Charcot Foot Explained скачать в хорошем качестве

Charcot Foot Explained

As a podiatrist, Charcot foot is something that's difficult to explain to patients. Patients have heard of other foot problems like warts, ingrown toenails, bunions, but not so much Charcot foot. It is also a very serious problem. So it's something that patients should be aware of. Numbness is the most common risk factor for developing Charcot Foot. We see this a lot with diabetic patients that there's many other reasons to have numbness in your feet. You will start seeing redness, swelling, warmth in your foot. It can happen after an injury. It can happen after something as simple as a misstep. It can happen after no injury at all. You may have pain, you may not. If you ever notice these symptoms, the redness, the warmth, the swelling, you need to call your podiatrist office right away and come in for an appointment, because this is when we can treat this problem early. As the Charcot foot progresses, you will start developing little fractures or breaks in the bone and actually dislocations of the joints, usually at the mid-foot. It can also happen at the ankle joint. These are things that we are going to see on an x ray in the office. You will notice with your foot that it may start changing shape. So it will flatten. It may develop what's called a rocker bottom shape. If it develops in your ankle, your ankle may start turning inward. Absolutely, if you see any of these changes, call our office right away for an appointment because we need to address it as soon as possible. As your foot changes shape, a callus may develop, this can become a wound that can get infected and then you are at high risk of amputation, especially if it gets infected into the bone. Typically, our first treatment for Charcot is to immobilize you, so this means putting you in a cam boot or a cast. It may mean that you need to use a wheelchair or a walker. You want to try to the best of your ability to stay completely off of your foot. If you continue to walk on it, your foot will continue to shift. Dislocate. And that's when we run into the issues with wounds and infections that can put you at risk for amputation. You need to stay off your foot, usually 6 to 8 weeks. At that point. I like to put patients in something that's called a Crow Walker. This is a custom device that we take a mold of your foot and leg in the office, send it to a lab. It is made custom made for you, and it's made specifically for this Charcot foot problem. You do have to wear it for a very long time, up to one year. The reason for this is because , like I said before, if you do not immobilize properly, your foot will continue to shift and fracture and dislocate and this will run into a very significant problem. Otherwise, there's no other restrictions day to day. During this time, we take periodic X-rays every couple of months in the office to make sure that we see good progression with your foot. So at the end of the one year mark, the most important thing with the Charcot Foot is that you do not have any current open wounds and that you could put your foot into a shoe. This may be a custom shoe. It may mean custom shoe with inserts does not necessarily mean a normal shoe at this point, if at any point you have a non-healing wound in that one year time frame or your foot continues to shift even though you're in the Crow Walker at that point, surgery will obviously need to be discussed. So how can you, as the patient, prevent Charcot? Well, the most important thing is really to control your sugars if you're diabetic, and that will slow the progression down of any numbness, any neuropathy that you're developing. If you do have numbness for any other reason, other than diabetes or if your neuropathy is already significant, unfortunately, there probably is not a whole lot you can do to prevent Charcot. At that point the best thing you can be aware of is to look for those warning signs. So the redness, the swelling, the warmth, any change in your foot shape, that's when you need to call our office. Please call right away so that we can give you your best outcome to your foot.