Foot fun - Are your feet killing you?

What our patients say

"They are very accommodating."

Dr. Neil Feldman is great. His care is spot on, and he is a good listener. The treatment he suggests is exactly what you need. He is also supported by wonderful nurses and front office staff. They are very accommodating.

Mike H.

"Had a great experience using Central Massachusetts Podiatry."

Had a great experience using Central Massachusetts Podiatry. Dr. Pelto was very professional and gave excellent care.

M D.

"Doctor Saviet was very kind and helpful."

Doctor Saviet was very kind and helpful. I highly recommend him!

Bob W.

Popcorn night that is “sweetened” up

As I am writing this newsletter I am reminded how many of my stories revolve around food. Sorry I will try to get some variety into our stories but today I want to share our sweet addition to an average snack.

For years we have been enjoying popcorn with the family, usually when we are watching a movie in a Friday night.

However when dad is on duty things can get dangerous! The other day my daughter asked about making her own sweet popcorn. I have heard of Carmel popcorn but never sugar popcorn.

Next thing I knew she took two tablespoons of butter and half a cup of brown sugar and put in the microwave.

This sugary mixture was combined with our popcorn to make a sugar bomb popcorn. Just what we need before bedtime.

It was good but quite sticky. Luckily mom didn’t know what we were doing. Our little secret, okay?

What are the best kids shoes for 10 year old girls?

Example of anatomic kids shoes.

My daughter has expensive taste in shoes. It might not be her fault and might be mine instead because I wouldn’t just let her wear any shoes.

There is a type of shoe you have not heard of before called an “anatomic” shoe. It is a shoe that is shaped like your foot which is wider at the toes and narrower in the heel. (See a picture above of three types of shoes)

We recommend these shoes for our patients and that is all our family wears. No Nikes get in my house even though she was dying to get a pair of those popular hot pink ones that are all the rage right now.

The white and black shoes you see above which my daughter is currently wearing are Belenka. Belenka is a European brand that costs over $130 so get your credit card ready.

The fist time I ordered them they took 3-4 weeks to arrive but the black pair you see in the picture only took 5 days to arrive (they might be competing with Amazon).

The purple ones on the middle are a little less expensive and called Xero shoes and they are made in America and a little less expensive. The name Xero comes from “Zero” because they have what is called a zero drop in the heel of the shoe. Simply stated they don’t have any elevation in the heel region and they are the same height in the back and front of the shoe.

We frequently recommend these shoes to our patients with wider feet and with problems such as bunions, hammertoe and neuromas.

Get all our shoe recommendations in our Shoe Buying Guide. (Add link)

Question of the week - What is the mechanism behind shockwave technology

Image shows me holding two tips for the shockwave machine. One penetrates deeper in the tissue than the other.

Example of me performing shockwave on a patient in the office.

Shockwave therapy kind of reminds me of an air compressor driven jackhammer.

The power device is an air compressor that sends the air to a hand piece as seen the picture above. This air shoots a bullet forward in the chamber to hit the tip. This impact creates sound waves that are transmitted into the injured tissue into the foot.

This shockwave device then causes injury to the tissue by these waves by applying a certain dose. Each type of injury that is treated needs a different intensity and amount of energy applied.

It is similar to the dosage of a medication. You may take 500mg of an antibiotic three times a day for a week to get better. With shockwave we typically give an initial loading dose of 500 pulses at a low intensity and then increase the intensity for another 2,000 pulses.

Shockwave treatment is excellent at treating chronic foot pains that just aren’t getting better with traditional treatments of cortisone injections, shoe changes and icing.

To see if you are a good candidate for shockwave therapy give the office a call.

Don’t suffer with chronic pain call to see if you are a candidate for shockwave therapy today.

Call us at 508-757-4003 to make an appointment with Dr. Neil Feldman, Dr. Donald Pelto, Dr. Benjamin Saviet, or Dr. Matthew Monette.

To your health,

Dr. Pelto