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Cover Story
Published guidelines for management of plantar fasciitis don’t cover every detail of which interventions to try, in what order, and for how long. As a result, every practitioner tends to interpret the gray areas just a little differently.
By Cary Groner
Editor Memo
With the Supreme Court weighing the constitutionality of President Obama’s healthcare reform law as this magazine went to press and another presidential election looming this fall, the topic of government healthcare spending is sure to get a lot of airtime in the coming months. That means we can expect to get used to hearing from certain pundits about how federal spending on healthcare takes away from federal spending in other areas.
Jordana Bieze Foster, Editor
Featured Articles
A patient presenting with both end-stage knee osteoarthritis and a painful foot-ankle deformity is not uncommon, but the medical literature offers practitioners little guidance as to which condition should be managed first or whether they should be addressed simultaneously.
by Michael S. Pinzur, MD, and William Hopkinson, MD
Advances in communications technology now make it possible for an expert in one location to assess a diabetic foot ulcer in a patient who is miles away. But telehealth efforts face a number of hurdles, the most daunting of which may be patient privacy.
By Emily Delzell
When prescribing an ankle foot orthosis or neuroprosthesis for a patient with acute drop foot following stroke, lower extremity practitioners should consider the device’s potential effects on neural plasticity and motor relearning in addition to its potential effects on gait.
By Chad Lairamore, PhD, PT, CBISt
Newly published proceedings of an interdisciplinary osteoarthritis summit hosted by the Hospital for Special Surgery explore how researchers are working to understand the complexities of the disease and break down the barriers facing the development of new interventions.
By Cary Groner
Indications for operative versus nonoperative treatment of tarsometatarsal joint injuries depend on the specific injury pattern and disruption of normal anatomy, which may be evident on physical examination or radiographs but may also present more subtly.
By Andrew Rosenbaum, MD, John DiPreta, MD, and Richard Uhl, MD
News
In the Moment: Diabetes
Essential to achieving the goal of preventing amputation in patients with diabetes is recognizing barriers that stand in the way, according to a Swedish diabetic foot expert who spoke in March at the Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon) in Los Angeles.
By Jordana Bieze Foster
A national strategy of risk stratification in Scotland significantly decreased the incidence of amputation within the first years of its implementation, according to unpublished data presented in March at the Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon) in Los Angeles.
Participation in a support group for diabetic amputees is associated with significant clinical and educational benefits, according to unpublished data from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center San Antonio presented in March at the Diabetic Foot Global Conference (DFCon).
In the Moment: O&P
Idiopathic toe-walking is a bilateral toe-to-toe gait diagnosed when children continue this behavior, which is considered part of the normal spectrum of toddlers’ gait development, past age 2.
By Emily Delzell
Findings presented at in March at the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists annual meeting in Atlanta suggest rigid knee orthoses (KOs) likely have no negative impact on energy efficiency or performance.
Ankle foot orthoses (AFOs) designed to correct foot drop during swing and provide toe clearance may facilitate more accurate foot placement, according to preliminary data presented in March at the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists annual meeting in Atlanta.
Additional Educational Resources
In this special section, LER updates you on the latest research and clinical news to help optimize management of your littlest lower extremity patients. Topics include pediatric flexible flatfoot, cerebral palsy, ACL injury, clubfoot, Charcot-Marie- Tooth disease, gait patterns in autism, and footwear for early walkers.
Increasing numbers of clinicians and lab owners who have made the leap to digital orthotic technology are seeing meaningful returns on those investments in terms of increased convenience, flexibility, and—importantly—profitability. At the inaugural Custom Orthotic Insoles Technology Forum, held in April at the University of Bath in the U.K., a number of satisfied digital technology converts shared their success stories and underscored the key issues that prospective adopters should consider before taking the plunge themselves.
Multinational all-star teams of sports medicine experts convened in Monaco in April for the World Conference on Prevention of Illness & Injury in Sport, now under the direction of the International Olympic Committee. LER’s exclusive coverage of this event details clinical and scientific progress toward prevention of lower extremity injuries in basketball, soccer, volleyball, running, and ice hockey.
Welcome to the first mini publication on diabetic foot care. LER has created an easy to read, practical real world approach to diabetic foot care designed to improve outcomes for your diabetic patients. Articles on diabetic footwear, diabetic socks, compression hosiery, diabetic insoles and the Therapeutic Shoe Bill offer in depth information to assist in your daily practice.
Top opinion leaders and researchers from across the globe came together in May for the International Society of Prosthetics & Orthotics (ISPO) meeting in Leipzig, Germany, and the International Federation of Podiatrists (FIP) meeting in Amsterdam. This special report covers a range of topics from both events, specifically selected for their relevance to the lower extremity practitioner. By Jordana Bieze Foster
