Surgery can sometimes be the perfect solution to your foot or ankle injury, but it’s not this magical option that fixes all wounds and injuries. Not only may surgery not provide the right kind of treatment, the patient may not be an ideal candidate for a corrective procedure. But what type of factors or conditions would make someone ineligible or a less-than-ideal candidate for surgery? We explain why you may not be a candidate for foot surgery in today’s blog.
Why Am I Not A Candidate For Surgery?
There are a number of reasons why you may not be considered an ideal candidate for surgery, and some of these reasons are more controllable or less of an issue than others. Here’s a look at a variety of reasons your surgeon may opt to hold off performing an operation on your foot or ankle.
You Haven’t Tried Conservative Methods – Surgery may be helpful, but it’s a significant trauma on your body, and if it can be avoided, oftentimes it will be. If you haven’t tried conservative treatment methods, or your surgeon believes a non-operative method may be effective, they may say you’re not an ideal candidate for surgery at the moment.
Obesity – Because we put a lot of stress and strain on our feet, and because this stress is amplified if you’re heavier, you may not be an ideal candidate for surgery if you’re overweight or obese. This won’t necessarily prevent you from getting surgery, but it certainly can. Odds are your surgeon will talk about a target weight or the benefits of losing weight prior to your upcoming procedure during the pre-op consultation.
Age – Again, age is not something that will always prevent you from getting surgery, but the older you get, the more the surgeon needs to strongly consider the benefits versus the risks. Older individuals tend to take longer to heal and may not experience as much functional improvement, so it may not be worth it to have the problem surgically corrected if symptoms can be managed without an operation.
We Haven’t Seen You In Person – To give our patients the best care possible, we typically need to meet with them ahead of time and get a personal understanding of their situation. Even if surgery has been recommended by a primary care physician, you might have trouble scheduling an operation until you visit with the surgeon in a pre-op appointment. In order to give you the best care possible, the surgeon needs to see the patient and speak with them, so while you may be a candidate for surgery after this consultation, that may not be the case until we can see you in person.
Unmotivated – Finally, we might not consider you a candidate for surgery if we don’t think you will do what’s necessary to recover after the operation. Surgery is a big step in the right direction, but it’s your effort and commitment during a rehabilitation program that will drive home healing, and if you’re just looking for a quick fix and weeks on the couch, we’re not the office for you. We drive home this point during our pre-op consultations, and we make sure patients understand what we need of them before we’ll clear a patient for surgery.
If you need help with a foot or ankle problem, or you want to talk to a specialist about the possibility of surgery, reach out to Dr. Silverman’s office today at (952) 224-8500.
