Helping Your Podiatrist Diagnose Your Foot Condition: Patient Tips On Being Ready For The Foot Exam

Helping Your Podiatrist Diagnose Your Foot Condition: Patient Tips On Being Ready For The Foot Exam

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Foot pain is extremely common, and millions of patients are drawn to see a podiatrist every year to have their condition diagnosed and treated. A podiatrist is a specialized physician who provides foot and ankle care, and is considered the expert in diagnosing and treating foot and ankle disease both common and rare. While a foot exam and various tests conducted or ordered by the podiatrist can result in an accurate diagnosis, the history of the condition reported by the patient provides a very important role in reaching the cause of the pain or problem. This article discusses several key points of information a patient should record and provide the podiatrist to help assist with the diagnosis.

Your Complete Medical History

The first thing one should compile before seeing a podiatrist, or any other physician, for the first time is their medical history. This includes all medical conditions one has been treated for other than a cough or cold, including childhood illnesses. Also one should compile a list of all surgeries one has ever had from head to toe, all medications currently being used and their doses if possible, all allergies and bad reactions one has had to medications, chemicals, or other materials, and a list of any other medical issues or symptoms one is actively dealing with, even if it is not related to the foot. The foot is connected to the body, and many chronic diseases or changes in the body due to previous surgeries can directly affect the foot and produce foot pain, skin disease, or inflammation. A podiatrist will also need to know about current medications and medical allergies in order to safely prescribe medication for treatment if needed.

The Exact Location and Nature Of The Pain Or Problem

It is important that one try and isolate the exact location one is experiencing pain or discomfort. The foot is a very complex part of the body, with numerous tendons, muscles, bones, nerves, skin structures, and joints that can be a source of pain or disease. Simply pointing to the foot in it entirety and telling the podiatrist that it hurts 'there' does not help. One should try and concentrate beforehand on isolating the location of the pain, or at least the general side of the foot that the pain appears in. Some conditions do create pain in the entire foot, and cannot be isolated. If this is truly the case, the podiatrist will want to confidently know this rather than assume a patient simply has not concentrated enough on the location of the pain. Knowing the general location of the pain can save valuable diagnosis time, as the physician can hone in on the problem easier. The nature of the pain can help determine the nature of the disease process. For example, heel pain is common, and is usually sharp due to plantar fasciitis. However, pain felt in the heel that constantly burns can indicate some other condition all together. By letting one's podiatrist know if the pain is sharp, stabbing, burning, tingling, throbbing, itching, etc., one can have a quicker and more accurate diagnosis as the pieces of the puzzle will fit together better in the mind of the podiatrist determining the nature of the problem.

When and How The Problem Started

It is important that one remember how long ago and under what circumstance the problem started. Some conditions are treated differently if they are present for awhile as opposed to being newer, and the length of time the condition has been present, in any severity or form, can deliver some information into how it evolved as well as the overall prognosis for treatment. The circumstances into how a condition appears also can help determine if the condition is due to an acute injury, a chronic stress or strain situation, or if it stemmed from some other condition as either a secondary injury or compensation by the body for the initial injury.


What Makes The Pain or Problem Appear Or Disappear

In many cases, the situations that cause the problem to appear or resolve can indicate how it may be best treated. For example, if pain is felt in the foot when walking barefoot only as opposed to when wearing athletic shoes, then the condition may be treated easier with better structural support in addition to the usual treatment for the actual disease. Additionally, the diagnosis may be dependant on this information. For example, toe pain that is not felt during activity but is felt in bed may indicate a nerve or circulatory disease that is diagnosed and treated much differently than a toe injury that produces similar pain, but only felt when active on the feet. By paying careful attention to the situations that create or diminish the foot problem, one can help their podiatrist with diagnosing and treating the condition more quickly and effectively. Along with this information, one should let their podiatrist know if treatment has been already begun by another physician, and if anything done previously has helped. If the problem was present in the past and was treated before, one's new podiatrist should know what was done, and what was successful or unsuccessful in providing relief.

What Shoes Do You Usually Wear and What Daily Activities Do You Perform

Finally, for many conditions, one's choice of daily shoe wear can directly influence the development of the condition as well the likelihood it will improve with treatment. For example, pain in the ball of the foot, which may be due to joint tissue inflammation, can not only be caused by high heeled shoes, but the treatment will likely be unsuccessful if high heeled shoes are continued to be worn. A realistic description of what one actually wears as shoes daily can help a podiatrist determine the cause of a condition and also the long term picture of the success of a potential treatment. Similarly, a person's activities can help reveal the condition in the same way. Someone who is on concrete for twelve hours a day will have a difficult time obtaining relief without greater foot support, no matter how comprehensive the treatment is. Similarly, someone who works in wet environments each day has a much greater likelihood of developing skin infections, and treatment for these conditions revolves around controlling the daily environment that leads to the problem, as opposed to just simply treating the problem itself.

By having all this information available before the visit to the podiatrist, one can assist their podiatrist in forming an accurate diagnosis in a shorter period of time, with less diagnostic testing needed, and with a greater likelihood for a successful treatment.

About the Author:
Dr. Kilberg provides compassionate and complete foot and ankle care to adults and children in the Indianapolis area. He is board certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery, and is a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Visit the practice website of this Indianapolis podiatrist for more information.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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