 281-633-8600. Please feel free to call in. This is Saturdays with Dr. Jay.
If you’d like to talk with Dr. Bennett about your sports medicine or orthopedic issue, please call our office at 281-633-8600.
