A sprained ankle can occur anytime, whether you're a sports enthusiast or just a clumsy person. The good news is that Dr. George Tjamaloukas and Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas of the Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center will help you treat your ankle sprain in Land O'Lakes, FL.

Symptoms

An ankle injury is expected when one steps on an uneven surface. People at high risk for ankle injuries include those who walk on a slippery surface, such as ice or wet pavement, or wear inappropriate shoes. Symptoms of ankle sprains include pain, swelling, instability, and difficulty bearing weight. Taking care of an injured ankle is essential, as it can cause long-term complications. If the sprain is severe, a doctor may recommend surgery. In some cases, surgery will repair damaged ligaments. An x-ray may also be required to determine the extent of the damage.

Diagnosis

Whether you've sprained your ankle or suspect you have, you need to see our podiatrists to get an accurate diagnosis and proper treatment. When your ankle sprains, you'll feel pain and swelling around the joint. The swelling is the body's protective response to injury. The condition is caused by stretching ligaments in your ankle. Your ankle ligaments are tough rope-like bands of fibrous tissue that connect bones and have specific ranges of motion. Your podiatrist can also perform diagnostic imaging studies, such as X-rays, to diagnose your ankle sprain in Land O'Lakes, FL. These tests can rule out other injuries, such as broken bones or stress fractures. 

Treatment

Whether you are looking for treatment for a pulled ankle ligament or an ankle fracture, your podiatrists can help. They can diagnose your injury and recommend the proper course of treatment.

Ankle sprains may require nonsurgical treatments, such as ice, compression, and rest. However, in severe cases, you may need surgery. Surgical treatments can include the repair of broken bones, cartilage damage, and Achilles tendon tears.

In some severe cases, your podiatrist recommends wearing an ankle brace. This will help the ligaments heal and keep your ankle in the correct position. This can help prevent the occurrence of further injuries.

Prevention

Seeing our podiatrists for an ankle strain can help prevent a more severe injury. We can evaluate the condition and recommend a course of treatment to speed up the recovery process and avoid injury recurrence. Our podiatrists can also recommend home exercises to increase the strength and flexibility of the ankle.

Are you suffering from an ankle sprain in Land O'Lakes, FL? Contact the Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center at (813) 909-0865 to schedule your appointment with Dr. George Tjamaloukas or Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas.

If you have concerns about your feet and ankles, a podiatrist in Land O'Lakes, FL, can help. Here are some of the most common reasons to schedule an appointment with Dr. George Tjamaloukas or Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center.

Sports-Related Injuries and Conditions

Podiatry helps athletes at all levels perform at their highest level while preventing injuries to the feet, ankles, and legs. Oftentimes, podiatry care is recommended in conjunction with primary and specialty care, especially if you have chronic medical conditions that affect your feet and ankles. We also recommend that you schedule a podiatry examination before you start any new physical activities. Podiatry helps with:

• Athlete’s foot
• Shin splints
• Instability and pain in the joints
• Irregular gait
• Stress fractures
• Poor foot support during activities
• Bunions, calluses, and corns

Chronic Foot Pain

Chronic foot pain may be related to the joints, bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Foot pain may involve your toes, ankles, heels, and other areas.  Seeing a podiatrist in Land O'Lakes, FL, helps you find the underlying issue and receive the treatment that you need.

Managing Your Diabetes

Diabetes causes secondary issues with your feet and ankles, and podiatry care should be integrated with your primary and specialty care.  These problems are related to poor circulation in the lower part of your body, particularly in your feet. Additionally, diabetes may reduce your perception of pain, and you could have problems without knowing it. We recommend that people who have diabetes schedule a podiatry appointment annually, as well as when they first notice problems with their feet and ankles. Podiatry care helps with:

• Edema in the feet and ankles
• Ulcers
• Wounds that won’t heal
• Skin infections
• Diabetic foot pain

Hip and Back Pain

Did you know that hip and back pain can be caused by problems with your feet? At Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center, we evaluate your posture, gait, and stance to identify foot and ankle issues that are causing hip and back pain. We will recommend a treatment plan to address the problems with your feet and ankles to alleviate hip and back pain.

Skin and Toenail Conditions

Ingrown toenails, calluses, toenail fungus, corns, bunions, and foot fungus are just some of the skin and toenail conditions that we treat in our practice. In addition to treating the condition, we also recommend ways that you prevent the problem in the future.

If you are looking for a podiatrist in Land O'Lakes, FL, call Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center today at (813) 909-0865 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tjamaloukas or Dr. Tjamaloukas.

Issues with the feet and ankles can cause excruciating pain and debilitation for weeks. After becoming aware of a problem in your feet or ankles, you should visit a podiatrist ASAP. Dr. George Tjamaloukas and Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas from Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center are podiatrists in Land O'Lakes, FL who only treat issues with the feet and ankles. 

What Does a Podiatrist Do?

Podiatrists are specialist physicians who are highly trained and educated in the treatment of foot and ankle-specific injuries and conditions. If you need a podiatrist in Land O'Lakes, FL you've landed on the right website. 

A podiatrist will supply you with a more precise diagnosis of the root cause of your foot and/or ankle pain beyond what your GP can provide.

What Are the Reasons I Should See a Podiatrist?

Some reasons to visit a podiatrist are:

• Heel pain: Most often, the cause of non-traumatic heel pain is plantar fasciitis. But there may be other reasons for your heel pain. 
• Trauma to the ankle/foot complex: This can include many circumstances, such as foot or ankle pain after a car accident, sustaining a fall and hurting your foot or ankle, or dropping a heavy object on your foot. 
• Sports injuries: Generally, these injuries will be in the form of overuse injuries of the ligaments and tendons in and around the foot and ankle. Examples are Achilles tendonitis and ligament tears.
• Ingrown toenails: This condition is usually easily treatable. But, address them promptly to prevent significant pain and loss of function.
• Hammertoes: This is an unnatural bend of the toe or toes that can rapidly get worse, so timely treatment is vital. What starts as a mild nuisance can quickly become an exceptionally painful condition that requires surgery.
• Bunions: Dislocation of the big toe joint at its base may cause the development of a bunion, which appears as a bump on the base of the big toe on the inside of your foot. 
• Plantar warts: A virus causes these warts on the bottom of your foot. This virus rents some living space on the sole of your foot and infects the surrounding skin. Plantar warts may go away without medical intervention, but always consult with a podiatrist  to make sure that the warts are eliminated.
• Neuropathy:  Neuropathy is an interruption of nerve signals from the brain to the foot to the brain, and vice versa. Severe pain and tingling of the foot can result from this condition when not promptly addressed. Numbness may also be an issue where pain is not felt, making you more vulnerable to injuries. Diabetes is a common cause of neuropathy.

Contact Us

Any issue you are having with your feet or ankles warrants a consultation with Dr. Tjamaloukas or Dr. Tjamaloukas from Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center, podiatrists in Land O'Lakes, FL. You can reach us by calling (813) 909-0865.

How your foot doctors in Land O’Lakes, FL, can keep your feet and ankles healthy

It’s always a good time to see a podiatrist because a podiatrist can treat foot, ankle, and toe conditions to keep you mobile and active. Taking care of your feet can improve your overall health.

Drs. George and Kathy Tjamaloukas at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center in Land O’Lakes, FL, provides a wide range of foot and ankle services, to keep your feet and ankles healthy.

Seeing your podiatrist is especially important if you suffer from medical conditions like diabetes because diabetes directly affects your feet. Diabetes causes problems with your immune, circulatory, and nervous systems and can result in:

• Delayed healing or infection of open wounds
• Poor blood flow, resulting in amputations
• Loss of nerve sensation or peripheral neuropathy

Your podiatrist can help keep your feet from suffering due to diabetes. Foot doctors also treat:

• Bunions
• Hammertoe
• Ingrown toenails
• Toenail fungus
• Plantar fasciitis
• Flat feet
• Lateral ankle instability
• Strains, sprains, and fractures

If you have acute foot, ankle, or toe problems, you should see your podiatrist if:

• You can’t walk or stand due to foot pain
• You don’t feel stable when you walk or stand
• You have foot pain that doesn’t go away
• You have a fever accompanied by foot pain
• You can’t put on shoes due to foot pain
• Your mobility is affected due to foot pain

Your podiatrist also offers a wide variety of orthotics, which can help with:

• Flat feet
• Bunions
• Hammertoe
• Plantar fasciitis

Foot surgery may also be recommended by your podiatrist for:

• Bunion removal
• Hammertoe realignment
• Foot realignment
• Correction of lateral ankle instability

Don’t suffer from foot, toe, or ankle pain when relief is just a phone call away.

To learn more about when to see your podiatrist and how your foot doctor can keep your feet and ankles healthy, call Drs. George and Kathy Tjamaloukas at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center in Land O’Lakes, FL. You can reach them in the office by calling (813) 909-0865, so call now.

Find out if your ankle weakness could be due to instability and how to treat it.

Ankles that feel as if they might give out, particularly on the outer side of the ankle, are always a cause for concern, as this could be due to chronic ankle instability. Repeated ankle sprains that did not heal as they should or were not cared for properly are usually the main causes of chronic ankle instability and ankle pain. Fortunately, our Land O’ Lakes, FL, podiatrist Dr. George Tjamaloukas and Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center can help.

When you sprain an ankle the ligaments are either torn or stretched. The purpose of treatment is to help strengthen the muscles around the ankle to help improve balance and facilitate healing of the ligaments. But if you don’t seek treatment from our Land O’ Lakes and Wesley Chapel, FL, foot doctors then you could end up dealing with multiple ankle sprains, chronic ankle pain, and ankle instability in the future.

Do I have ankle instability?

Those with this condition may experience any of these symptoms:

• Chronic pain, swelling, and tenderness
• An unstable ankle
• An ankle that turns in while walking or during physical activity

If you are experiencing chronic or persistent ankle pain it might be due to ankle instability or you could be dealing with another issue. This is why you should visit our Land O’ Lakes, FL, foot and ankle team right away for diagnosis and treatment. X-rays or other imaging tests are often needed to diagnose ankle instability.

How is ankle instability treated?

The million-dollar question! The results of your tests, the severity of your symptoms, and how physically active you are will determine whether you will require nonsurgical or surgical treatment. The most common non-surgical options include,

• Pain relievers: Taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen can target both pain and inflammation.
• Ankle brace: Wearing an ankle brace can provide stability and support for the ankle and prevent it from turning outward. Wearing a brace can also protect the ankle from future sprains.
• Physical therapy: By incorporating stretching and strengthening exercises into your daily routine you can retrain and strengthen muscles to reduce pain and improve movement and balance. We can show you the best exercises to improve your ankle instability.

Do I need surgery?

If your problem is severe or if nonsurgical treatments aren’t giving you the results you need the next step may be surgery. The purpose of surgery is to repair the damaged ligament or ligaments. If surgery is necessary we would be happy to sit down with you and discuss your options.

Don’t let ankle problems keep you from your life. Turn to our podiatrists Dr. George Tjamaloukas and Dr. Kathy Tjamaloukas and the team at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center in Land O’ Lakes, FL, and serving Wesley Chapel, FL. Call us at (813) 909-0865.