Any foot doctors in SF bay area familiar with windsurfing?

rabetts · Joined: 09 Jun 2013 Posts: 1

Hey,
First post.
I'm looking for a podiatrist in the SF bay area to check out my windsurfing foot injuries (tendon pain in the top of foot, amazing burning pain when leaning forward in both straps, like for an upwind 360.

any diagnosis's or dr. recommendations?

--Andrew

xander.arch · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 217

Sent you a pm. I've had a bunch of experience in this.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

How about sharing some injury details so we may all learn from this?

xander.arch · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 217

Didn't mean to be all private fellas. I've seen over 10 Bay Area podiatrists and orthopedic surgeons for foot/ankle surgery and other foot issues that were all foostrap related injuries. Here are my tops:

for Podiatry: Dr. Ronald Valmassy at St. Francis. Valmassy is a great first stop and will refer you to an orthopedic surgeon if needed. He seemed to understand the mechanics of footstraps pretty well and will really take time to help you understand and craft a plan to get it sorted out. Don't be turned off by his front office staff - they are pretty horrific, but he's worth it.

for orthopedic foot/ankle surgery: UCSF Orthopedic Institute. Administratively they are also a pain in the arse and you won't get much time with the doc, but when comes to making the repairs their surgeons are fantastic - at least they were for me (2x ligament replacement in the foot/ankle and finger).

If you want my feelings about a specific doc and/or practice shoot me a pm - there is a good chance I've had experience with them, but I'm not interested in diving into reviews that may skew negative here.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

I was leaning more towards the nature and causes of your injuries, particularly twisting vs forward falls. With my lifelong history of severe ankle sprains/fractures and my recent knee experience, the thought of any repeats makes me cringe.

xander.arch · Joined: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 217

OK, OK here are more details....

1. Lisfranc tear (sprain - probably grade 2) from a weirdly crashed too high shove it. Landed with flat board with body falling towards the nose over the sail. Back foot popped out. This crunched all my weight over my bent compressed front foot which hurt like hell. No surgery needed but wore a walking boot for 2 months and did rehab - the joint is now stable. The initial symptoms were a little like the OPs. Lisfranc is a bit rare and often misdiagnosed.

2. ATFL and CFL complete tears from a failed overpowered out of control Vulcan attempt. Back foot stayed in, sail flew down wind, board stopped dead, I kept going. Both ligaments were basically replaced with fiberwire and titanium anchors. The surgery is called a Brostrom repair. 6 weeks non-weight bearing. Two months in a boot and lots of rehab. 4 years out and I can barely notice a difference between my good side and my repaired side. Thanks Dr. Kadel and UCSF!

3. Bone spur in basically the same location as the Lisfranc which is the top of the foot. The spur was caused by irritation from those damn things that attach us to our boards. It started when I was a kid windsurfing in the 80s. After getting back into windsurfing many years later it became aggravated and made wearing shoes pretty uncomfortable. I had the spur shaved off. I think I was in the boot for about 3 weeks with total recovery of about 3 months. This procedure was kind of botched so it had to be redone (not a good thing to open the same surgical site). It's not perfect, but I have only minimal discomfort in the strap.

Take from this what you will - that I'm brittle (yes) - that I crash badly (yes, yes, yes). All this happened to my poor left foot. Interestingly, all my other injuries (hand, finger, ribs) happened to my left side as well. I'm righty. All this also happened in flat water trying to learn modern freestyle at a non-gumbie age. I should add that I haven't been the most fit fiddle. I now only sail waves and have had less injuries.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Freaking OUCH!

Yet one more reason I don't pursue freestyle; I get pranged enough without it. Except for cracked ribs, I can sail despite my nagging, non-load-bearing tweaks, but every once in a while I feel a knee, ankle, or arch warning me that it's at its limit even in a slow, non-released fall. That's spooky, dangerous, and something to take seriously enough to find a solution BEFORE surgery, rehab, recovery, and a lost season are necessary. Thanks for reinforcing my conscious choice to push my limits in a more controllable direction, including switching from desert racing to WSing.