Foot injuries (orthopaedics)

The orthopaedic surgeon makes a diagnosis through a thorough examination with imaging (radiology) if necessary. Based on the diagnosis made, the specialized doctor prescribes treatment, which may include medication and/or physical therapy. At some point or with certain injuries, surgery will be necessary.

Plan your appointment

Association orthopaedics 011 33 42 86 dr. Peter Bollars 011 69 96 60

Causes and symptoms

The foot is a complex working together of bones, ligaments, tendons/muscles. In addition, a whole network of nerves and blood vessels runs through it.

‍So when treating, we have to take all these structures into account.

Problems on the foot can arise in several ways:

  • accident, trauma, fracture or stress fracture
  • overuse of tendons or joints
  • arthrosis and inflammation
  • the shape of the foot also very often plays a role (flat foot/hollow foot)

Problems with feet can be largely classified into:

  • Forefoot: in which we mainly see toe deformities, lumps and sagging feet
  • ‍Midfoot: where inflammation and osteoarthritis of the joints are mainly found.
  • Hindfoot: tendonitis (Achilles, etc.) and osteoarthritis or inflammation  of the ankle are most commonly seen here

Forefoot problems

Hallux (= big toe) valgus (= position of the toe inward).

This happens, among other things, due to laxity of the ligaments, usually in women (at least twice as much as in men). This can be congenital (familial) or caused by wearing narrow shoes too often. People with flat feet are also more likely to have hallux valgus.

Because the big toe comes in, there is irritation and friction in the shoe and extra bone is created on the side (= bunion or painful lump).

The deviation of the big toe is initially stopped by the second toe. After some time, this one is also pushed away (upward or downward) and the toes start to cross each other.

The most frequent complaint is a painful bunion or lump as it rubs in the shoe. Finding comfortable footwear is therefore not easy.

Sometimes the entire joint becomes inflamed, causing swelling and redness.

A hallux valgus is a progressive deformity and develops over years. Nevertheless, we also see very young people with such a deformity. It is then mostly a familial condition.

A hallux rigidus is a painful osteoarthritis in the big toe. Wear and tear of the cartilage causes narrowing of the joint (= osteoarthritis). This causes a painful restriction of movement. Bone is sometimes added to the side and top of the joint, creating a painful bunion or lump. In hallux rigidus, this lump is usually at the top.

Some people have  regular inflammation of the joint due to osteoarthritis.

The treatment at first is often conservative, for example: wearing wide shoes, a good firm sole ...

If this does not help sufficiently, surgery may be planned.

A hammertoe/clawtoe is a bent position of the toe, usually of the second or third toe, which eventually creates pressure and friction against the footwear.

With a hammertoe, the deformity occurs in the first toe-joint; with a claw toe, it usually occurs in both toe-joints. This condition can still be flexible or already stiff.

With some foot shapes (hollow feet), this is more common.

Sometimes the second toe is forced into a hammer position by a severe hallux valgus and correction of the second toe is not enough, but the big toe must also be corrected to give the second toe room.

Most patients suffer on the upper side of the toe (friction and calluses), sometimes also on the lower side at the level of the tip of the toe. Sometimes wounds develop, and even infection of the joints is possible.

A supple hammertoe can be corrected with orthotics or an orthotic.

A stiff hammertoe can only be treated surgically.

A common problem is pain at the bottom of the forefoot, under the pads , just in front of the toes. This is called metatarsalgia and can have several causes.

Most often this is a sagging forefoot and you have calluses or pain from inflammation of the joints. Sometimes the pain is caused by entrapment of the nerve between the joints, we call this Morton neurinoma but it is not very common.

Occasionally we see on the radiography that the metatarsal bones are much too long and in this way become overloaded. Usually an arch support is sufficient, but sometimes we have to shorten these bones surgically.

Tailor's Bunion is a lump on the outside of the little toe. It is often painful and red due to friction in the shoe. Usually the patient has a wide foot (spread foot).

The treatment of choice is wide shoes, possibly an orthotic or, if this fails, surgical treatment.

Orthopaedic surgeons specializing in foot injuries

dr. Garcia Barrado Fernando

dr. Fernando Garcia Barrado

orthopaedic surgeon
Read more
dr. Annelies Moermans

dr. Annelies Moermans

orthopaedic surgeon
Read more

Information brochures

Investigations

The diagnosis is made in several ways:

  • Exhaustive questioning about the problems and how they might or might not have occurred.
  • Clinical examination in which the shape of the foot (flat foot / hollow foot / spread foot / sagging foot) may be at the base of the problem.
  • Ordinary radiography of the foot is almost always requested "standing" and already gives a lot of information. It is therefore often interesting to request this examination in advance (via your general practitioner or our secretariat) before your first consultation.

After extensive questioning and clinical examination, sometimes an additional examination (usually a specific scan) is necessary to determine the treatment.

Treatments

The treatment of foot problems is sometimes very simple with orthotics.

A good orthotic is very important and we spend a lot of time on this to get you the right model but also to convince you that this often works very well. The type of footwear is also very important and together we look at how to improve this for you.

Sometimes an injection or an infiltration can help fix your inflammation.

Surgery is useful or necessary in some cases to solve your foot problems. Please note that for some conditions, proper surgical treatment is not available and we look for alternatives.

Departments

For diagnosis and treatment, you can visit our orthopaedic surgeons. As part of certain treatments or after any surgery, you can visit our rehabilitation centre.
Orthopaedics

Plan your appointment

Association orthopaedics 011 33 42 86 dr. Peter Bollars 011 69 96 60