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How Are Feet Connected to the Heart?

There is never a dull moment in the world of medicine! With how expansive the realm of illnesses, diseases, and conditions can be, it makes sense when you think about how symptoms can overlap between different areas of medicine.

The connections between the world of cardiology and podiatry can be surprising to most people. Depending on what foot issues your podiatrist is addressing, this may also clue you in to what could be beneficial to bring up with a cardiologist. In a recent interview, a podiatrist working in a hospital with a neighboring cardiology department noted that over 80% of their patients also saw a cardiologist. This podiatrist, however, specialized in the types of issues that most commonly overlap with cardiology: non-healing wounds, patients at high risk of amputation, circulatory disorders, and diabetic patients.

Not every podiatry patient will need to see a cardiologist, but there are a few tell-tale signs that you may benefit from a trip to the cardiologist in addition to seeing your podiatrist:

  • Are your feet regularly puffy or swollen, even slightly?
  • Have you ever had a foot or ankle injury that took an excessive amount of time to heal?
  • Do you ever struggle with healing from ulcers or even just blisters on your feet?
  • Are you at risk of developing diabetes, or already have diabetes?
  • Have you developed any other conditions with a high instance of comorbidity, like congestive heart failure, hypertension, nerve disease, or artery disease?

It can be difficult to navigate when and where it’s appropriate to bring up issues you’re unsure are worth mentioning. As it turns out, Dr. Lilly Khavari at Carrollton Foot Center encourages her patients to bring up any and every change they’ve noticed when it comes to foot and ankle health. Call us today at 469-998-3668 or visit our location in Carrollton, Texas serving Denton, Dallas, and Collin County.

The Ankle Sprain and Arthritis Connection

If you’re like us, you enjoy being active. Especially when we were younger, running and participating in sports that tended to be rough on our feet and ankles were a common past-time. For some people, this translated into experiencing one or more sprains or fractures in their lifetimes! When you experience one or more sprain or fracture, you run the risk of weakening the areas of your feet and ankles affected by that injury. For example, repeated ankle sprains can, over time, make you more vulnerable to future sprains and even more so to fractures.

This can be avoided by seeking professional rehabilitation services to help you recover from these injuries.  People who experience one or more fractures in their feet and ankles have a higher risk of developing arthritis in the affected bone or joint. If you have a history of ankle sprains or fractures and have now developed arthritis in the affected foot, it’s helpful to know how to tell the difference between a sprain and a fracture if you’re injured again in the future. This can help you get the right kind of treatment you need to recover better!

What do I look out for when it comes to sprains?

  • Inflammation and aching pain
  • Muscle spasms
  • Reduced range of motion
  • Muscle cramping

What do I look out for when I suspect it’s a fracture?

  • Inflammation and swelling
  • A significant amount of pain
  • Excessive bruising
  • A complete inability to bear weight

And what symptoms overlap, making it difficult to tell the difference?

  • Foot or ankle stiffness
  • Painful inflammation or aching
  • Swelling of various degrees
  • Bruising all over the affected area

For people with a history of sprains and fractures who have now developed arthritis in the affected foot or ankle, don’t wait any longer – schedule an appointment to have Dr. Lilly Khavari at Carrollton Foot Center assess the situation! Your long-term care and comfort matters. Call us at (469) 998-3668 to get an appointment with us in Carrollton, Texas.  We proudly serve patients in Denton, Dallas and Collin Counties.

When Ankle Pain Isn’t Ankle Pain

When it comes to getting us around every day, our feet do a majority of the work. Between every individual part of our feet, our ankles are arguably one of the most hardworking features of the lower halves of our bodies. They connect the rest of our body to our feet and grant us the flexibility do things like rock climbing or stair climbing! Considering our feet do so much for us, it’s inevitable that we might get ankle pain along with aches sometimes.

Because everyone is different, everyone experiences discomfort and pain in different ways. This can sometimes make it hard to decipher what really hurts. Many of the symptoms of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, flat feet, and fatigued ankles are similar.

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you pinpoint where your pain is:

  • When you wake up in the morning, do the bottoms of your heels feel painful? Sometimes this pain can radiate into the back of our ankles. Take note of when and where it hurts.
  • If you’ve been walking around all day, are you experiencing significant discomfort or pain along the back of your heel to your ankle? Does the pain radiate up your ankle?
  • Have you noticed any swelling between the bony sides of your ankles after standing for a long, or even a short period of time? Does the swelling come on quickly, and is it accompanied by aching pain?

We hope that this list of questions to ask yourself might benefit you when it comes time to schedule an appointment with Dr. Lilly Khavari. Getting a quick and accurate diagnosis will only benefit you more in the long run! This will help you get to treatment more quickly – for example, if it truly is Achilles tendonitis, you definitely want to ask Dr. Khavari about shockwave therapy to speed up your healing process! Call us today at (469) 998-3668 to schedule an appointment at our location in Carrollton, Texas.

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