A healthy tendon makes movement and motion easy and pain free.
When tendons are damaged, movement can be very painful.
The Tenex TX treatment removes the source of pain, which is scarred and damaged tissue, without disturbing the surrounding healthy tissue.
Interventional radiologists at Bryan Medical Center introduced this innovative treatment to Nebraska and continue to offer the region’s highest level of experience with the Tenex TX treatment to relieve tendon pain.
The Tenex TX treatment takes less than 20 minutes with a quick recovery time.
Michael Budler, MD is here to explain the Tenex TX treatment.
Selected Podcast
Regain Your Active Lifestyle: Tenex Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles and Elbow Pain
Featured Speaker:
Michael Budler, MD, Advanced Radiology
Dr. Michael Budler is a radiologist with Advanced Radiology. Transcription:
Regain Your Active Lifestyle: Tenex Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles and Elbow Pain
Melanie Cole (Host): Plantar fasciitis is a common problem that causes pain under the heal bone often with lengthy walks and prolonged standing. This and other conditions can be quite painful; however, there is a new, minimally invasive procedure that can really help. My guest today is Dr. Michael Budler. He’s an interventional radiologist with Bryan Health. Welcome to the show, Dr. Budler. Tell us first, what is plantar fasciitis?
Dr. Michael Budler (Guest): Thanks, Melanie. Plantar fasciitis is probably the most common cause of heel pain. It’s inflammation in the band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. Approximately 3 million people suffer from this plantar fasciitis per year, not counting the silent sufferers that don’t see their doctor.
Melanie: How would somebody know that they have this? What are some of the symptoms of it?
Dr. Budler: The pain is usually worse in the morning when you take that first step when you get out of bed. A lot of times, this plantar fasciitis is caused from long-term overuse of repetitive motion. Maybe standing on your feet all day if you have a job like a teacher or a beautician or even a single traumatic event like jumping off of a tailgate of a truck and landing too hard on your feet causing inflammation.
Melanie: Can shoes affect this? Do they help contribute to the cause?
Dr. Budler: Sometimes certain types of shoes can stress that plantar fascia and cause that as well. That’s correct.
Melanie: What’s the first line of defense? When would somebody come to see a doctor about their plantar fasciitis?
Dr. Budler: The first line of treatment is usually resting the foot or over the counter pain meds such as Tylenol or ibuprofen. People try inserts, orthotics or even just changing shoes. You can also try stretching, massaging the plantar fascia, icing, night splints, braces but if you’ve tried conservative treatments like these for, let’s say, six months and you’re still restricting your daily activities because of the pain, then you probably need to see your doctor.
Melanie: Tell us about this minimally invasive procedure that I mentioned in the introduction and how that can help people.
Dr. Budler: The Tenex procedure involves an ultrasonic instrument that is utilized to break up the damaged tissue in the plantar fascia. It’s performed through a tiny nick in the skin and we can see what we’re doing with ultrasound guidance real-time. This instrument goes into the bad plantar fascia tissue and moves 29,000 times a second, breaks up this tissue without hurting normal plantar fascia and removes it. Then we just put a little steri-strip over that and you wear a walking boot for a couple weeks.
Melanie: Then you can get back to work? It’s an outpatient procedure and you can get back to work pretty quickly?
Dr. Budler: Yes. You will walk out that day. It’s an outpatient procedure. It takes about 20 minutes. Usually, we use just local anesthetic and by 6-8 weeks, you’re feeling pretty good and can return to your normal activities.
Melanie: What other conditions can this Tenex procedure help?
Dr. Budler: The Tenex instrument can be utilized for golfers elbow, which is pain on the inside of the elbow; tennis elbow which is pain on the outside of the elbow; patella tendonitis which is jumpers knee or pain on the front of the kneecap just at the front interior edge of the kneecap. It can help Achilles tendonitis as well. There’s a longer version of the needle that should be coming out in late May that we can use for shoulder.
Melanie: Tell us a little bit about how it helps the patients and some results that you’ve seen--how it helps them get their lives back.
Dr. Budler: Since the procedure is a minimally invasive procedure performed through a tiny nick in the skin, the healing time is usually much quicker. Patients can resume their normal activities quicker as well. An example would be, we had a high school senior that had actually both plantar fascia treated for plantar fasciitis. She was able to resume her senior year basketball season and she actually set a state scoring record and had a great season. We have numerous other patients that have done very well and have healed very quickly with this.
Melanie: That’s so cool and she was able to get right back into it and then even break records. Now, if somebody is an elderly patient maybe they have arthritis and some of these things can it help them, too?
Dr. Budler: Absolutely. This procedure really is able to treat all age groups and the only difference would be maybe a difference in time it takes to heal but that time is still shortened with the Tenex compared to an open surgical type procedure.
Melanie: Tell us about afterward. If they’ve had the Tenex procedure is this something, like plantar fasciitis, that comes back? Does this need to be redone sometimes?
Dr. Budler: Only very rarely is it needed for a second treatment. Most of the time, when patients have this they are treated, the plantar fasciitis goes away but if their plantar fascia is all healed and they injure it again, they certainly could develop plantar fasciitis again and need treatment again. We just haven’t seen that.
Melanie: If somebody is a runner, for example, can they get back to running and does that pounding make it come back?
Dr. Budler: That’s a great question. We’ve treated multiple runners that have been able to return to their running and it just depends on the amount of running that they do or overuse that they get as far as if they’re going to injure that plantar fascia again and need it again. But, we have not had to retreat any of our runners that we’ve treated.
Melanie: So, you mentioned golfer’s elbow, Dr. Budler. Is that something that comes from that repetitive motion or is that from a golfer hitting the ground when they’re swinging the club?
Dr. Budler: All of the golfers that we’ve treated, the most likely etiology for the golfer’s elbow is the repetitive motion and the swing, the multiple swings, over and over. It really hasn’t been the traumatic injury of hitting the ground with the golf club causing that strain. Usually, it’s the repetitive motion that’s caused the golfer’s elbow.
Melanie: How soon after Tenex treatment can they get back to playing golf because golfers like to not miss getting out there on the greens.
Dr. Budler: We usually tell them that we do not want them to swing a club before eight weeks. If they’re a quick healer and the pain is gone by eight weeks, they can get back into the game. Like anything else, easing back into it and not going out there and playing golf for 18 holes right away.
Melanie: In the last few minutes here, give your best advice for people that might be suffering from golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow or plantar fasciitis or jumper’s knee, Achilles tendonitis – the best advice that you would give them and why they should come to Bryan Health for their care.
Dr. Budler: My advice would be to really rest the injured part. I would be conservative and use the pain relievers and conservative therapies such as the stretching and icing and maybe the braces. If this really doesn’t work and you’ve tried this for three to six months, feel free to come in and get a consultation with us. We are actually the only Tenex center that’s in Nebraska. We were the first in the country to perform the Tenex procedure, so we have a lot of experience in diagnosing and treating patients with these various ailments.
Melanie: For your consultation, you can call Bryan Scheduling Center at 402-481-5121. That’s 402-481-5121. Thank you so much, Dr. Budler, for being with us today. You’re listening to Bryan Health Radio. For more information you can go to bryanhealth.org. That’s bryanhealth.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Regain Your Active Lifestyle: Tenex Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles and Elbow Pain
Melanie Cole (Host): Plantar fasciitis is a common problem that causes pain under the heal bone often with lengthy walks and prolonged standing. This and other conditions can be quite painful; however, there is a new, minimally invasive procedure that can really help. My guest today is Dr. Michael Budler. He’s an interventional radiologist with Bryan Health. Welcome to the show, Dr. Budler. Tell us first, what is plantar fasciitis?
Dr. Michael Budler (Guest): Thanks, Melanie. Plantar fasciitis is probably the most common cause of heel pain. It’s inflammation in the band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. Approximately 3 million people suffer from this plantar fasciitis per year, not counting the silent sufferers that don’t see their doctor.
Melanie: How would somebody know that they have this? What are some of the symptoms of it?
Dr. Budler: The pain is usually worse in the morning when you take that first step when you get out of bed. A lot of times, this plantar fasciitis is caused from long-term overuse of repetitive motion. Maybe standing on your feet all day if you have a job like a teacher or a beautician or even a single traumatic event like jumping off of a tailgate of a truck and landing too hard on your feet causing inflammation.
Melanie: Can shoes affect this? Do they help contribute to the cause?
Dr. Budler: Sometimes certain types of shoes can stress that plantar fascia and cause that as well. That’s correct.
Melanie: What’s the first line of defense? When would somebody come to see a doctor about their plantar fasciitis?
Dr. Budler: The first line of treatment is usually resting the foot or over the counter pain meds such as Tylenol or ibuprofen. People try inserts, orthotics or even just changing shoes. You can also try stretching, massaging the plantar fascia, icing, night splints, braces but if you’ve tried conservative treatments like these for, let’s say, six months and you’re still restricting your daily activities because of the pain, then you probably need to see your doctor.
Melanie: Tell us about this minimally invasive procedure that I mentioned in the introduction and how that can help people.
Dr. Budler: The Tenex procedure involves an ultrasonic instrument that is utilized to break up the damaged tissue in the plantar fascia. It’s performed through a tiny nick in the skin and we can see what we’re doing with ultrasound guidance real-time. This instrument goes into the bad plantar fascia tissue and moves 29,000 times a second, breaks up this tissue without hurting normal plantar fascia and removes it. Then we just put a little steri-strip over that and you wear a walking boot for a couple weeks.
Melanie: Then you can get back to work? It’s an outpatient procedure and you can get back to work pretty quickly?
Dr. Budler: Yes. You will walk out that day. It’s an outpatient procedure. It takes about 20 minutes. Usually, we use just local anesthetic and by 6-8 weeks, you’re feeling pretty good and can return to your normal activities.
Melanie: What other conditions can this Tenex procedure help?
Dr. Budler: The Tenex instrument can be utilized for golfers elbow, which is pain on the inside of the elbow; tennis elbow which is pain on the outside of the elbow; patella tendonitis which is jumpers knee or pain on the front of the kneecap just at the front interior edge of the kneecap. It can help Achilles tendonitis as well. There’s a longer version of the needle that should be coming out in late May that we can use for shoulder.
Melanie: Tell us a little bit about how it helps the patients and some results that you’ve seen--how it helps them get their lives back.
Dr. Budler: Since the procedure is a minimally invasive procedure performed through a tiny nick in the skin, the healing time is usually much quicker. Patients can resume their normal activities quicker as well. An example would be, we had a high school senior that had actually both plantar fascia treated for plantar fasciitis. She was able to resume her senior year basketball season and she actually set a state scoring record and had a great season. We have numerous other patients that have done very well and have healed very quickly with this.
Melanie: That’s so cool and she was able to get right back into it and then even break records. Now, if somebody is an elderly patient maybe they have arthritis and some of these things can it help them, too?
Dr. Budler: Absolutely. This procedure really is able to treat all age groups and the only difference would be maybe a difference in time it takes to heal but that time is still shortened with the Tenex compared to an open surgical type procedure.
Melanie: Tell us about afterward. If they’ve had the Tenex procedure is this something, like plantar fasciitis, that comes back? Does this need to be redone sometimes?
Dr. Budler: Only very rarely is it needed for a second treatment. Most of the time, when patients have this they are treated, the plantar fasciitis goes away but if their plantar fascia is all healed and they injure it again, they certainly could develop plantar fasciitis again and need treatment again. We just haven’t seen that.
Melanie: If somebody is a runner, for example, can they get back to running and does that pounding make it come back?
Dr. Budler: That’s a great question. We’ve treated multiple runners that have been able to return to their running and it just depends on the amount of running that they do or overuse that they get as far as if they’re going to injure that plantar fascia again and need it again. But, we have not had to retreat any of our runners that we’ve treated.
Melanie: So, you mentioned golfer’s elbow, Dr. Budler. Is that something that comes from that repetitive motion or is that from a golfer hitting the ground when they’re swinging the club?
Dr. Budler: All of the golfers that we’ve treated, the most likely etiology for the golfer’s elbow is the repetitive motion and the swing, the multiple swings, over and over. It really hasn’t been the traumatic injury of hitting the ground with the golf club causing that strain. Usually, it’s the repetitive motion that’s caused the golfer’s elbow.
Melanie: How soon after Tenex treatment can they get back to playing golf because golfers like to not miss getting out there on the greens.
Dr. Budler: We usually tell them that we do not want them to swing a club before eight weeks. If they’re a quick healer and the pain is gone by eight weeks, they can get back into the game. Like anything else, easing back into it and not going out there and playing golf for 18 holes right away.
Melanie: In the last few minutes here, give your best advice for people that might be suffering from golfer’s elbow or tennis elbow or plantar fasciitis or jumper’s knee, Achilles tendonitis – the best advice that you would give them and why they should come to Bryan Health for their care.
Dr. Budler: My advice would be to really rest the injured part. I would be conservative and use the pain relievers and conservative therapies such as the stretching and icing and maybe the braces. If this really doesn’t work and you’ve tried this for three to six months, feel free to come in and get a consultation with us. We are actually the only Tenex center that’s in Nebraska. We were the first in the country to perform the Tenex procedure, so we have a lot of experience in diagnosing and treating patients with these various ailments.
Melanie: For your consultation, you can call Bryan Scheduling Center at 402-481-5121. That’s 402-481-5121. Thank you so much, Dr. Budler, for being with us today. You’re listening to Bryan Health Radio. For more information you can go to bryanhealth.org. That’s bryanhealth.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.