Many different problems can cause foot pain. Some of these problems are: injuries, overuse, infections, diseases, and deformities. Here are just a few of the common foot conditions that affect thousands of Americans every year:

• Achilles Tendinitis – This painful inflammation of the largest tendon in the body is usually caused by an injury or overuse. It presents as a painful area in the back of the leg or heel.
• Ankle Sprain – This injury involves a tear or partial tear of the ligaments that hold the ankle joint together.
• Athlete’s Foot – This is a fungal infection of the skin and can make your feet itch and burn. It’s highly contagious and sometimes difficult to get rid of.
• Black Toenails – Darkened nails can have several causes, from injuries to infections. Usually, they are caused by blood under the toenail but if you’re not sure why they turned black, it might be serious.
• Broken Toe/Broken Foot – Trauma can cause bones in the foot or ankle to break. Sometime people do not even know they’ve broken a bone until it is diagnosed on x-ray. Some broken bones require surgery to be put back in place. Often the are treated with a brace or cast.
• Bunions – These deformities create a hard bump on the side of the foot where the big toe and ball of the foot meet. They are mostly hereditary but can be cause by environmental factors also. The treatment for bunions if usually a bunionectomy surgery. Non-surgical treatment involves treating the symptoms and addressing the deformity of the arch. Sometimes an injection can provide relief if surgery needs to wait.
• Corns and Calluses – These skin lesions develop under pressure and friction. They can make wearing shoes and normal walking uncomfortable. They are not a skin problem. They are a problem of the underlying bones.
• Foot Drop – A foot that has trouble lifting up could be an injury or a serious neurological disorder.
• Flat Feet – Abnormally low or fallen arches can make your feet ache when you walk or stand. They can also contribute to many other foot problems.
• Fungal Nails – Fungus inside the toenails can turn them discolored, thick and deformed. This can be fairly challenging to treat. Depending of the severity, they are treated with topic medication, oral medication, laser and/or surgery.
• Hammertoes – This toe deformity causes the toes to bend and deform, often with corns forming from pressure on the shoes. Treatment is often surgical. Non-surgical treatment includes shaving of the corms, shoe changes, padding, strapping and orthotics
• Ingrown Toenails – When a toenail rubs on the skin or penetrates the skin, can cause severe pain, redness and infection. The hard nail plate acts like a foreign body inside the skin and needs to be removed. This removal can be done with little pain if not severe but more severely ingrown nails require an injection of local anesthesia and removal in the office.
• Neuromas – Nerves in the forefoot can become enlarged and inflamed causing severe pain in the ball of the foot and/or toes. Treatment ranges from anti-inflammatories, injections, orthotics, padding and when these fail, more invasive techniques. Minimally invasive procedures in the office such as radio frequency ablation works well and when they fail, open nerve removal surgery is performed.
• Plantar Fasciitis – This is the most common cause of pain in the heel. Often it is felt the most in the morning getting out of bed or after periods of rest or sitting. It is caused by a chronic inflamed or partially torn ligament that attaches to the heel bone, or in the arch.
• Turf Toe – This is a sprain in the big toe that develops when the digit is suddenly hyperextended.
• Warts – These painful bumps are the result of viruses in the skin on the feet. They are contagious and spread to other people on hard wet surfaces usually, like a gym or bathroom floor.