Foot pain plagues millions of people a year. Traditional medicine has very painful and often ineffective therapies like cortisone shots, bulky casts and boots (that throw your back out), and dangerous oral medication (that can harm your adrenal glands, kidney, and liver). The traditional options are slow to work and often simply cover up the underlying issues. I see people all the time with plantar fasciitis that clunked around in a walking boot for months and finally got over the pain, for it to only come back once in regular shoes.
At Align Foot and Ankle we get to the root of the issue, utilizing digital X-ray, diagnostic ultrasound, and in depth gait analysis to determine where the problem is and why it is happening. The more you know, the easier it is to pinpoint therapy and build a plan to cure the problem for good. Once a problem is identified, ground breaking, evidence-based medicine is used to cure the problem. The most innovative technology available is energy waves via Shockwave and Swift Therapy.
Shockwave Therapy Discovery
Align Foot and Ankle has the newest, most powerful shockwave in the region, but the science behind it is anything but new. Invented years ago to help heal broken horse femurs, the technology revolves around microtrauma that breaks up scar tissue and promotes new blood vessel formation. The technology evolved into lithotripsy, sound waves used to break up kidney stones noninvasively. The technology then advanced into Orthotripsy, soundwaves used to heal broken bones in humans as well as soft tissue damage. It was so effective it was only needed one time in surgery, however, being that no one wants to go to surgery for a noninvasive procedure, it was reinvented to be portable with more frequent sessions at lower energy.
Shockwave in the Foot
The research over years of study shows shockwave to be the most effective conservative treatment for heel pain, achilles tendinitis, general foot tendonitis, neuromas, and chronic inflamed tissue. At Align Foot and Ankle we do 1-2 sessions a week for 6 sessions, with sessions taking less than 5 minutes per foot. Generally we give 6 weeks off after the last session and reassess at 6 weeks. Studies have shown up to 92% effectiveness with shockwave in resolving even the most difficult plantar fasciitis and chronic foot pain.
Swift Microwave Therapy
Microwave therapy has been around for years for targeting cancer cells. The microwaves are pinpoint and localized, heating the local tissue to create an immune response to allow the body identification of the damaged area and begin to destroy the invader. It does not affect other areas, only the damaged area. This genius invention carries over to the foot for warts and deep seed calluses. The treatment takes less than 5 minutes and will not only get rid of stubborn warts and calluses but prevent the virus from ever causing warts again, essentially providing patients with a titer to the virus.
In general, the body is a very powerful vessel of healing, when it knows how and what to heal. Many chronic foot problems create issues the body does not even know is there, or how to heal the damage. Scar tissue, poor blood flow, and isolated damage is missed by the body. Energy waves in the form of shockwaves and swift microwaves treatments can be harnessed to unleash the body’s natural healing potential and cure the problem for good.
