Guides to foot and ankle conditions
What each condition is, what works without surgery, when an operation is justified, and the questions patients actually ask.
Flatfoot
A flat arch is normal in most young children and painless in most adults. The question that matters is not whether the arch is low, but whether the foot is stiff, painful, or getting worse.
Read the guideHallux valgus
A bunion is not a growth of extra bone. It is the first metatarsal drifting away from the others, which pushes the big toe across. Correcting it means realigning the bone, not shaving the bump.
Read the guideGuided growth
In a child who is still growing, a crooked leg can often be straightened without cutting bone. A small implant slows growth on one side of the growth plate, and the limb straightens itself over months.
Read the guideChildren's foot deformity
Most of what worries parents about a child's feet is normal and resolves with growth. The job of the first consultation is to separate the small number of feet that need treatment from the large number that need nothing but an explanation.
Read the guideCavus foot
A very high arch tips the heel inward and loads the outer border of the foot. It causes repeated ankle sprains and pain under the ball of the foot, and in a meaningful number of cases it points to an underlying nerve condition.
Read the guideAnkle instability
An ankle that keeps giving way is not simply unlucky. After a sprain the ligaments can heal long, and the position sense that protects the joint is lost. Both are treatable, and most people never need an operation.
Read the guideAchilles and heel pain
Most heel pain is a loading problem, not a structural one, and most of it resolves without surgery. The treatment that works is unglamorous: the right exercise, done properly, for longer than most people expect.
Read the guideThis page is for patient information and does not replace an examination by a doctor.