Swollen Feet and Ankles - Health - Nutrition

Swollen feet and ankles is a condition that may result from one or more causes. One can have an injury such as a sprain, broken bone or strain. One may also have gout, a condition that happens when the fluid surrounding joints becomes infiltrated by uric acid crystals, which play a significant part in digestion and are usually expelled during excretion. Also, swelling can occur as the result of arthritis or from blood flow problems. And it could also result from edema, which can itself be the result of another cause entirely, such as pregnancy and its related conditions for instance.

If you are suffering from this condition it may be best to see a health professional even if you think you know what is wrong (e.g. if you are pregnant) just to make sure that you do deal with the ultimate cause of the problem. But there are some things you can do to relieve your discomfort while your health professional deals with the ultimate cause of your problem.

If its cause is not injury-related, swollen feet and ankles can be dealt with by any of the following methods. (Make sure you ask your health professional which of these methods, if any, you can resort to in order to help you find some relief. Some may aggravate your condition - you need to find out first.)

First, you can try to put your feet up when you are seated - the higher the better. This may not be all that feasible if you are working at a desk, especially if you have to face other people such as clients, but you can put your feet up on a stool for example. Doing so will help gravity the fluid drain out of your legs. And make sure that if you are at work, get up and stretch from time to time, or, better yet, move around a little bit, to prevent fluid buildup due to gravity.

Next, you could also try changing your clothing. Compression stockings can really help alleviate swollen feet and ankles by slowing the transfer of fluid down to your legs from the rest of your body.

Next, consider dietary and lifestyle changes. Are you taking in enough water - at least eight glasses of clean water a day? If not, you should be. Paradoxically, not taking in enough water can lead to water retention because if the body feels it is getting dehydrated, it holds on to the water it already has. Are you exercising enough? Exercise can help improve circulation and strengthen muscles, as well as help you lose fluid through sweating, and being overweight can make maintaining proper circulation hard. (Note though that a lot of exercise may contribute to swelling, especially if you are pregnant.) Are you taking in too much salt? A high level of salt can lead to fluid retention.

Lastly, if you are not satisfied with how your marble floors look after you've had at them with all these treatments, you can always ask specialists in cleaning marble floors to clean them and fix them up for you. Or you can look for a third party and have them help you with the floors. Professionals always know best.

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How is Ankle Instability Diagnosed? - Health

Ankle instability is a condition characterised by the ankle 'giving way' or feeling wobbly and unreliable, particularly on uneven surfaces. The "giving way" takes place on the lateral, or outer side and will often take place during sports and walking. However, it can also happen while standing and may be accompanied by swelling, discomfort, tenderness and pain.

The ankle is supported by two main ligaments. The outer ligaments, known as the lateral ligaments, have three components which stop the ankle from rolling and sliding forward. These ligaments are attached to the fibula (small bone next to the shin bone) and the talus (the ankle bone) and calcaneus (heel bone).

An ankle sprain stretches and tears these ligaments and if the sprain doesn't heal properly, ankle instability can develop. Chronic ankle instability usually develops following a sprain that was not diagnosed properly or has not healed.

If this is the case, the small nerve sensors inside the ligament are often damaged. These nerve sensors, called the proprioceptive nerves, give your brain information about the position of your joints, allowing you to move and protect these joints. For example, nerve sensors in the arm and hand allow you to touch your nose when your eyes are closed.

If these nerve endings are not working properly, your brain does not get reliable information and the muscles around your ankle may not work together properly. This causes your ankle to "give way", often with minor stresses. The problem becomes self-perpetuating because ankle instability makes you more prone to ankle sprains, which in turn further exacerbates ankle instability. With each ankle sprain, the ligaments are increasingly weakened.

The diagnosis of ankle instability must be made by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon specialising in the foot and ankle. If your ankle feels unreliable and gives way repeatedly, or if you have recurring ankle sprains, it is recommended that you have a full assessment by a foot and ankle surgeon.

Your foot will be examined for signs of swelling and tenderness. By stretching your ankle in different directions, the surgeon will be able to see whether the ligaments are abnormally weak. This is known as a stress view.

The surgeon may take x-rays to check whether there is any damage to the ankle bones. An MRI scan may also be taken. Ligament damage can be shown by taking x-rays with your ankle stretched in various directions, with dye injected into your ankle or a neighbouring tendon to highlight the area in focus.

Treatment depends upon the severity of the ankle instability and the patient's own levels of activity. Physiotherapy should be tried as the first treatment and is effective for many patients. It is based upon retraining the damaged proprioceptive nerves, enabling them to respond to the movements of the ankle. The strength of muscles around the ankle will also be increased by exercises and activities. If your foot shape makes you prone to extra stress on the ankle ligaments, a moulded insole may be advised for your shoe to reduce these stresses.

Surgery may be considered if ankle instability fails to improve following non-surgical treatment, and depending on the degree of weakness in the ligaments. There are two main types of operation for ankle instability:

1. The damaged ligaments may be tightened and re-attached to the bone. This type of operation is undertaken when the instability is not severe and the repair is not likely to be placed under a large amount of stress, for example, if a patient is older, less active and not involved in sport.

2. If all other options have been tried and are neither successful nor suitable, a tenodesis procedure may be carried out. This operation involves taking a strip of hamstring to recreate new ligaments. The procedure should only be considered as a last resort, when the instability is severe and there is a great deal of stress on the ankle. This type of repair is a very durable treatment for ankle instability but frequently causes stiffness in the ankle.

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Compounding Pharmacies Are A Good Resource For Sports Medicine Treatments - Health - Medicine

Athletes often require medical care that is outside of the needs of most of the population. Because of the training regimens, injuries are more common. Compounding pharmacies are able to work with physicians, patients and athletic trainers to provide custom medications for patients with a variety of medical issues. For those with sports injuries, these pharmacies can provide custom medications for each individual athlete based on their weight and musculature, the sport they participate in and their injury or physical issue.

The custom formulas available for the athlete are beneficial for a variety of reasons. Any sport that involves repetitive use of the same muscles can induce stress to the tissue and increase the risk of either a chronic or an acute injury. Just as each individual athlete's needs vary during training, so do his or her needs when recovering from an injury or condition. By using a formula customized specifically for the individual and their unique needs, their pain levels as well as healing times can be reduced significantly.

Since most common medications are not developed for long-term use and are available only in specified forms and dosage strengths, undesirable side effects may occur when they are taken for sports injuries. This could cause the reverse of the desired effectiveness of the medication. Recovery from sports injuries can take several weeks or even months, and a setback like this could be detrimental. Compounded medications formulated specifically for an individual and condition reduce the risk of undesirable side effects.

Athletes also frequently have medical issues that interfere with their performance that most people don't have to deal with. For example, excessive perspiration is common for dancers, and could have disastrous effects, especially if the condition is excessively sweaty palms. For those involved in sports that use particular muscles excessively, there are pre-game anti-spasmodic rubs that could be useful, as well as rubs containing emu oil, a moisturizer that can improve the healing of injured skin.

Compounding medications are not limited to the most common sports injuries, such as muscle aches, cramps, strains, and sprains. There is a wide range of other conditions in which specially blended medications may be used. These can include calluses, athlete's foot, fungal infections, excessive perspiration, heel spurs, blisters, cuts, scrapes and bruises. Also available are other equally important formulas such as lip balms, sunburn protection, sports drinks. Some of these pharmacies even provide specially designed sports braces made by certified specialists for ankle, knees, shoulder, and back injuries.

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Thrust and Non Thrust Manipulation for Inversion Ankle Sprains - Health - Fitness

The ankle is one of the most familiar parts of the body for severe musculoskeletal injuries, and sprains. Mostly the ankle related injuries are the sports-related injuries and happen with the young athletes.

Inversion ankle sprains are the universal injuries that can be heal without any treatment initially and require treatment for only the enduring symptoms and that too for the following one month. Although the chances for these injuries to reappear are only 80%, but the total time involved in making the injured fully recover from this sprain entirely depends upon his activity level. It has been also discovered that the better and much responding way of treating such injuries is the conservative treatments method which also includes the manual therapy process.

Another quick and efficient method for treating such injuries is to follow the ankle mobility exercises method at the early stages of sprain. Even this method is a quite successful one in the treatment and rehabilitation of inversion ankle sprains. In fact by mingling the ankle mobility exercises and manual therapy, one could get rid of acute ankle sprains in a very short period and in a very effective manner. Thus it is always beneficial to identify the patients suffering from inversion sprain in ankle so that they could be treated with this coalesced intrusions process to relieve them from the pains and adverse effects of Ankle Sprains.

As an outcome of the study, it has been originated that 75% of the patients with inverse ankle pains who were treated with the above treatments were efficiently cured in just 2 to 3 visits time and had no adverse or side effects. In fact they didn't need to make any further doctor revisits for any further treatment or medication for their ankle sprain. Using the combination of manual therapy and mobility exercises, there have been no unfavourable events so far.

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Thrust and Non Thrust Manipulation for Inversion Ankle Sprains- the Variables - Health - Fitness

Ankle sprains can be of very acute nature, restricting an individual to walk and carry out his activities properly. As per the medical study, the combination of active ankle mobility exercises and manual therapy is the best way out to treat the inversed ankle sprains and have wonder all with the results.

There below mentioned four variables, out of which if three are in place then the patient have a better probability i.e. 95% chances, of having successful outcomes with the treatment.

1.Distal Tibiofibular joint hypomobility2.Symptom worse with standing 3.5.0 mm sized or bigger Navicular plunge 4.Indicators worse in the evening With existence of 2 or 4 variables, the probability of success is less as compared to the placement of 3 variables. And in such cases it is advisable to the patients to opt for some other treatments. Also being aware about these variables is very crucial as these ease out in expressing the details of the patient's history and in his physical examination.

Also it is very important for the doctors or the clinicians to arrange the clinical prophecy rules as these help them by creating awareness about certain treatments which could respond at a better level.

For conducting a Study, 85 successive patients were admitted between the age group of 16-60 years who were suffering from ankle pain of 1st level or with 2 inversion sprains in ankle in the last one year. These patients had 3/10 rated pain and according to the ankle rules of Ottawa, never required x-rays to be done.

There were 9 physical therapists, each of them thoroughly analyzing the patients with the help of their uniform patient history and individual physical assessment. There were several outcome measures through which the patients went through and these outcome measures were brought to an end at a final examination.

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Joint Pain Symptoms Causes, Remedies and Treatments That Work - Health - Alternative Medicine

Joint pain is a common disorder experienced by millions in varying degrees and due to various causes. Both children and adults suffer from this problem either from any physical injury, some internal disorder or due to aging. Age related joint pains or Arthritis comes in various forms and features that start showing its symptoms from the age of 50 reaching the peak at 75. Such pains can pose great problems leading to general debility. People suffering from osteoarthritis type joint pains go through agonizing moments due to severe attacks of pains that last for hours.

Main joints like shoulders, knees, hands, back and hips are mostly affected by this condition arising from Arthritis reducing the free movement to a great extent. Painful elbows, fingers, ankles and heels are also experienced by some due to this.

Causes

Many factors are responsible for this condition like -

1. The reduction of the synovial fluids due to aging that reduces the lubrication of the joints allowing more friction between the joints and thus results in the pain.2. Natural wear and tear of the joints and weakening of the cartilage due to aging leading to osteoarthritis.3. Autoimmune disease like Rheumatoid arthritis.4. Drop in the estrogen levels in women after menopause.5. Unhealthy food habits and life style that leads to gout.6. Sprain and dislocation due to physical injury7. Bursitis8. Leukemia and bone cancer.

Symptoms

The symptoms of the joint pains vary a lot depending upon the locations and the causes behind them. General symptoms observed are as follows -

1. Swelling and inflammation of the joints that can arise due to arthritis or any physical injury.2. Stiffness and tenderness in the joints.3. Experiencing moderate or acute pain due to dislocation, fracture or arthritis.4. Extreme difficulty in moving the joints.5. Free movement gets impaired due to age related arthritis.6. Experiencing difficulty in turning over in bed due to arthritis or spondylitis.7. Patients suffering from osteoarthritis may experience creaking noise in the joints.8. Fever, weight loss, fatigue, muscle aches along with the pain and inflammation of the joints is observed in case of Rheumatoid arthritis.9. Joint pains in younger age may also result from bone tuberculosis, sickle cell anemia etc.10. Localized severe joint pain and inflammation may be caused due to dislocation or sprain in the joints.

Remedies and Treatment

This involves -

1. Dietary and life style changes.2. Taking anti- inflammatory drugs.3. Massaging the affected areas with eucalyptus oil, menthol and camphor.4. Supplements of herb Devil's Claw is highly effective in treating this condition.5. Hot and cold compress.6. Physical workouts7. Surgical procedures in some cases.

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Ankle surgery question? - Health - Wellness

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