Services & Specialties

Comprehensive Foot Care

Get back out on the field with exceptional sports medicine.

In the world of sports, foot and ankle injuries are common. As recreational athletes ourselves, we understand how important it is for athletes to get back in the game and heal as quickly and safely as possible. When you work with our foot and ankle specialists, you become an essential member of our team. We work with you to determine the most effective treatment plan to give you total relief and help you avoid future injuries or re-occurrence.

Get the most appropriate treatment plan for your condition.

At Grants Pass Podiatry, we take time to evaluate your condition and discuss your goals for recovery. We then review our treatment recommendations with you so you can decide what is right for you.

Complete Line of Foot Care Products

Podiatry

Get back out on the field with exceptional sports medicine.

In the world of sports, foot and ankle injuries are common. As recreational athletes ourselves, we understand how important it is for athletes to get back in the game and heal as quickly and safely as possible. When you work with our foot and ankle specialists, you become an essential member of our team. We work with you to determine the most effective treatment plan to give you total relief and help you avoid future injuries or re-occurrence.

Get the most appropriate treatment plan for your condition.

At Grants Pass Podiatry, we take time to evaluate your condition and discuss your goals for recovery. We then review our treatment recommendations with you so you can decide what is right for you.

Non Surgical Foot Care

For your convenience, we have an onsite digital X-ray system for same-day diagnosis of possible fractures and other bone issues as well as a full line of products available to help you and the doctor achieve your goals.

When Dr. Castle, or his associate, Dr. Sautter, have determined that your condition can best be improved or treated through surgery, they provide advanced procedures that have earned the respect of physicians and patients throughout Southern Oregon.

High quality treatments for common foot conditions

• Casting for fractures, clubfoot and post surgical care: When possible, we use medical fracture boots (air boots) rather than plaster casts to provide the necessary stabilization and compression to heal fractured feet and ankles. Depending on your condition, you may be able to walk during the healing process.
• Contact casting for diabetic feet: A “total contact cast” can work to protect and control the movement of a diabetic foot in the early stages of “Charcot foot” and heal diabetic foot ulcers. Using a combination of casting, conservative techniques and corrective surgery, we can often maintain the bone structure of diabetic feet and avoid amputation.
• Orthotics for foot disorders: We are experts at creating orthotics that are molded to your foot and customized for your specific condition. A well designed orthotic can give you the support you need to alleviate pain and improve your posture, gait and balance. We often recommend orthotics for pronation, flat feet, arthritis, calluses, foot ulcers, plantar fasciitis and tendonitis.
• Customized shoe inserts: In order to save you money, we may be able to customize pre-made shoe inserts so you don’t need to invest in more expensive orthotics.
• Injections for pain management and resolution of symptoms: When pain is caused by inflammation from arthritis, neuroma and plantar fasciitis, we may be able to alleviate it with careful use of corticosteroid.
• Medications for foot disease: Many foot problems are caused by medical conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, obesity, pregnancy and side effects from medication use. We prescribe appropriate over-the-counter and prescription medications to treat medical issues such as inflammation, gout, ulcers, fungus, warts and wounds.
• Splints for hammertoe and plantar fasciitis: Wearing a splint while you sleep can cure certain foot conditions without further intervention.
• The right footwear: Ill-fitting shoes can cause a range of problems and aggravate existing ones, including corns, calluses, blisters, ulceration, ingrown toenails, bunions,  hammertoes and wounds. We stay up to date with the latest shoe gear and recommend the right type of shoes for your specific condition, including diabetic foot.
• Physical therapy: Certain types of forefoot, heel and ankle pain can be alleviated with stretching, exercise and massage. We may recommend physical therapy before prescribing medicine or surgery.
• Multidisciplinary approach:  We work closely with your primary care provider and other specialists to develop the most comprehensive treatment plan to speed recovery.

Advanced Foot Surgery

Our foot specialists at Grants Pass Podiatry offer decades of experience treating the most advanced foot and ankle problems caused by sports injuries, over use, disease and birth defects. When surgery is the best option, you can count on our compassion to make the experience comfortable and less stressful. You can rely on our training and expertise to give you the positive outcome you deserve.

Minimally invasive procedures for maximum results

With 26 bones and 33 joints in your foot—and lots of ligaments, cartilage and muscles—an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your problem is critical to the success of your surgery. We will review your x-rays with you, show you why surgery is necessary and explain the procedure we will use. Whenever possible, we use minimally invasive surgical techniques that involve smaller incisions, less scarring and pain and faster recovery times than traditional open surgery. We incorporate the same arthroscopic procedures when dealing with related structures in order to speed healing.

The most common surgical procedures we perform include:

• Bunion surgery: When the big toe joint bends towards the other toes, causing a large bony lump on the side of your foot, surgery can straighten the toe and reduce your pain considerably.
• Diabetic limb preservation: Conditions that used to require amputation can often be treated with a combination of conservative techniques and corrective surgery. We have extensive training in diabetic foot intervention in the foremost podiatry residency program in the country and have had great success with these procedures.
• Neuroma surgery: A neuroma is a thickening of a nerve caused by a growth or tumor of nerve tissue. When appropriate footwear, orthotics or injections don’t help the pain, a surgical procedure can remove pressure on the nerve or remove the neuroma itself.
• Hammertoe surgery: Hammertoes are a deformity that causes the toe joints to bend up and then curl down so the tip of the toe rests on the ground. Over time, the tendons in those toes shorten. When they have become severe, surgery may be the only option. If the toe still has some flexibility, a simple procedure can be done to release the tendon. If it is rigid, surgery may need to be done on the bone.
• Ingrown toenails: We use a short, in-office surgical procedure to cut away the portion of nail that has grown into the skin and remove the affected tissue.
• Pediatric foot surgery: We take very special care of children who require foot surgery using surgical techniques that were developed to correct their unique needs. We treat all pediatric foot deformities including clubfoot, flatfoot, juvenile bunion, cavus foot (excessively high arch) and fractures that require surgery.

Specialty Treatments for Foot Pain

When new techniques or technologies become available, we take time to study and evaluate them to determine if they can provide real benefit for our patients. Here are some of the latest specialty treatments we provide:

• FDA-cleared Multiwave Locked System (MLS^®) robotic laser therapy: This innovative laser therapy penetrates deep into the tissue to treat pain, inflammation and edema. It delivers therapeutic wavelengths of light to interact with various molecules in the tissue and accelerate the body’s natural healing processes. Unlike other laser therapy, the MLS therapy laser has a penetration depth of 3 to 4 centimeters, producing greater anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing effects.
  
  MLS laser therapy is becoming the gold standard for treating both acute and chronic pain and has been proven to have an 85 percent to 90 percent efficacy rate with no negative side effects. Treatments usually last ten minutes and the majority of patients experience positive results after one to three treatments. More complex problems may require a series of six to ten treatments for optimal results.
• Sclerosing (alcohol injections): When pain from neuroma is not relieved by conservative methods, we can often treat it without surgery by injecting alcohol into the painful area. The alcohol injections stop the nerve from transmitting painful impulses. This therapy generally involves a series of injections, up to a total of seven. We have found this therapy to be frequently effective for recurrent neuromas.