Waking Up With Heel Pain? 3 Common Causes and How to Find Relief
Waking up with sharp heel pain can ruin your morning. Learn the three most common causes of morning foot discomfort and how our podiatrists can help you find lasting relief.
Breakthrough Bunion Treatment: Discover the Life-Changing Benefits of Lapiplasty
Bunions, medically known as hallux valgus, are a highly common and progressive foot deformity that affects roughly 19% of the global adult population, according to research in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research (2023).
At Ohio Foot and Ankle Center, our board-certified podiatrists, Dr. Aaron J. Chokan, DPM, FACFAS, FACCWS, and Dr. Kristina Lynn Minniti, DPM, specialize in advanced bunion care. We serve patients across Northeast Ohio with convenient locations in Canton, Stow, and Rittman, Ohio.
If you're tired of pain limiting your daily life, we offer a revolutionary 3D bunion treatment called Lapiplasty to help you get back on your feet quickly and permanently.
Why do traditional bunion surgeries often fail?
Traditional bunion surgeries often fail because they treat the bunion as a two-dimensional bump rather than addressing the foot's true three-dimensional structural instability. Traditional procedures typically involve cutting the metatarsal bone and shifting it sideways.
However, 3D imaging reveals that 87% of bunions actually involve an abnormal twisting or rotation of the bone. When surgeons don't correct this rotation, the joint remains unstable. This explains why traditional 2D surgeries have a pooled long-term recurrence rate as high as 64%, as reported in Foot & Ankle International (2023). To truly fix a bunion, we must address the root cause of the deformity.
How does Lapiplasty provide a permanent treatment for a bunion?
Lapiplasty provides a permanent bunion treatment by correcting the deformity in all three anatomical dimensions and fusing the unstable joint at the root of the issue. Instead of just shaving down the bone, the Lapiplasty procedure uses advanced, patented technology to rotate the metatarsal bone back into its natural position. We then secure the unstable tarsometatarsal (TMT) joint in the midfoot using low-profile titanium plates.
This permanent stabilization dramatically reduces the chance of the bunion returning. In fact, a clinical study published in the Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery (2026) shows that Lapiplasty achieves an incredibly low recurrence rate of just 8.4% at a four-year follow-up.
What is the recovery timeline for Lapiplasty?
The recovery timeline for Lapiplasty is significantly shorter than that of traditional fusion surgeries, allowing patients to walk in a protective boot within days of the procedure. Because we use rigid, biplanar titanium plates to secure the joint, your foot is highly stable right after surgery.
Clinical data shows that patients can safely return to protected weight-bearing in a walking boot at a mean of just 7.7 days post-surgery. Most patients transition back into athletic shoes in about 6.5 weeks. This means you won't have to endure the six to eight weeks of strict, non-weight-bearing recovery that older surgical methods required.
You don't have to let bunion pain dictate your lifestyle or keep you from the activities you love. Our experienced team is here to help you find lasting relief and restore your mobility. If you're ready to take the first step toward pain-free walking, schedule a consultation with our specialists at Ohio Foot and Ankle Center today.
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