Foot blisters rarely take us by surprise. You’re out for a hike, and pressure from your new boots turns the back of your heel a troublesome shade of red. You know you’re close to getting a blister. Or you pull off your running shoes at the end of a race and find the source of that aching…

Every action has a reaction. If you ask your mom 117 times a day if you can get a new iPhone, the chances are good she’ll lash out at you at #118 – or sooner. And just as you can rub your mom the wrong way, you can unintentionally rub the bones of your feet…

We’re realists here at Clifton Foot & Ankle Center. We realize most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about their foot health. Luckily, we’re here to remind our Fairfax County patients that April is Foot Health Awareness Month! It’s easy to increase your awareness of your feet and learn how to keep them healthy. Just…

With March Madness coming to another exciting end, you may have a child who’s expressed an interest in playing basketball. Good for them. Basketball gets the heart and muscles pumping, helping to keep kids in good shape. Unfortunately, the game also has a pretty high incidence of injuries to the feet and ankles. We usually see…

Most senior citizens experience some foot pain. It’s no wonder: by the time you turn 80, you’ve walked about 110,000 miles. You’d have to walk from our podiatry office in Centreville, Virginia, to Lower Manhattan and back 183 times to go 110,000 miles. And that’s just the average person. If you’re regularly active, you see a lot more…

Everybody emerges from the womb with flat feet. If we’re lucky – and most of us are – we’re blessed with arches sometime before our third birthday or so. Arches in your feet serve an important purpose: they help keep your weight evenly balanced. Each time you take a step, the muscles, bones and soft tissues…

Many women choose to wear high heels – and that’s okay. As a board-certified podiatrist, however, Dr. Kenneth R. Wilhelm cautions women to be smart about it. Wearing high heels comes with many challenges. Interestingly, “Choose to Challenge” was the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, celebrated earlier this week on March 8. “A challenged world is an…

We’re already more than two months into the New Year. That’s 8+ weeks—approximately 60 days since you resolved to eat better and lose weight in 2021. Losing weight is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions there is, and all of us at Clifton Foot & Ankle Center applaud anyone who strives to attain a healthy…

Our nation has been riding the corona coaster for close to a year now. And over this tumultuous year, podiatrists have seen a mysterious increase in the number of broken toes. There are two parts to this mystery: first, why is it happening? Second, what should you do if it happens to you? Part 1: Why…

Dry, calloused, or cracked heels are not just unsightly and uncomfortable. They can also be dangerous. If you neglect the skin on your heels, it will likely continue to dry out. Cracks can eventually form and grow deeper. Bacteria can enter these deep cracks, also called heel fissures, and cause an infection. Cracked heels are common, especially in the…