What are the latest treatment options for foot pain?

Treatments for foot pain include infrared treatments, platelet-enriched plasma injections, topical products, and laser fungal nail treatments. Podiatrist Suzanne Levine, DPM, explains these innovative treatments for foot pain.

Transcript

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You can replace what nature has taken away so you get that extra cushioning. And lots of people are doing that.

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Well, the latest treatment options for foot pain includes infrared, which is a form of deep heat that we use for soft tissue injuries.

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So if you have plantar fasciitis, neuroma pain, any kind of soft tissue injury, lateral ankle sprain,

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you can use an infrared. And we're looking at a 15-minute procedure that is so easy to do. Another advanced treatment for soft tissue injuries

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is the platelet-enriched plasma. This is easy to do as well. For those people that have metatarsalgia, or pain under the ball of your foot, especially

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years of wearing high-heel shoes and your feet get very sore, you can inject a material. It's called polylactic acid, similar to the material that's

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injected into your face. And it actually produces collagen. You can replace what nature's taken away so you

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get that extra cushioning. And lots of people are doing that. You do it once-to-twice a year. And ultimately, you may not even need it,

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because it builds up so much collagen. And that's a terrific way of treating metatarsalgia or even

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heel pain, if you have heel spurs, because it actually cushions. There's products that are available.

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Another great advancement that's really new and cutting-edge-- and I'm so thrilled to see it be in podiatry

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and in the field of medicine-- is for the treatment of fungal nails. Instead of using these medications, you can now use a laser to treat the fungus.

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It was so difficult before to treat a fungus. None of the topical medications worked. You had to use these oral antifungals that

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are so hard on the liver and other parts of the body. Now, once a month, three sessions, you can use a laser

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and get rid of the fungus, which is really terrific. [AUDIO LOGO]