Feet & Ankle Pain

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), also known as causalgia or reflex sympathetic dystrophy, is a chronic, evolving, painful and progressive condition that affects the distal extremities often following a traumatic injury.

Joints are ubiquitous in the human body as they are involved in movement of the spine and extremity. Joints play a crucial role in the kinematics of the human body as they are involved with movement and also help in unloading sheer pressure and weight of the body.

Disc degeneration or acute injury can cause the nucleus to herniate into the spinal canal or the neural foramen.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form and is due to the normal “wear-and-tear” of the joint due to our daily activities. Over time, normal use of our joints causes the cartilage at the end of the bone to wear down (like the wearing down of the tread on your tires). As the cartilage wears away, there is more friction, which leads to inflammation. Eventually, the cartilage can completely wear away, leading to “bone-on-bone” conditions, which can be extremely painful.

Peripheral neuropathy refers to damage of smaller nerves in the extremities and often presents with pain, numbness, and burning in the feet and hands.

Radiculopathy is dysfunction of a spinal nerve root (or roots) that results in pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness in either your arm or leg depending on which nerve root(s) are involved. When radiculopathy is present in the lumbar nerve roots, it produces sciatica; in the cervical nerve roots, it produces pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness in the shoulder, arm, wrist, and hands.