After a hopefully glutenous holiday season, many of us find ourselves stepping on the scale this morning and being a bit taken back! For me, the best part of the holidays along with the endless amounts of family time, is the food! It seems that during the run from Thanksgiving through the New Year there is no shortage of reasons to indulge in holiday classics. From pumpkin pie, turkey and stuffing, to ham and cookies…the options are limitless! However on January 2nd reality often hits! During the festive period, and the time immediately after I tend to see an increase in 2 things; gout and tendonitis!
Gout is a common inflammatory arthritis that is commonly associated with over indulgence! The list of food items that can trigger a gout attack seemingly includes everything but cherries (not cherry pie), and is common this time of the year. Gout typically presents its ugly head first thing in the morning, after a big meal. You may find yourself waking up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning and not being able to stand the feeling of the sheets touching your foot! That is because overnight uric acid crystals have formed in your foot resulting in a huge amount of inflammation which is very painful!
The second thing I see an increase in after the holidays is tendonitis. This is largely attributed to the shock of that morning standing on the scale, and the immediate increase in exercise programs afterwards! The muscles and tendons surrounding the foot and ankle all work together to allow you to walk. However when we feel particular motivated, sometimes we increase the workload of these muscles and tendons to fast, which can result in a painful flair up of tendonitis. Tendonitis is simply inflammation of a tendon, and it comes in a wide variety of flavors, and therefore may be treated several different ways.
At Healthy Feet Podiatry we take shedding the holiday pounds very seriously! We want you to be able to achieve your new years goals, and are here to assist if you find yourself with one of these common ailments! Our goal is to get you on the way to achieving yours as fast as possible. If you find yourself in pain this new year, call us for your same day consultation, and get back starting off 2018 right!
