New procedure treats the root cause of bunion deformity

January 29, 2020 – Podiatrist Dale Brink with Performance Foot and Ankle first “successfully performed a new approach to traditional bunion surgery called Lapiplasty® 3D Bunion Correction^™ at UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial hospital in 2017” and two years later and dozens of Lapiplasty® Procedures completed, “Brink continues to perfect his technique and is involved with nationwide efforts to improve the surgery.”

In the article written by Natalie Helms, Dr. Brink shares that he “attended an event in summer 2019 with the inventors of the Lapiplasty® technology, as well as podiatrists and surgeons from across the country, to analyze case studies, learn new techniques and brainstorm improvements for the already highly successful procedure.” “There are always small modifications taking place to make it even better,” Brink said.

The article explains that “the Lapiplasty® Procedure corrects the root cause of bunions — a misaligned toe bone — while dramatically shortening the time patients have to wait to bear weight on the affected foot.¹ The technique is a new approach to a traditional Lapidus bunionectomy.”

Helms further explains “With an unbalanced foundation, the bone leans out of alignment and creates a bump on the side of the foot at the base of the big toe. Most bunion treatments only address the top part of the metatarsal and ignore the real problem: the unstable joint. With the unstable joint still at its foundation, the underlying cause of the bunion deformity isn’t addressed and, as a result, is prone to return.² The Lapiplasty® Procedure, however, addresses the root of the problem.”

Dr. Brink’s patient Cherlyn Plaia shares in the article that she “decided to get the Lapiplasty® Procedure on her left foot when her painful bunion prevented her from walking for more than 30 minutes at time.” She wanted to go to the Canadian Rockies and “knew I needed to have my foot worked on to walk during my trip.” Plaia experienced very little pain after surgery and when asked about her outcome she says, “I’m ecstatic that I had the surgery done.”