Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease that attacks multiple joints throughout the body. About 90 percent of people with RA eventually develop symptoms related to the foot or ankle. Usually symptoms appear in the toes and forefeet first, then in the middle and back of the foot, and finally in the ankles. Other inflammatory types of arthritis that affect the foot and ankle include gout, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, and Reiter's syndrome.

Many foot and ankle procedures require insertion of metal plates, screws, rods or similar implants for stabilization of the bones while they heal. There are a number of reasons why a foot and ankle orthopaedic surgeon will chose to remove this hardware. Hardware can be removed if it is painful, associated with an infection, or if your bone didn’t heal as hoped, which may require new hardware to be placed.

Regional anesthesia makes a specific body part numb so that surgery can be performed. The goals are to make the foot and ankle numb during surgery and relieve pain after surgery. This helps patients need less medicine during and after surgery. 

Regional anesthesia may be considered for almost any surgery of the foot and ankle. It is not allowed in patients with certain medical conditions like blood clotting problems or active infections. Some surgeons prefer their patients not have this type of anesthesia. 

Bone grafts may be needed for various orthopaedic surgeries of the foot and ankle. Bone grafts provide bony support and/or fill in areas where bone is missing. Bone grafts are either taken from the patient (autograft), or taken from a bone donor (allograft). The best bone graft provides enough bone and healing with minimal problems for the patient.

Tendons connect muscles to bones and stretch across joints, enabling you to bend those joints. One of the most important tendons in the lower leg is the posterior tibial tendon. This tendon starts in the calf, stretches down behind the inside of the ankle, and attaches to bones in the middle of the foot. 

The flexor digitorum longus (FDL) is one of the tendons responsible for bending the toes down to the floor. The goals of a FDL tendon transfer surgery are to relieve pain and to help restore the arch in patients with painful fallen arches. A fallen arch occurs when the foot loses its support and flattens out, generally due to weakening of tendons and ligaments in the foot.

Posterior ankle endoscopy/arthroscopy is a technique used to look at and treat problems in the back of the ankle. 

First, it’s important to understand ankle anatomy. The ankle joint is the joint between the lower leg bones (tibia and fibula) and the ankle bone (talus). The joint below the ankle joint is called the subtalar joint; it lies between the ankle bone and the heel bone (calcaneus). The talus has a bony prominence in the back next to the flexor hallucis longus (FHL) tendon. This is the tendon that moves the big toe downward toward the floor.

Plantar warts are a common viral skin infection on the bottom (plantar) side of your foot. About 10 percent of teenagers have plantar warts. Using a public shower or walking around a locker room in bare feet increase your risk for developing plantar warts.

A plantar fibroma is a benign (non-cancerous) nodule that grows in the arch of the foot and usually appears between ages 20 and 60. It usually is slow-growing and often less than one inch in size. Some can grow faster and are considered plantar fibromatosis. A plantar fibroma or fibromatosis is a disease of the fibrous tissue that grows between the skin and the underlying fascia.

If your first few steps out of bed in the morning cause severe pain in the heel of your foot, you may have plantar fasciitis, an overuse injury that affects the sole of the foot. A diagnosis of plantar fasciitis means you have inflamed the tough, fibrous band of tissue (fascia) connecting your heel bone to the base of your toes.