Foot & Ankle Care
NYU Langone’s orthopedic foot and ankle care program is one of the oldest in the United States, founded more than 45 years ago by a pioneer of the specialty, Dr. Paul Lapidus. Today, we have more than 10,000 patient visits and perform more than 800 surgical procedures each year.
Our surgeons handle all conditions and injuries of the foot and ankle. In partnership with doctors at the Diabetic Foot and Ankle Center, we also treat people who have complex orthopedic issues connected to foot-related complications of diabetes.
Ankle replacement is available at NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. Advanced ankle arthritis may require an ankle fusion, which provides excellent pain relief, but no longer allows you to move your foot at the ankle joint. Total ankle arthroplasty, or ankle replacement, may be an effective option for some people with advanced arthritis to provide both pain relief and preserve motion.
We also diagnose and treat people with ankle conditions using the NanoScope arthroscopy imaging system. Using this needle-sized instrument with an image-sensing chip at the tip, our surgeons can see inside the ankle joint to diagnose conditions such as arthritis and cartilage injuries and to perform minimally invasive procedures such as an ankle debridement to remove scar tissue or floating bone fragments. Procedures can be performed with local anesthesia in your doctor’s office, and you can follow along on a screen to get a better sense of what has been causing you pain.
Conditions we provide treatment for include the following:
- Achilles tendonitis, which is inflammation of the tendon that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone
- foot injuries caused by complications of diabetes, including slow-healing wounds called ulcers
- foot and ankle arthritis
- foot, ankle, and toe fractures
- foot, ankle, and toe sprains caused by a tear in the ligaments
- hammertoe, or a toe that remains bent
- high arched foot, a condition in which too much weight is put on the ball of the foot, causing pain and stiffness
- metatarsalgia, or pain in the ball of the foot
- plantar fasciitis, inflammation of the tissue attached to the heel bone
Procedures we perform include the following:
- amputation of leg, foot, or toe, often performed because of trauma or injury, infection, tumors, or lack of blood flow
- ankle fusion
- ankle replacement
- arthrodesis of foot and ankle, a procedure used to fuse the two bones together as a way to relieve pain from arthritis and other conditions
- corrective surgery for bunions, which are caused by excess bone in the area where the big toe connects to the foot
- fracture reduction, in which screws or other supportive devices are used to repair a broken bone