Hopefully you had a sun-filled 4th of July weekend, but if you’re back in the office and looking to kill two minutes of time, we’d love it if you’d take a moment to vote for Dr. Silverman and the team at Resurgens Foot & Ankle to see if we can take home the top spot in Best Self Atlanta’s Reader’s Choice Awards!

Dr. Silverman and the team at Resurgens have been nominated in the “Best Foot & Ankle Care” category of Best Self Atlanta’s Reader’s Choice Awards! If Dr. Silverman has been able to help you at Resurgens or during his time in Minnesota, we’d be honored if you’d take a minute to vote for Resurgens Foot & Ankle in the Reader’s Choice contest. It only takes a minute or two to vote, and you can vote once a day per email address until the end of the day on Wednesday. We’re hoping we can count on our readers for a few last minute votes to help propel Dr. Silverman and the team to the top of the charts! Here’s how simple it is:

1. Follow this link to be taken to the “Best Self Atlanta 2025 voting page.”

2. Fill out your name and email address. You can also answer whether or not you’d like to be contacted about the voting results in the next question.

3. Select “Health” as the category you’d like to vote in, then click the “Next” button.

4. A number of different health categories will pop up. You do not need to vote in any of the categories if you do not want to. The group we’re hoping you’ll jump to is Question 20, which is “Best Foot & Ankle Care.” In this category, consider selecting “Resurgens Foot & Ankle Center.”

5. You will then need to scroll to the bottom of the categories and click “Next.” You will be taken to more categories where you will again scroll down and click “Next.” You will have to click “Next” three more times to get to the last page where you can officially click “Vote.” Once you click the “Vote” button, your vote will officially be counted! That’s it!

6. You can vote once per day, per email through the end of the day on Wednesday. We’ll let you know when the results are in and the winners announced.

Here’s a little more information about Best Self Atlanta and the official contest:

“Atlanta Best Media’s Best of Winner contest is a readers’ choice award program promoted through the Atlanta Best Media community of readers and businesses. Readers, businesses and the general public can nominate and vote for their favorite businesses in predetermined categories. Contest participants may not pay for nominations or votes; all votes and nominations are voluntary. Atlanta Best Media reserves the right to approve all contest participants.”

Thank you for choosing Dr. Silverman and/or the team at Resurgens Foot & Ankle Center at some point for your foot health needs, and we plan to continue serving the greater Atlanta area for many years to come. Thanks you to all who have voted and are helping spread the word about the contest, and thank you for your nomination and patronage over the years! We love what we do in the community, and we couldn’t do it without your support.

All the best,
Dr. Silverman

The post We Need Your Vote For Best Self 2025! appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.

To combat this, foot and ankle specialists have been told to prescribe their knee surgery patients with prophylaxis, or anti-blood coagulant medication. This would seem to work in theory, but a new study suggests that there isn’t a lot of hard evidence that suggests prophylaxis are effective at preventing complications after arthroscopic knee surgery. This is especially problematic when you consider that arthroscopic knee surgery is the most commonly performed orthopedic procedure in the world, with more than four million patients undergoing the procedure every year.

Preventing Complications After Casting

Cast immobilization is a common practice for foot and ankle orthopedic surgeons after surgery, and there is often outside pressure on the doctor to prescribe the patient with an anti-coagulant. Anti-coagulants should help to prevent blood clots from forming in casted patients after arthroscopic knee surgery, but this also increases a person’s risk for bleeding issues, since the blood can’t clot as easily. Essentially, anti-coagulants are a double-edged sword in that they decrease the risk for one complication while increasing the risk for another potential problem. Excessive bleeding can make a minor wound issue a major problem in a hurry.

In my practice, I make it a point to consider every patient individually to make the best decisions based on the patient’s risk factors. This includes looking at their medical and family history, knowing if they are on any medications, analyzing their age and their surgery, predicting potential complications and much more to ensure the patient has the best chance of a speedy and straightforward recovery.

This method has been shown in recent literature to be the best method to decrease complications like deep venous thromboembolism or pulmonary embolisms without unnecessarily raising the bleeding complication risks.

The post Preventing Cast Problems After Surgery appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.

1. Preparation. If you are mentally prepared for the pain it will not be as surprising or disturbing. If you prepare your home to accommodate for your post-surgical limitations, you will be less taxed and better able to recover quickly.
2. Use your Medications. Narcotics are the base of any pain management platform. I use a long acting (slow-release) narcotic such as Oxycontin or MS Contin every 8 hours. This long acting drug gives great control during the first few days after surgery.  I do not prescribe this beyond a few days as only patients with chronic pain need a pain killer of this strength. I also prescribe a short acting medication such as Oxycodone or Morphine Sulfate Instant Release to help with “Breakthrough Pain” (pain that exceeds control by the long acting medicine).  I recommend a more liberal use of these medications during the first few hours after numbing shots or nerve blocks wear off.
3. Mental Imagery. Avoid using the word “pain” – it enhances itself. Discomfort is more descriptive and less irritating. Focus on other things to distract yourself from the discomfort. Read a book, watch television, or use a computer.
4. Follow your surgeon’s restrictions. In any surgery, the most important thing to do is to listen to your surgeon and/or doctor. If you don’t listen to their recommendations, pain will be worse and you may delay or prevent healing.

Recovering from surgery can often be a long and scary process. But follow these 4 tips, and your recovery is sure to be less painful and more successful.

The post 4 Ways to Manage Post-Operative Pain appeared first on Lance Silverman, MD - Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Surgeon.