NFL player Ahmad Bradshaw of the New York Giants takes pride in his tough personality; so much so that he continues to play football with a broken bone in his right foot. He has played the past nine games with this injury, including the Super Bowl, where Bradshaw celebrated with his team their win against the Patriots. Bradshaw wouldn’t miss playing the Super Bowl with his team for anything, even if that meant enduring pain.

Jerald Ingram, one of the Giants’ coaches adds, “The guy has an unbelievable threshold of pain. He has played with broken bones, cracked this, and cracked that. His game is football. That’s what he has been doing all his life. When he gets on the field, he is mean. He takes that pain.”

Bradshaw obviously has a high pain tolerance. Back in 2009, he played the season while suffering with two injured feet after having multiple surgeries to insert screws in his feet. This player knows pain, and seems to enjoy it. His teammates recall that his foot would be causing him so much pain during the week that he wouldn’t attend most practices, but come game day he seems to block out his discomfort and plays like a completely different person.

His toughness is what makes up his personality, what makes Bradshaw a great NFL player. No doubt he is inspiration to his team as well. Everyone would think twice about complaining when there is someone on your team playing with a broken foot? However, this decision made by Bradshaw to keep up his tough act and continue to play is most likely doing incredible amounts of consequential damage to his feet.

The fact that Bradshaw suffered serious foot injuries back in 2009, and keeps having issues almost every season since, is reason enough for why he shouldn’t ignore enduring foot pain. Playing any competitive sport, much less the NFL, when your foot injury is not fully healed will only worsen damage and make your foot more vulnerable to further injury, as in Bradshaw’s case. Be sure to get the okay from your podiatrist before participating in physical activity after recovering from a foot injury.

Ahmad Bradshaw may have the reputation of a tough NFL football player, but eventually his pain tolerance will give out. We hope it’s before his feet do.

Just as our bodies can become larger or smaller with weight gain or loss, our feet are capable of increasing or decreasing in size as well. How is this possible? Weight gain, medication, and pregnancy are all factors that can affect the size of your foot, along with the genetic makeup.

Chinese researchers have discovered there may be reason to believe people who drink three to four cups of coffee each day have less chances of developing Type 2 diabetes. They have found three compounds in coffee that help prevent the toxin hiAPP from forming. This toxin increases the risk of developing diabetes. The three compounds in coffee that decrease the development of hiAPP are caffeine, caffeine acid, and chlorogenic acid. Decaffeinated coffee may even have greater effects of decreasing the hiAPP toxin since there are more acids and less caffeine in the substance.

There are many more ways you can reduce your chances of developing Type 2 diabetes. Staying physically fit is one of the most important factors. Incorporating daily exercise, even if it is only walking, can significantly decrease the chances of developing Type 2 diabetes. Eating healthy is also key. The less sugary or fatty foods you consume, the less chance your body has to develop problems digesting sugars.  Smoking can also affect a patient's chances of developing diabetes. Patients who smoke almost double their chances of developing the disease compared to non-smokers. Alcohol consumption comes into play as well. Drinking heavily causes inflammation of the pancreas which decreases the ability to secrete insulin, and therefore can result in diabetes. Reduce alcohol consumption to one or two drinks per day at the most to prevent your development of diabetes.

Researchers are constantly making new discoveries regarding diabetes prevention. Staying informed works in your advantage; diabetes prevention may be as easy as drinking coffee every morning!

Being diagnosed with diabetes as a child is devastating in most cases. It's a disease that requires its victims to be ever-aware to the needs of their body. Recent studies have found that along with being emotionally and physically devastated, children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are also more likely to achieve less in school and struggle financially going into adulthood.

Researchers from Yale University studied 15,000 kids (age groups between middle school and high school) with type 1 diabetes for a period of 14 years. The results from the study were very interesting and disturbing:

• The dropout rate for high school students with type 1 diabetes was 6% higher than the dropout rate for kids without diabetes.
• Adults with type 1 diabetes were 10% more likely to be unemployed by age 30.
• The patients who were employed made an average of $6,000 less than their peers without diabetes.

These facts are worrisome, but there may be a way for helping children with diabetes handle their illness in a more positive way. Sam Fuld, the Tampa Bay's outfielder, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 10. He says that having someone to talk to about the disease who knows what it's like can be a great way to feel normal.

Fuld felt there was a need for a camp specifically for kids with type 1 diabetes which is why this summer at the University of South Florida, he's holding a sports camp for children in the area with type 1 diabetes. It's a great opportunity for kids to receive more education about their disease and to connect with children their age who are experiencing the same things.

"I got the message early on that (diabetes) is not a hindrance, as long as you stay on top of it and are conscientious with it," Fuld said.

Dealing with diabetes is something our country will have to get used to in the years to come. The number of children at risk for developing type 2 diabetes will continue to climb until healthy  lifestyles  becomes a priority in our country. Being educated on insulin and blood sugar levels will help the next generation be more aware of the consequences of unhealthy living.

Dr. Dancigerdeals with patients with type 2 diabetes on a regular basis. Foot complicationsare some of the more common side effects of diabetes.

For the most part, flat feet is not a serious condition. The average patient suffering with flat feet can go their whole life without experiencing excess pain. However, there is a small percentage of the population who have extremely flat feet that will cause them considerable pain and may need to be operated on.

Before resorting to surgery, most podiatrists will seek alternative treatments because surgery on flat feet is invasive and inconvenient for the patient. Some of the most common treatments include braces, physical therapy, medications, icing, supportive taping, and orthotics. A foot brace is a device that holds the foot in a set position to prevent the patient from putting excess weight on the already enflamed tendons. Anti-inflammatory medications and icing are both treatment methods that keeps swelling down and reduce inflammation. Orthotics are similar to bracing and taping except they're customized for your feet and they're much easier to use. Orthotics are simply inserts you place in your shoes that realign your feet to the position they should be in.

In the extreme case that none of these treatments work, surgery may be the only effective treatment left. It's recommended to only have one foot operated on at a time. Having both done at once will leave you crippled and dependent. There are different kinds of procedures for the surgery, but in each case, the doctor will go in and reconstruct the foot in a way so that the patient has an arch.

To read one woman's personal experience with flat feet surgery, click here.

Dr. Danciger is an excellent surgeon who is experienced and effective.