Neuropathy

Neuropathy (nerve damage) is particularly common in the feet, especially in people with diabetes. If you have neuropathy symptoms, visit the Foot and Ankle Specialists for expert diagnosis and treatment. At offices in The Woodlands, Memorial City, and Huntsville, Texas, the practice’s highly skilled foot doctors offer cutting-edge treatments that relieve neuropathy symptoms by addressing their cause. Call the Foot and Ankle Specialists today or book an appointment online for superior neuropathy care.

What is neuropathy?

Neuropathy is nerve damage affecting your peripheral nerves. These nerves are the ones that extend throughout your body, sending and receiving messages via the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Peripheral nerves tell your brain when you feel hot, cold, or pain. They also relay instructions that make your muscles move and control other functions.

Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include:

• Burning sensation
• Numbness
• Tingling nerve pain
• Heavy, cold, painful feet and toes

Some patients experience excruciating pain from peripheral neuropathy.

What causes neuropathy?

Neuropathy takes two forms — degenerative neuropathy (shrinking nerve endings) and entrapment neuropathy (pinched nerves). Many patients have a trapped nerve somewhere between their toes and spine that causes neuropathy in the feet.

Degenerative neuropathy is common in people with diabetes. High blood sugar affects the nerves in your feet, resulting in diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A significant problem with this condition is that diabetic patients develop numbness that makes them unaware of the damage to their feet.

If you have diabetic peripheral neuropathy, you might step on sharp objects or stand too long on a hot surface with bare feet. Because of the numbness, you don’t realize there’s a problem until it’s too late. This can lead to diabetic foot ulcers (slow-healing open sores).

An inability to absorb specific vitamins and minerals from your diet can also cause degenerative neuropathy.

How is peripheral neuropathy diagnosed?

Patients at the Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands have a diagnostic advantage. One of the practice’s doctors, Marcin Vaclaw, DPM, has contributed to many studies on diagnosing and treating peripheral neuropathy.

The practice can do a fast, painless, noninvasive test to diagnose peripheral neuropathy. After the test, your doctor can track any improvement or deterioration of the condition. They offer in-office testing to see if you have degenerative or entrapment neuropathy.

The Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands team’s testing correctly identifies nerve entrapment and its location so that you can receive the correct treatment. In-office blood work can determine if you have a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

How is neuropathy treated?

The Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands team rarely use traditional oral medication for peripheral neuropathy. These drugs can cause severe side effects and don’t fix the cause of your condition. Treatments the team uses include:

• Physical therapy
• Chiropractic adjustments
• Injections
• Nerve stimulators
• NeuRx-TF Tablets®

Surgery might be necessary for patients who don’t respond to other treatments.

Call the Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Woodlands today or book an appointment online to find the cause of your neuropathy and treatments to relieve it.