- 22 hours ago
Podiatrist Dr. Yolanda Ragland, DPM shares simple, practical insights on how foot health impacts mobility, posture, energy, and overall wellness and the small changes that can help you move through life with greater comfort and confidence.
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00:01Hi guys, we're getting ready to start the next session.
00:06I'm going to let some folks come out.
00:13All right, how's everyone feeling?
00:15I know we're nearing the end of the day,
00:17but we're about to have a great conversation.
00:20My name is Sandy.
00:21I am the Branded Execution Manager at Unbothered.
00:25Are you guys familiar with Unbothered?
00:27No? Okay.
00:28So, Unbothered is the sub-brand of Refinery29.
00:33Specifically, we tell stories through the lens of black women.
00:37So, that's anywhere from culture, relationships, politics.
00:42We've been around now for about nine years.
00:45So, I've been with the company for five years.
00:48And this is our second time showing up at Essence Fest.
00:51And if you see this beautiful setup, this is now the newly wellness house.
00:55And it is now called Unbothered and Well because we are moving more into a space of well-being and
01:01culture.
01:01So, we're really talking and going a deeper dive on, like, women's health, whether that's traveling, how are you feeling.
01:08We're talking about fibroids.
01:11We're talking about relationships.
01:13We just had a conversation about gut health.
01:15We had a conversation about sex.
01:17We have tomorrow we're going to do a sound bath.
01:20All the things that come with well-being and culture.
01:23And I'm excited to start this talking circle.
01:27And we wanted to create a space that was very intimate.
01:30So, you've been at Essence Festival.
01:32There's a lot going on.
01:33And if you come in here, it feels a lot more zen.
01:36You know, we're going to be talking about our feelings.
01:38If you want tissue, if you need to cry, be as open as possible because we invite it and we
01:44encourage it.
01:45So, the way that we start these talking circles, if you want to just start rubbing your hands together, close
01:51your eyes, rub it harder, and then I'm going to count to three.
01:57And on three, we are going to do one big clap.
02:01One, two, three.
02:04Now, I want to announce our next session, the amazing Yolanda.
02:10She's going to be talking about standing on business, okay?
02:15Is this working?
02:17Okay, hi.
02:17Go for it, girl.
02:18Hello, you guys.
02:19I am Dr. Yolanda Raglan.
02:22I always start out by saying I'm your doctor foot fixer.
02:25I'm the foot fairy, and I am the queen of toes.
02:27And so, my subject matter is standing on business since what my profession concentrates on is securing your foundation through
02:41surgical procedures.
02:43More specifically, the procedures that I do are bunions, hammer toes, corn removal, but I do it with a cosmetic
02:51result.
02:52So, I don't want people to think that what I do is strictly cosmetic.
02:57I like my patients to come in with some sort of symptoms so that it's medically necessary, thereby being covered
03:03by insurance.
03:04And then I not only get rid of whatever the symptoms are, the pain, I will also fix it so
03:13that it looks nice afterwards.
03:14What I found early on in my education and in my residency program was that when I saw the results
03:26happening on lighter complexions, it wasn't translating the same way on darker complexions.
03:35I was seeing these large, huge scars, keloids.
03:41And what I found was that the women, mostly women, were just as upset post-surgically with their results.
03:52And so, now they may have relieved their pain in their feet, but mentally, they're not feeling secure in their
04:03own foundation.
04:04So, I decided to be the champion for all of these people, people of color.
04:11It's for everybody, but 98% of the population of my patients are black women or women of color.
04:21So, I don't know if there's any questions that you guys might have out there in regards to what I
04:28do or how I have started my business,
04:32because we are standing on business, so it doesn't have to necessarily talk about feet.
04:38We can talk about what black doctors are doing out there, such as myself.
04:46I have decided that I'm not going to participate in the engine.
04:51I'm an out-of-network provider, but I can accept your insurance depending on what it is.
04:59And that allows me to not have what I call is a foot factory.
05:05I can actually spend an hour of my time with you so I can inform you and I can educate
05:10you
05:10so you can know exactly what's going to happen to your body.
05:14And I feel like there are a lot of, I see a lot of us.
05:18I'm located, my practice is located in Manhattan, New York.
05:22And I see a lot of black doctors that are kind of like in that engine.
05:27And they're seeing 30 and 40 patients a day.
05:32So, what kind of quality care are you going to get when you do that?
05:38So, I was just wondering, is anybody out there?
05:41I mean, we can open it up to, like, how many people have experienced, like, foot health, like, issues?
05:48We have somebody here.
05:50Do you want to talk about your experience?
05:52So, my issues are not with, like, bunions or hematose.
05:56I suffer with plantar fasciitis.
05:58I've had two steroid injections in my foot, and it relieved the pain temporarily, but it keeps coming back.
06:06And I want to know, besides all this stretching, I've gone to physical therapy,
06:10what else could I do to relieve the pain?
06:13And right now, it's only in my left foot.
06:15I did have it in both, but it's, like, in the heel pain, first thing in the morning, I'm tiptoeing
06:22because it hurts so bad.
06:23So, I just want to know if you have any advice on how I might be able to treat that.
06:27Yes.
06:28So, I think you did the right thing.
06:30You always start conservatively.
06:33We never want to jump into surgery without exhausting our conservative options.
06:38I'm happy to hear that you only had two steroid injections.
06:42So, what people need to know is that a steroid is a wonderfully horrible drug.
06:47It's wonderful because it can actually relieve the symptoms because it's inflammation that's happening in the plantar fascia.
06:56And so, what's happening, you're getting these little micro tears.
07:00Think of your plantar fascia like duct tape.
07:03Really hard to tear, right?
07:05But it's a little micro tear, and around there, you're getting this inflammatory process.
07:10So, they give you the injection of the steroid to get rid of the inflammation.
07:16However, steroids can be very destructive, and it can't differentiate what it's trying to target.
07:24So, you can wind up tearing other things, ripping other things.
07:29You have to use steroids methodically.
07:34You shouldn't get a steroid injection more than three times in the same area within a year.
07:40So, if a doctor is trying to inject you more than three times in that same area within the same
07:47year, you have to say no to it.
07:50The other thing that it can do is break down the fat pad.
07:53You have cushion underneath your feet.
07:56Okay?
07:56Those are your shock absorption.
07:58And it can get rid of the fat pad, and it will never come back.
08:03So, it can make things worse.
08:07So, you've done the stretching exercises.
08:10That's what you're supposed to do.
08:11But when you do the stretching exercises, you have to always do it.
08:15It has to be something that has to become a full routine.
08:19So, when you're watching TV, you pull the towel around the ball of your foot, pull your toes to your
08:25nose.
08:25I'm sure you know that exercise.
08:28And you have to do that all the time.
08:30If that's not working, now we go to a surgical option.
08:34Now, I always call – I'm sorry if I'm being a little sexist here.
08:38The male doctors, I always say the boys and their toys, and they like to use the scope, and it
08:44looks really cool in the OR, and there's a camera.
08:47And it looks really cool in the OR, but you've got to put that camera through the foot, and that's
08:56– you're disrupting things.
08:58So, you're creating, like, more lesions and things like that.
09:03I have a technique where I literally will go to the palm of your foot, do a stab incision, fish
09:10out a little piece of that fascia, because the boys with the toys are going to be doing the same
09:16thing with their big scope.
09:18But I'm going to finish faster.
09:21You're going to have less scarring, and you're going to have instantaneous relief.
09:27And I fish out a little piece of that fascia.
09:29We cut a little bit of it.
09:31We don't want to cut all of it.
09:32What that does is it lengthens your fascia, because your fascia's too short.
09:36So, every time you're standing on it, you're pulling on this taut tendon-like structure, and it's ripping.
09:44So, when we cut it a little bit, it makes it longer, and it will scar in.
09:48And then your plantar fascia is longer, and that cures your plantar fasciitis.
09:57Anybody else have any questions?
09:59Anyone else?
10:04For decades, only on my left foot, that pad, that fat pad you talk about with the shock absorber, there
10:11is a hard circle that just always comes.
10:17It can be shaved off, but it will always come back.
10:20It's never been any place else, like a different foot.
10:24Is there anything I can do about that?
10:26Because it does get painful if it's not shaved off, or what is it?
10:32So, it's a callus, and calluses can occur for different reasons.
10:37So, sometimes we have something, there could be a little tiny hole that's centralized, and that's because one of your
10:48sweat glands has calcified, and that can be super painful.
10:53And then, you know, they shave it off, and they try to carve out that little, carve out, we call
10:59it like the eye.
11:01We try to get that little calcified piece out.
11:04And it is something that you have to work on all the time.
11:09Calluses are difficult.
11:12When you get corns on the top of your feet, I can fix that, because I know it's due to
11:18bending.
11:19You can't really do it on the bottom of your foot.
11:22It's just the risks outweigh the benefits.
11:27So, it is really keeping up with it.
11:31But you can use something that's like a gentle acid, urea.
11:36And I have a product called a Soften Our Soul Stick, and it has a little bit of urea in
11:41it.
11:41And what it does is it keeps it under control.
11:44So, I would advise having something like a pumice stone with a stick inside of your shower, so that daily
11:53you're giving it some gentle debridement.
11:55You may have to do sharp debridement with something like a scalpel, or they have like the cheese grater.
12:02But I usually don't advise you doing that on your own.
12:05You really should have a medical profession do that, especially if you have any other comorbidities like diabetes or vascular
12:13insufficiency or anything like that.
12:16But it is something that you do have to maintain, unfortunately.
12:22I have two questions.
12:23One is about what if I'm experiencing like numbness or tingliness in the bottom of my feet.
12:32So, if you can address that.
12:33And then the second question is if I have swelling or in my ankles and feet as well, what can
12:41help relieve that?
12:43Okay.
12:44So, with the tingling, there's a number of reasons that can cause numbness and tingling.
12:49This is always associated with nerves.
12:53We usually call this neuropathy.
12:57Oftentimes, it's associated with diabetes.
13:01I'm not sure if you've been tested for diabetes, but a lot of people are diabetic for eight years before
13:09getting diagnosed.
13:10So, maybe you do need to go check your hemoglobin A1C to see if it's something that might be metabolic,
13:21like I said, like diabetes.
13:23And then if it's not that, it could be medications.
13:28Certain medications can cause neuropathy.
13:32But when you feel numbness and tingling in the bottom of your foot, it's telling you that there's something going
13:38on with the nerves
13:39and that they're not getting the signals properly, and it can eventually lead to numbness in that area.
13:48As for the swelling, a lot of people don't, like they get massages, but they don't take into mind, they
13:59don't think about draining their lymphs.
14:03Lymphatic massages are wonderful.
14:09Sometimes, your lymph nodes are just clogged, and they need to be released.
14:15So, when you get a lymphatic massage, it doesn't feel like they're doing anything.
14:21It feels like somebody's jiggling on you.
14:22But what they're doing is they're kind of vibrating that lymph node and getting it to release
14:29so it can do what it's supposed to do and flush out the inflammation that you're feeling around your ankle
14:35and your knee.
14:36So, I would, that's one of the things, I mean, these are, this is all for educational purposes.
14:42But I would consider getting a lymphatic massage.
14:45My mother went through the same thing, and she did everything else.
14:49She got the compression socks.
14:51You know, you can do that.
14:52You get, the compression socks are going to, compression's always going to help.
14:56But I said, try the lymphatic massage.
14:58Maybe your lymph nodes are just a little clogged.
15:04Anybody else?
15:06There we go.
15:11Hello.
15:12I know you mentioned you do the surgical, as far as with bunions and things like that.
15:17What's the, what is the status for, like, treatment, maybe before you get to surgery?
15:24Like, you see all these different products on, you know, social media that they'll use.
15:29Okay.
15:29Do they work?
15:30No.
15:31So, okay, so, I, that's a great question.
15:35So, I, I'm always on social media, because I get a lot of my patients from Instagram.
15:41And I keep seeing these bunion splints and these bunion contraptions.
15:47And let me tell you something.
15:49If they worked, I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.
15:55Um, a lot of them, they work in theory.
15:59I mean, theoretically, they sound like a great thing, but they're not going to really work,
16:03because you got to, you got to keep your toes splinted in, in that position while you're
16:09walking.
16:10And they require you to wear it at sleep, while you're sleeping, because you're not really
16:14strengthening, you're not, you're not strengthening the muscles that are, that are imbalanced if
16:21you're just asleep, um, or if you're not ambulating.
16:25Um, so, but you should exhaust, like I said, your conservative treatment.
16:30Change your, uh, the different types of shoes that you wear, um, maybe even use a, a toe
16:36spacer, um, a bunion shield, so you're not getting the rubbing on the side, um, any of
16:44those things, uh, and then after you've tried all of that, that's when you want to talk to
16:49somebody who can surgically manage it.
16:51Now, the thing I really want to, um, I want to point out to you guys, when you're seeking
16:56out surgical management of your feet, that most podiatrists are general podiatrists, so
17:02they do a little bit of everything.
17:04They do a little bit of sports medicine, a little bit of diabetic wound care, uh, routine
17:10foot care, and then they do a little bit of surgery.
17:14Um, orthopedic surgeons, some people think that orthopedic surgeons are the better ones
17:18to go to.
17:19Orthopedic surgeons, most of the times, they work on bigger bones, you know, shoulders,
17:26uh, hips, knees, and when we get down to the foot, if they're a foot and ankle specialist,
17:32they usually deal with trauma, so it's different.
17:36When somebody, when somebody goes in for surgery for trauma, they're just like, you know, just
17:41please put me back together again, but when you're going in for something like a bunion
17:46nectomy, that's, that's different.
17:48It's, it's a different thing.
17:50You want the relief of pain.
17:51It's a smaller bone.
17:52Um, you have to make more precise cuts, so when you are seeking out somebody to surgically
18:00manage your foot, you want to make sure that they really know what they're doing in that
18:05regard, whether it's a podiatrist or an orthopedic surgeon.
18:19Um, I, I noticed, I heard her say plant, plantar fasciitis or whatever, so I noticed when I,
18:26when I wear heels, I can walk well and my feet don't bother me, but then when I go flat,
18:32I'm like, why am I having, bother with my feet?
18:35She's right.
18:37So plantar fasciitis hurts when you wear flats, you can't wear it.
18:42So you can't wear super flat shoes, flip flops, ballerina shoes.
18:47If you walk in those for a long time, now you're really pulling on that plantar fascia.
18:53So even just a little lift like this is going to help you.
18:59So a lot of the, like when I used to work in some of the Latino clinics and like, oh,
19:04bylaw, no problem in my heels, whatever.
19:08But it's, but as soon as they, they were like, but they couldn't get up in the morning, get
19:14out of bed because it was hurting so much.
19:16So I always like when I write about things and talk about things, flat shoes that are
19:22too flat are no good and shoes that are too high are no good.
19:26You have to wear everything in moderation.
19:28Just, just keep that in mind.
19:30Do I wear flip flops that are super flat?
19:32Yeah, but I'm not walking 20 blocks in New York city doing that.
19:38And do I wear high heels?
19:39I absolutely do.
19:40So, but I always have my safety shoes with me.
19:44I probably, I have safety shoes for these.
19:47See, they're right there.
19:49Is this safe?
19:50Huh?
19:51So is, you have an arch support.
19:53It's lifted a little bit, so it should be.
19:57But if it doesn't have arch support in it and maybe it's not lifting your heel enough,
20:02then that's not the shoe for you.
20:07Anyone have?
20:09Oh, yeah.
20:10This is the last question.
20:12Okay.
20:12I have a question.
20:13So we oftentimes feel like we need to get our teeth done.
20:17We need to get a little bit of cosmetic surgery.
20:21How important is it that when we have issues with our feet that we really stop neglecting that?
20:28So I think that's a great point to point out.
20:33I notice, especially in our younger population, we're getting snatched.
20:37Even within our celebrity population, we're, you know, we're doing everything.
20:44We're doing our face.
20:45We're doing our body.
20:46But you see them walking down the runway, but you see them walking down the runway, and their feet look
20:50crazy.
20:52And I think that it is a scary notion to get foot surgery because you think it's going to be
20:58so debilitating.
20:59But really, under my care, now there's, you know, everybody does things different.
21:04But under my care, you come out of your post-op shoe in about 16 days.
21:09Then you'll go into something like a croc or a sneaker-type shoe.
21:14So it's not as bad as they think the recovery is.
21:17But to go back to your question about should we neglect it, no.
21:24I mean, if your toes are starting to overlap or cross, it's time to get things done because it's only
21:30going to get worse.
21:34Yeah, we can end here.
21:35Okay.
21:37If you want to close out.
21:38Okay.
21:39One last close out.
21:42Oh, so you just want me to end it like this?
21:46Take care of your feet.
21:47Take care of your feet.
21:49Secure your foundation.
21:50Take care of your feet.
21:51You can find me on fixyourfeet.com.
21:54You can find me on Instagram as well at fixyourfeet.
21:58You'll see all the before and after pictures, especially on the Instagram.
22:02There's a lot of information.
22:03If you scroll down on the page, you'll find it chalked with a lot of good information.
22:09Thank you so much.
22:11That was great.
22:12And we want to end the talking circle the way that we opened it.
22:16So we're going to close it by rubbing our hands together.
22:21Keep rubbing really fast.
22:23You can keep your eyes open or closed.
22:24And on the count of three, we're just going to do one big clap.
22:29One, two, three.
22:32Thank you, everyone.
22:33Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
22:36We'll see you next time.
22:36See you next time.
22:39See you next time.
22:41See you next time.
22:43See you next time.
22:45See you next time.
22:46See you next time.
22:47See you next time.
22:47See you next time.
22:48See you next time.
22:48See you next time.
22:49See you next time.
22:51See you next time.
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