Tag: hammertoes

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Step Into Better Health: 4 Ways Footwear Can Be Your Podiatric Powerhouse

For the expert team at Step by Step Family Foot Care, it’s no secret that proper footwear plays a crucial role in maintaining foot health. However, we often notice patients themselves are unaware of the benefits that the right pair of shoes or the perfect insole can confer!

With that in mind, we’ve crafted this blog post to address four unsung benefits that proper footwear can provide to your hardworking feet. Check out the info below.

1. Biomechanical Analysis: Decoding Your Foot’s Secret Language

  • Podiatrists use advanced technology to assess your gait, posture, and pressure distribution, uncovering hidden clues about how your feet function.
  • This detailed information becomes the blueprint for personalized footwear solutions, like…

2. Functional Orthotics: Architects of Foot Comfort

  • Custom-made orthotics aren’t comparable to over-the-counter, standardized shoe inserts.
  • They’re carefully crafted, based on your unique biomechanical analysis, to subtly correct misalignments and support your feet’s natural movement.
  • This can both alleviate pain and prevent future problems like bunions, hammertoes, and more.

3. Diabetic Shoes and Insoles: Protecting Precious Feet

4. Beyond the Prescription: Everyday Footwear Choices Matter

  • While specialized footwear plays a vital role, everyday shoe choices matter, too!
  • Choose shoes with wide-toe boxes, breathable materials, and good arch support.
  • Ditch the sky-high heels and narrow sandals for supportive flats or low-heeled options. Remember, your feet deserve comfort, even when you’re strutting your stuff.

Dr. Debra D. Manheim founded Step by Step Family Foot Care to provide “patient first” foot care to individuals of all ages. Our office is conveniently located on Route 46 East in Parsippany, next door to the Waterview Park and Ride. We offer office hours most weekdays and are available on Saturday mornings as well. Contact us for your appointment today!

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Heal Your Hammertoe

If you notice that one or more of your smaller toes are bending up at the middle joint, you may have a hammertoe. A muscle and ligament imbalance in the toe joint causes this deformity. The middle joint can bend up and stay in this position.

Hammertoes often run in families but may also be caused by wearing shoes that do not fit properly. The unattractiveness isn’t the only thing that brings patients in – they can also be painful and cause problems with walking. Blisters and calluses may develop when the elevated middle joint rubs against your shoes.

Diagnosing and Treating Hammertoes

To confirm our diagnosis of hammertoes, we will give you a thorough medical exam and take x-rays right in our office. We have several conservative treatment options based on the severity of the deformity:

  • Anti-inflammatory medication can ease pain and swelling.
  • For acute pain, cortisone injections will help.
  • Custom-fitted orthotics that fit inside your shoe can relieve pain and prevent the hammertoe from worsening.
  • In the early stages, when the toe is still fairly flexible, splinting may help.
  • Switch to low-heeled shoes with wide-toe boxes and keep at least one-half-inch space between your toes and the tip of the shoe.

If the above methods don’t help, we may recommend surgery to realign the toe.

Keep Hammertoes from Getting Worse

  • Wear supportive, low-heeled shoes that are wide in the toes with plenty of room before the front of the shoe.
  • Try non-medicated over-the-counter hammertoe pads to relieve pressure from the top of the toe joint.
  • Massage the toe and apply ice packs to ease pain and swelling.
  • Try toe exercises like picking up a marble with your toes and scrunching a towel with the toes.

Step By Step Family Foot Care is here to assist you with your podiatry needs! To make an appointment with Dr. Debra Manheim, call us at (973) 917-3785 or visit our site to schedule an appointment. The staff at our Parsippany office is ready and eager to help.

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Your Guide to Healthy Feet

At Step By Step Family Foot Care, we enthusiastically encourage our patients to be proactive about the health of their feet. Your feet are the foundation of your body. We take them for granted most days, but healthy feet enable you to stand, walk, run, work, shop, and do almost every other activity you love. There is much you can do to keep your feet fully functioning and prevent podiatric disorders. Let’s take a closer look.

Choose Your Shoes Wisely

Shoes that are well-made and fit properly are essential to maintaining your feet’ health. Get your feet professionally measured. Don’t be surprised if one foot is larger than the other – this can happen! Always buy shoes to accommodate the larger foot. Choose footwear styles with these features:

  • Roomy toe box (you should be able to wiggle all your toes freely)
  • Heel heights of two inches or less, but not completely flat
  • Good arch support
  • Cushioned insole and heel cup

Your shoe choice can minimize your risk of bunions, hammertoes, plantar fasciitis, and other foot problems, so choose carefully!

Don’t Neglect Daily Foot Care

Washing your feet daily with warm, soapy water and drying feet completely can go a long way toward preventing bacterial and viral infections like athlete’s foot. Apply talcum or anti-fungal powder in the morning and a thick moisturizer at night. Keep nails trimmed, and be sure that the nails are not growing into the skin of the nail bed and becoming ingrown.

Never Ignore Your Pain

Pain, numbness, burning, swelling, bruising, and tenderness in your feet are all your body’s way of telling you there’s a problem. Putting off seeking treatment can often lead to worsening the condition and even developing secondary disorders. Contact us if you are concerned about an issue with your toes, feet, or ankles.

Step By Step Family Foot Care is here to assist you with your podiatry needs! To make an appointment with Dr. Debra Manheim, call us at (973) 917-3785 or visit our site to schedule an appointment. The staff at our Parsippany office is ready and eager to help.

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Happy Feet This National Foot Health Awareness Month

April is National Foot Health Awareness Month and a great month to kick start everything foot and ankle-related. Your feet are complex structures that contain nearly a quarter of all the bones in your body. Good healthy feet are vital for mobility, independence, and overall wellbeing. So, it’s no surprise that when our feet hurt, our entire body hurts! Today Dr. Debra B. Manheim of Step by Step Family Foot Care in Parsippany, New Jersey, encourages everyone to take a step (or steps!) towards happy, healthy feet!

  • Inspect your feet daily: Everyday foot exams are essential, especially if you have diabetes. Look for anything unusual such as bumps, cuts, wounds, drainage, skin changes, or discoloration of the toenail. When foot problems are found and treated early, it prevents complications.
  • Find the perfect pair: If your favorite shoe is a source of any discomfort, it is time to bid them farewell. Choose shoes that are made for the activity you want to do. Tight and ill-fitted shoes can cause severe damage or even worsen current conditions like hammertoes and bunions. Wear shoes with a wide toe box so that the toes have enough room to move to avoid issues like blisters, corns, deformed toes, neuromas, or calluses.
  • Seek professional help: If you notice a foot problem or are unsure of your diagnosis, see a podiatrist immediately. Regular visits to your foot doctor can help you get to the root of the problem and avoid any future pain or issue with your feet or ankles.

Be proactive, and care for your feet every day. Show them some TLC! We have an experienced doctor, Dr. Debra B. Manheim, a board-certified podiatrist to care for all your foot problems. Call (973) 917-3785 or visit our office in Parsippany, New Jersey, to have a thorough check-up and learn some of the best ways to improve your foot and ankle health. Feel free to browse through our patient education library and blog section on our website.