New Bunion Treatment Offers Patients Mobility While Healing

By Evetta L. Borden, DPM

Patients diagnosed with painful bunions who have avoided surgery are urged to take a second look at an advancement made by a local Washington, DC area foot and ankle surgeon.

A bunion, often called “a bump on the side of the foot” is a common, yet painful foot problem. It is a result of the big toe turning toward the second toe causing a bump on the inside edge of one's toe. Symptoms include red, calloused skin along the inside edge of the big toe and varying pain over the joint.

Mobility During Healing
Attracts Patients

People undergo bunion surgery when foot pain is so severe it limits everyday activities, including walking and wearing reasonable shoes or inflammation and swelling do not improve with rest or medications. Yet traditional bunion surgery is problematic. Dr. Steven K. Neufeld, a founder and managing partner of Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Center in Arlington, VA explains, “Many patients have avoided surgery for years, even decades, because the traditional procedure requires the patient to stay off the foot for six weeks with very limited use of crutches. Patient morale is often low.”

A New Procedure

Dr. Neufeld was determined to offer his patients a better alternative so he invented the Ludloff Plate. It is a plate that is surgically implanted into the foot and holds the bone in its correct position. The purpose of the plate is to make the foot strong enough so people can walk on it as soon as possible. It allows patients to start walking and start rehabilitation immediately to promote an optimal outcome.

Safety and Availability

In the past 18 months over 100 Ludoff Plate bunion procedures have been performed across the country. Results have been astounding it restores a patient's mobility within days after surgery.

Before the development of the Ludloff Plate, if a patient walked on the foot before six weeks, it was extremely painful and their surgical results could be lost.

Currently only 10 doctors across the country are performing this procedure, Drs Neufeld and his partner Dr. Buchannan are among the only surgeons offering this surgery in the Washington, DC metro region.