Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain. It involves inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of each foot and connects the heel bone to the toes, known as the plantar fascia.

Plantar fasciitis commonly causes stabbing pain that often occurs with your first steps in the morning. As you get up and move, the pain normally decreases, but it might return after long periods of standing or when you stand up after sitting.

The cause of plantar fasciitis is poorly understood. It is more common in runners and in people who are overweight.

Causes

The plantar fascia is a band of tissue, called fascia,that connects your heel bone to the base of your toes. It supports the arch of the foot and absorbs shock when walking.

Tension and stress on the fascia can cause small tears. Repeated stretching and tearing of the facia can irritate or inflame it, although the cause remains unclear in many cases of plantar fasciitis.

Symptoms

Plantar fasciitis typically causes a stabbing pain in the bottom of your foot near the heel. The pain is usually the worst with the first few steps after awakening, although it also can be triggered by long periods of standing or when you get up from sitting.

Diagnosis

Plantar fasciitis is diagnosed based on your medical history and physical exam. During the exam, your health care professional will check for areas of tenderness in your foot. The location of your pain can help determine its cause.

Imaging tests

Usually no tests are needed. Your health care professional might suggest an X-ray or MRI to make sure another problem, such as a stress fracture, is not causing your pain.

Sometimes an X-ray shows a piece of bone sticking out from the heel bone. This is called a bone spur. In the past, these bone spurs were often blamed for heel pain and removed surgically. But many people who have bone spurs on their heels have no heel pain.

Risk factors

Even though plantar fasciitis can develop without an obvious cause, some factors can increase your risk of developing this condition. They include:

• Plantar fasciitis is most common in people between the ages of 40 and 60.
• Certain types of exercise.Activities that place a lot of stress on your heel and attached tissue — such as long-distance running, ballet dancing and aerobic dance — can contribute to the onset of plantar fasciitis.
• Foot mechanics.Flat feet, a high arch or even an atypical pattern of walking can affect the way weight is distributed when you’re standing and can put added stress on the plantar fascia.
• Excess pounds put extra stress on your plantar fascia.
• Occupations that keep you on your feet.Factory workers, teachers and others who spend most of their work hours walking or standing on hard surfaces can be at increased risk of plantar fasciitis.

Treatment

Most people who have plantar fasciitis recover in several months with conservative treatment, such as icing the painful area, stretching, and modifying or staying away from activities that cause pain.

Medicines

Pain relievers you can buy without a prescription such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve) can ease the pain and inflammation of plantar fasciitis.

Therapies

Physical therapy or using special devices might relieve symptoms. Treatment may include:

• Physical therapy.A physical therapist can show you exercises to stretch the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon and to strengthen lower leg muscles. A therapist also might teach you to apply athletic taping to support the bottom of your foot.
• Night splints.Your care team might recommend that you wear a splint that holds the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon in a lengthened position overnight to promote stretching while you sleep.
• Your health care professional might prescribe off-the-shelf or custom-fitted arch supports, called orthotics, to distribute the pressure on your feet more evenly.
• Walking boot, canes or crutches.Your health care professional might suggest one of these for a brief period either to keep you from moving your foot or to keep you from placing your full weight on your foot.

Surgical or other procedures

If more-conservative measures aren’t working after several months, your health care professional might recommend:

• Injecting steroid medicine into the tender area can provide temporary pain relief. Multiple shots aren’t recommended because they can weaken your plantar fascia and possibly cause it to rupture. Platelet-rich plasma obtained from your own blood can be injected into the tender area to promote tissue healing. Ultrasound imaging during injections can assist in precise needle placement.
• Extracorporeal shock wave therapy.Sound waves are directed at the area of heel pain to stimulate healing. This is for chronic plantar fasciitis that hasn’t responded to more-conservative treatments. Some studies show promising results, though this therapy hasn’t been shown to be consistently effective.
• Ultrasonic tissue repair.This minimally invasive technology uses ultrasound imaging to guide a needlelike probe into the damaged plantar fascia tissue. The probe tip then vibrates rapidly to break up the damaged tissue, which is suctioned out.
• Few people need surgery to detach the plantar fascia from the heel bone. It is generally an option only when the pain is serious and other treatments have failed. It can be done as an open procedure or through a small incision with local anesthesia

Complications

Ignoring plantar fasciitis can result in chronic heel pain that hinders your regular activities. You’re likely to change your walk to try to avoid plantar fasciitis pain, which might lead to foot, knee, hip or back problems.

 

 

What is Laminectomy?

Laminectomy also known as decompression/Lumbar surgery, that creates space by removing the lamina (the back part of a vertebra that covers your spinal canal.) laminectomy enlarges your spinal canal to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.This pressure is most commonly caused by bony overgrowths within the spinal canal, which can occur in people who have arthritis in their spines. These overgrowths are sometimes referred to as bone spurs, but they’re a normal side effect of the aging process in some people.

Causes:

• mild to severe back pain
• numbness or weakness in the legs
• difficulty walking
• difficulty controlling bladder or bowel movements

A laminectomy is only used if your symptoms interfere with daily life. It’s performed when less invasive treatments have failed.

Why it’s done

Bony overgrowths within the spinal canal can narrow the space available for your spinal cord and nerves. This pressure can cause pain, weakness or numbness that can radiate down your arms or legs.

Because the laminectomy restores spinal canal space but does not cure you of arthritis, it more reliably relieves radiating symptoms from compressed nerves than it does back pain from spinal joints.

Your doctor may recommend laminectomy if:

• Conservative treatment, such as medication or physical therapy, fails to improve your symptoms
• You have muscle weakness or numbness that makes standing or walking difficult
• You experience loss of bowel or bladder control

In some situations, laminectomy may be necessary as part of surgery to treat a herniated spinal disk. Your surgeon may need to remove part of the lamina to gain access to the damaged disk.

Risks

Laminectomy is generally a safe procedure. But as with any surgery, complications may occur. Potential complications include:

• Bleeding
• Infection
• Blood clots
• Nerve injury
• Spinal fluid leak

During laminectomy

Surgeons usually perform laminectomy using general anesthesia, so you’re unconscious during the procedure.

The surgical team monitors your heart rate, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels throughout the procedure. After you’re unconscious and can’t feel any pain:

• The surgeon makes an incision in your back over the affected vertebrae and moves the muscles away from your spine as needed. Small instruments are used to remove the appropriate lamina. The size of the incision may vary depending on your condition and body size. Minimally invasive surgeries typically use smaller incisions than those used for open procedures.
• If laminectomy is being performed as part of surgical treatment for a herniated disk, the surgeon also removes the herniated portion of the disk and any pieces that have broken loose (diskectomy).
• If one of your vertebrae has slipped over another or if you have curvature of the spine, spinal fusion may be necessary to stabilize your spine. During spinal fusion, the surgeon permanently connects two or more of your vertebrae together using bone grafts and, if necessary, metal rods and screws.
• Depending on your condition and individual needs, the surgeon may use a smaller (minimally invasive) incision and a special surgical microscope to perform the operation.

After laminectomy

After surgery, you’re moved to a recovery room where the health care team watches for complications from the surgery and anesthesia. You may also be asked to move your arms and legs. Your doctor may prescribe medication to relieve pain at the incision site.

You might go home the same day as the surgery, although some people may need a short hospital stay. Your doctor may recommend physical therapy after a laminectomy to improve your strength and flexibility.

Depending on the amount of lifting, walking and sitting your job involves, you may be able to return to work within a few weeks. If you also have spinal fusion, your recovery time will be longer.

Takeaway

A laminectomy is only used if your symptoms interfere with daily life. It’s performed when less invasive treatments have failed.

Most people report measurable improvement in their symptoms after laminectomy, particularly a decrease in pain that radiates down the leg or arm. But this benefit may lessen over time if you have a particularly aggressive form of arthritis. Laminectomy is less likely to improve pain in the back itself. A laminectomy will often relieve many symptoms of spinal stenosis. However, it can’t prevent spine problems in the future and it may not completely relieve pain in everyone.People who also have a spinal fusion are more likely to have spinal problems in the future.

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Tennis elbow or ‘Lateral epicondylitis’ is a condition of persistent pain on the outer side of the elbow.It is caused by an overuse of forearm muscles resulting in repetitive injury to the tendons attached to the elbow.It can become responsible for substantial pain and loss of function of the affected limb.As the name may confuse,it is not only associated with the sport ‘Tennis’.It can be due to any other sport or work related activities.

Condition explained

The extensor muscle called  the extensor carpi radialis brevis, helps to straighten and stabilize the wrist.This muscle attaches to a part of the elbow bone called the lateral epicondyle (thus the medical name ‘lateral epicondylitis’). It is the tendons that connect and transmit a muscle’s force to the bone. In lateral epicondylitis, tendon’s attachment to the bone is degenerated due to repetitive use, weakening and placing greater stress on the  forearm muscles. This can lead to pain associated with activities in which this muscle is active.

Causes

Here are some potential causes of this condition:

• Overuse: This can be both non-work and work-related. Overuse can happen from “repetitive” gripping and grasping activities such as cutting, plumbing,gardening,carpentry, painting,  etc.
• Trauma: Although less common, a direct blow to the elbow may result in swelling of the tendon that can lead to degeneration. This can make the elbow more susceptible to an overuse injury.

Who is affected?

The typical symptom is pain in outer side of elbow,the area also becomes tender.But the pain can radiate into forearm and wrist also.

• Pain when performing gripping tasks or resisted wrist/finger extension
• Pain when the muscles are stretched.
• Tenderness directly over the bony epicondyle

There may be rigger points in the wrist muscles.In severe cases, there may be local swelling .Also some activities, such as making a fist, shaking hands, carrying bags like a briefcase, turning on taps may be painful.Some sufferers will also have neck stiffness and tenderness, as well as signs of nerve irritation.

Diagnosis and treatment

Usually, doctors are able to make the diagnosis based on the history and a physical examination.Additional tests such as X-rays or ultrasound may be needed to exclude other causes and/or assess the severity of tendon damage.
Initial treatment involves relative rest and avoiding activities that aggravate the pain.If you are diagnosed with tennis elbow, activities that strain affected muscles and tendons should be immediately stopped.Taking analgesics may help ease mild pain and inflammation caused by tennis elbow.. Wearing a tennis elbow brace can help to protect the tendon.
Physiotherapy has been shown to be effective in the short and long-term management of tennis elbow.Physiotherapy treatment can include gentle mobilisation of your neck and elbow joints, electrotherapy, elbow kinesio taping, muscle stretches, neural mobilisations, massage and strengthening.
A small percentage of patients diagnosed with tennis elbow may finally require surgical treatment. Patients may consider surgery if conservative treatments are not effective after a period of 6 – 12 months.

Untreated Tennis Elbows can last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. You are also prone to recurrence.Aside from pain, the major complication of tennis elbow is that it impedes your ability to perform physical activities, such as certain sports or types of work.

For any queries regarding the procedure and treatment facilities,email us at query@gtsmeditour.com .

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