Nicholas Campitelli, DPM | Akron Podiatrist | Foot and Ankle Surgeon

The Foot Doc Blog – Leading Blog on foot and ankle pain

Providing information on foot, toes, and ankle pain or deformities. Questions? Please ask them in the comments section below. Check out our Youtube and Instagram sites as well.
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Chances are, the bump you’re referring to is arthritis of the big toe joint. Many people will call this a bunion, which it is not. A bunion is a bump on the side of your great toe joint that is the result of a dislocation of the joint. The bump that can occur on top of the big toe joint is the result of arthritis from cartilage erosion in the joint. As the cartilage erodes, bone will rub against bone in the joint causing more bone to form in response to the stress. Fragments can also start to occur which can cause grinding to occur.

Wha causes this?

It’s typically a genetic predisposition that you are born with and it worsens over time.

Treatment

Treatment early in is to reduce the motion to the toe which causes the condition to worsen. This is difficult. Sometimes rigid inserts help but most patients see little relief. Cortisone injections can buy time before the inevitable surgical intervention occurs. Surgery can involve cleaning out the joint, replacing the joint, or fusing it.

Questions? Ask them in the comments section below or search my YouTube channel for more information and surgical videos!


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Many people do not realize that skin cancer can occur on the foot. While it is rare, I do see it in my office. I do my best to educate my patients on what to look for, and explain that there is only one person who can tell if it is skin cancer – that person is a pathologist. You need to look at the cells under a microscope to determine if it is malignant, or cancerous.

Watch the video below to hear Dr. Campitelli discuss skin cancer on the foot:

 

There are four major things we look at to help determine if it needs biopsied. They are easily remembered by the acronym ABCD’s of skin cancer.

A – Asymmetry   

B – Border

C- Color

D – Diameter

Asymmetry – If you were to draw a line through the skin lesion, the sides should look the same.

Border – The borders should be regular and not jagged or irregular.

Color – The color should be regular and equal throughout

Diameter – The diameter or size of the lesion should be no larger than that of a pencil eraser.


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Achilles tendinitis is a painful inflammation of the Achilles’ tendon with pain occurring to the back of the Achilles’ Achilles tendinitis is a painful inflammation of the Achilles’ tendon with pain occurring to the back of the Achilles’ tendon behind the ankle joint. With Achilles tendonitis, the pain will usually occur within the tendon itself as opposed to bursitis which is a similar condition that effects the back of the heel bone. The pain can present with sharp stabbing pain to the tendon that will be worse in the morning and then improve as you walk around and the tendon “warms up”. Pain will then occur later in the day as the tendon begins to become tired from being on your feet all day. You may feel a “creaking” in the tendon when moving your foot up and down if the sheath overlying the tendon becomes swollen. As the condition becomes chronic one will begin to see thickening or enlargement of the tendon itself. This can take months to resolve and will be painful for a long time if left untreated.

Treatment for Achilles tendonitis begins with rest from aggravating activity, taking anti inflammatories, and beginning stretching exercises. If this fails, immobilizing the ankle in a cam walker to reduce the motion to the tendon and take the stress off of it is the next step. Patients will sometimes need to be immobilized for 6 weeks in a cam walker to all the tendon to heal. After resting the tendon and allowing the inflammatory phase to resolve, strengthening with physical therapy is the next step. One can try eccentric strengthening exercises at home, but going to a physical therapist and receiving hands on treatment will provide more predictable results.

When conservative treatment options fail, the next step is surgical intervention. Surgery can involve an minimally invasive technique where a needle like probe is inserted into the Achilles’ tendon and the chronic inflammatory tissue is broken up and removed. This is a great option for patients who present with thickening of the central portion of the Achilles’ tendon that is not responding to conservative therapy. Severe cases of tendonitis that develop tears within the tendon itself that are seen on MRI may eventually require open repair and augmentation with adjacent tendons.

It is important to treat Achilles tendonitis before the condition becomes so severe that the tendon ruptures. Ruptured Achilles’ tendons can take months or even years to recover from, and will often leave patients with life long symptoms. Ruptured Achilles’ tendons are now being repaired with a minimally invasive technique that Dr. Campitelli performs and allows for a faster recovery.

behind the ankle joint. With Achilles tendonitis, the pain will usually occur within the tendon itself as opposed to bursitis which is a similar condition that effects the back of the heel bone. The pain can present with sharp stabbing pain to the tendon that will be worse in the morning and then improve as you walk around and the tendon “warms up”. Pain will then occur later in the day as the tendon begins to become tired from being on your feet all day. You may feel a “creaking” in the tendon when moving your foot up and down if the sheath overlying the tendon becomes swollen. As the condition becomes chronic one will begin to see thickening or enlargement of the tendon itself. This can take months to resolve and will be painful for a long time if left untreated.

Treatment for Achilles tendonitis begins with rest from aggravating activity, taking anti inflammatories, and beginning stretching exercises. If this fails, immobilizing the ankle in a cam walker to reduce the motion to the tendon and take the stress off of it is the next step. Patients will sometimes need to be immobilized for 6 weeks in a cam walker to all the tendon to heal. After resting the tendon and allowing the inflammatory phase to resolve, strengthening with physical therapy is the next step. One can try eccentric strengthening exercises at home, but going to a physical therapist and receiving hands on treatment will provide more predictable results.

When conservative treatment options fail, the next step is surgical intervention. Surgery can involve an minimally invasive technique where a needle like probe is inserted into the Achilles’ tendon and the chronic inflammatory tissue is broken up and removed. This is a great option for patients who present with thickening of the central portion of the Achilles’ tendon that is not responding to conservative therapy. Severe cases of tendonitis that develop tears within the tendon itself that are seen on MRI may eventually require open repair and augmentation with adjacent tendons.

It is important to treat Achilles tendonitis before the condition becomes so severe that the tendon ruptures. Ruptured Achilles’ tendons can take months or even years to recover from, and will often leave patients with life long symptoms. Ruptured Achilles’ tendons are now being repaired with a minimally invasive technique that Dr. Campitelli performs and allows for a faster recovery.

 

 


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I recently blogged about plantar fasciitis and cortisone injections on my running blog and received a lot of comments back about cortisone being "harmful" or a "bandaid".  I would like to elaborate more on this controversial topic and help guide others to understand how cortisone can play a role in the healing process - SAFELY.


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One of the most common complaints for foot pain is the result of tendonitis which occurs when a patient compensates from another foot problem. There are two tendons known as the peroneous longus and peroneous brevis which prevent the foot from inverting or turning in when walking. Essentially they are stabilizers and prevent you from spraining your ankle. If anything occurs to your foot that causes you to "limp", these tendons work harder as you compensate.


9318 ST RT 43, Streetsboro, OH

2660 West Market Street, Fairlawn, OH

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