Month: February 2016
How to choose your sports shoes
Author: Dr. Adrien Ray
1. GET PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
We can not stress this point enough. Choosing the right shoe for the right foot is a job. Being at the top of the design is good, do not have to stop his season because of an avoidable injury, it’s better! Each foot is different and requires a suitable footwear. Some brands, for example, are perfectly suited to a fine foot, while others will work much better with a wider foot. Pronator foot, supinator, slider, … there is a terminology sometimes difficult to understand for the neophyte and proposed corrections depend not only on the shape of the foot but also the style of race.
Equip yourself with your usual socks, make an appointment in a specialized store and let you advise according to your goals and your morphology.
Of course, if you notice the development of pain under the forefoot or under the heel, it is advisable to consult a specialist doctor.
2. CATEGORIES OF SPORTS SHOES
We usually group sports shoes in 4 categories: running, fitness, walking and specific.
So select your shoes according to their function.
- Race: emphasis will be placed on shock absorption, flexibility, heel control and maintenance, light weight, and propulsive and breathable properties.
- Walking: Pay attention to the flexibility of the textile and the absorption properties of the sole.Be very careful of seams that need to be flexible and unresponsive. Finally, the shape of the outsole must allow a good pace when walking.
- Fitness: Comfort, lightness, breathability and absorption properties are the most important elements.
- Specific: football, golf, dance, … some sports have a specific range of shoes. Do not forget that there is a good reason for this and expect injuries if you play a football game on wet and crampon-free ground!
If you play 3 or more times a week, plan to buy a pair of specialized shoes. They have been specially designed to ensure maximum safety in this specific type of activity.
3. CHOOSING THE RIGHT SIZE
As technical as a shoe, it will bring only discomfort see injuries if it is not perfectly adapted.
- With both feet of slightly different sizes, always trust your widest foot.
- Do not choose according to your usual size. Made to measure your foot and choose only after having tried your shoes on both feet.
- It is better to test the shoes at the end of the day, when your feet are wider.
- If you are a woman with a wide or long foot, feel free to try men’s shoes.
- Wear your socks normally used for sports.
- If you are wondering if a shoe is too small when you try it, you have your answer. It is not for you.
4. COMFORT
You must feel comfortable as soon as you try your new pair of shoes. Unlike city shoes, do not tell yourself that your sneakers will gradually adapt to your foot. They are designed to be immediately portable without pain.
You must feel a good hold of your heel in the shoe. A stub that is not stabilized is often synonymous with future injuries.
The problem is even more obvious if you suffer from deformities of the foot like a hallux valgus (also called onion) or hammertoe . The inflammations of the insertion of the Achilles tendon, marked by a bump on the back of the heel, also represent a pathology imposing a strict footwear.
5. CHANGES
Many sports foot problems can be offset by warming up, stretching or changing shoes. Yet you have chosen a suitable and comfortable shoe, but after several races will feel new pain in the knee or foot? Sometimes your foot requires a fine adjustment of the shoes to allow you to run safely. It is impossible for designers of sports shoes to predict every anatomical or biomechanical situation and they strive above all to adapt to as many people as possible.
Internal modifications such as customized soles or retro-capital supports, can be beneficial for the health of your foot. If you are a great runner, or suffer regularly from your feet, this is an option to consider. The additional cost will be largely offset by the profit.
Recurrence after hallux valgus surgery
Author: Dr. Adrien Ray
1. WHAT IS THE FREQUENCY OF RECURRENCE OF FOOT SURGERY?
It depends primarily on the type of intervention chosen and the age of the patient.
In adults, the recorded rate of recidivism and 2 to 4% (Mann et al.). This is usually the risk encountered during a modern foot surgery where a cut in the bone is performed, moved, and then fixed to realign the big toe. This rate can rise up to 50% in surgeries where only excision of the hump has been performed. It is for this reason that the hallux valgus are practically systematically corrected by a bone cut, because the former surgeries, lighter, show disappointing results.
In adolescents, it can be elevated and, according to published studies, can range from 10 to 40%.It is often explained by a bad analysis of the cause of the deformation which is often different from the hallux valgus developed in the adult. Therefore, a 14-year-old girl is not necessarily treated as a 50-year-old woman.
2. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES?
Understanding the cause of the deformity is paramount in surgical planning. Each foot is different and there is no foot surgery correcting all hallux valgus . For a long time, the causes of these deformities were not really understood, which explains the high rate of recurrence in patients operated many years ago.
The anatomical scientific studies and the studies of operated patients made it possible to classify the hallux valgus according to their form, their degree and sometimes their causes. All possible surgeries (there are more than 200) are now specific to certain forms of hallux valgus and should only be offered under these conditions. For example, an elderly patient, simply suffering from a lump in a context of mild hallux valgus and osteoarthritis, is a very good candidate for a simple excision of the hump or for another light surgery. The consequences will be simple and the pains clearly diminished. The same surgery in a young patient could give good results for a few months, but the deformity progressing, it will appear 6 months later for a disabling recurrence. It is therefore necessary to offer him from the outset surgery a little heavier but definitive.
3. HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SURGERY?
This is obviously the question that every patient and every surgeon asks himself. There is no exact answer and it depends on many factors. It is here the role of the surgeon to explain to the patient his problem, his cause if it exists, and the means to correct it. The personal experience of the operator is one of the key factors. Each surgeon must know several interventions to correct a hallux valgus and his personal experience will allow him to choose the appropriate gesture. There are many possible options for correcting a deformity and there is no exact consensus that such hallux valgus requires such intervention. It is necessary to know how to appreciate the age of the patient, his requests and goals as well as the type of deformation to offer the most specific gesture possible.
4. WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF RECIDIVISM?
Above all, do not give up. Recidivism exists and does not mean that it is definitive. There is usually a way to correct them.
The first question to ask: Does this new distortion really bother me? Beyond the aesthetic character, a slight recurrence can be perfectly painless and in this case, it is better to think clearly about the need for a new intervention.
If the pain or discomfort reappears, it is advisable to consult a specialist. Changes in shoes or soles can sometimes be enough to significantly reduce the discomfort. As a last resort, surgery may be considered.
5. WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
Foot surgery will depend on the deformity and its cause.
Recurrence is often noted if there is insufficient or inadequate correction during the first surgery.In this case, we will make a new correction, this time, sufficient.
Sometimes, only a small lump sign recurrence without deviation of the big toe. We can then discuss a simple excision of this hump, by open or percutaneous surgery.
Finally, some people unfortunately show significant damage to the joint accompanying this recurrence, and in this case the option of choice remains the arthrodesis, ie the final blockage of the joint.
In any case, it is important to understand that revision surgery is always more technically complex than first-line surgery.
To learn more about the treatment and causes of hallux valgus …