OUR FEET ARE IMPORTANT, YET OFTEN NEGLECTED

As I thought about what content to write about in my first blog post, I felt it was important to establish why attention to foot care and injury prevention is so important. I, like many of my patients am guilty of neglecting problems with my feet until I am forced to address it due to pain. I think that because our feet are covered by socks and shoes most of the day and it is at the far end of our body, we feel it is not as important. For example, if we had a structural bone deformity of our face many of us would pay any amount to get that corrected. When it comes to our feet, sometimes severe structural deformities and pain are not addressed with the same vigor.

Our feet are vitally important. Many of my patients come to this realization when they have to come in because they cannot bear standing on their feet. It is at these moments when we realize how important healthy feet and ankles are. I recall many hours of my childhood stacking and building tall structures with the colored wooden blocks. I learned quickly that if the base blocks were not solid, the structure was unstable. This would limit the height I could stack. I didn't like limitations then any less than I do now. When I chose to ignore those limitations, the structure would collapse. Our feet are like the base blocks of our body. When they are healthy we are not limited in what we can accomplish physically, but when we neglect them we become limited and sometimes injure ourselves.

Daily I see conditions that present to me worse than they should be due to procrastination in making appointments. My goal in writing this post is to remind us all that our feet are important and that getting our feet checked out in the initial stage often can lead to an quick resolution. As I reflect and write this post, I am reminded that I am so much like my patients as we all try to put off medical care hoping it will get better itself. Lets recommit to keeping our feet at their "Pryme."

In the coming posts, I will try to provide education about the anatomy and complications of the feet and ankles as well as tipsand perhaps some fun content thrown in from time to time as there is more to lift than feet and ankles.

Bryan Molen, DPM, FACFAS