When considering a question like whether minimally invasive surgery can help treat foot pain or not, it’s important to start with a simple fact:
All cases are unique.
That should make sense. After all, every foot is different—and comprised of numerous bones, muscles, and other soft tissues—and there are many conditions and injuries they can sustain.
At the same time, there is a typical foot structure (heel, arch, toes, etc.) and treatment plans for two patients suffering from the same condition might be quite similar.
So the safe answer here is maybe minimally invasive surgery can help you.
Let’s probe a bit deeper into this topic and, in doing so, perhaps you’ll have a better idea as to whether this kind of treatment is right for you.
What is Minimally Invasive Surgery For Foot Pain?
To understand what minimally invasive means, consider what happens in a surgery:
The surgeon cuts through external tissues so he or she can operate on organs and tissues in need of repair, realignment, or some other kind of treatment, right?
With that being the case, surgeries are invasive procedures.
It stands to reason then, that a minimally invasive surgery reduces the amount of intrusion necessary for accessing internal organs and tissues.
Taking this a step further, this kind of surgery differs from traditional ones because A) the incisions are smaller and B) some procedures are performed without affected tissues being exposed. To the latter point, we accomplish this for certain procedures with tiny cameras and scopes – along with delicate tools that can provide precise results.
Is that enough to say there’s a big difference between traditional and minimally invasive surgery?
You bet!
Depending on the specifics of your case, we may use this kind of surgery to accomplish objectives like realigning bones, inserting implants, and debriding infected tissue.
But traditional surgeries can be used for those as well, right? So why use minimally invasive ones?
Put simply, we recommend these procedures (when possible) because they offer an array of benefits over traditional surgery.
These benefits include:
- Greater convenience
- Less post-operative pain
- Less scarring
- Lower risk of complications
- Faster recovery
In case you missed it, we talked in greater depth about this.
Conditions That Can be Treated With Minimally Invasive Surgery For Foot Pain in Lee's Summit
Given that those respective benefits probably sound pretty good, you may now be wondering what can we use these less invasive procedures to treat.
We’ve previously discussed four of those kinds of conditions, but here’s a quick recap:
- Bunions
- Hammertoes
- Bone spurs
- Bony deformities
Out of those foot problems, bunions and hammertoes are especially common issues that can often be treated nowadays with less-invasive procedures.
When patients seek additional information about this, they usually want to know how long it takes to recover from minimally invasive surgery. On that front, we must go back to an earlier point and restate that all cases are unique.
That said, we can offer some general insight.
While an open-foot surgery can require up to six weeks’ time off your feet following the procedure, there are instances where patients walk the same day after having minimally invasive bunion surgery.
Again, a key benefit of minimally invasive procedures is faster recovery than what you get with traditional operations.
Of course, your recovery timeframe depends on your specific case and we can discuss this together as you determine the best course for your treatment.
Along with those aforementioned conditions, another minimally invasive procedure that is becoming rather popular is foot realignment with HyProCure.
What is HyProCure?
Foot problems generally have one of two root causes:
- Biomechanical (movement) abnormalities
- Structural issues or deformities
Both can certainly be related – and there may be a bit of a “which came first: the chicken or the egg?” situation.
When your foot pain is caused by misalignment in the feet, a possible solution that has helped many of our patients is HyProCure treatment.
Basically, this procedure involves placing a titanium stent in a naturally occurring gap in the foot. This tiny device then provides support for your foot structure, thereby improving alignment and addressing biomechanical issues.
One important note about HyProCure:
Our podiatrist, Joel Foster, DPM, is the only Atlas-certified podiatrist in Missouri who offers this treatment option for fixing pain from misaligned feet.
Is Minimally Invasive Surgery Safe and Does it Really Work?
Not only is this a safe approach for surgical procedures, but it’s also even safer than what you can expect from open-foot surgeries.
There are countless traditional surgeries performed every day across our country. A vast majority of them are done without any issues arising. But there are always risks and the potential for complications.
With less-invasive options, those risks are decreased.
If you think about it, this makes sense. Naturally, there’s less opportunity for infection to set in when the incisions are smaller and heal much quicker (than the ones needed for traditional procedures).
Some people also wonder if these surgeries are successful. We’re happy to report that this is absolutely the case.
It’s worth noting here that no doctor or surgeon can provide a complete guarantee that everything will go according to plan. Our bodies and lives are complicated. There are many factors at play, and, at the end of the day, your doctor is also human (not perfect).
Now, we create our treatment plans based on extensive training, research, experience, and skill. At our practice, for example, we have an outstanding track record of using minimally invasive surgeries to help patients find relief in the safest, most effective ways possible.
Get the Treatment You Need Today at Joel Foster DPM Foot Care in Lee's Summit
When you come in for your appointment, we provide a careful evaluation to reach an accurate diagnosis of what is responsible for your pain and discomfort. After establishing that, we will provide you with our professional recommendations for treatment.
As you might expect by now, there’s a chance minimally invasive foot surgery might be part of that.
If so, please know that we’ve either ruled out or have exhausted all nonsurgical options. Yes, this is a better approach than open-foot surgery, but even better would be conservative treatment.
Finally, if you do need any kind of foot or ankle surgery, check out these 6 reasons why you’re better off coming to see us instead of going to the hospital!
Want more information? Need to request an appointment? Then just give our office a call at (816) 246-4222, and one of our team members will be happy to help you.
