Craig Morton, MD, and Tyson Green, DPM, with the Center for Orthopaedics in Lake Charles, Louisiana, are successfully using Botox for patients with conditions ranging from diabetic foot ulcers to cerebral palsy.

"Because of the circulatory problems often present in diabetics, foot ulcers can be very difficult to treat successfully, and often develop into non-healing wounds with serious complications," said Dr. Green, foot and ankle specialist. Each year, foot ulcers lead to more than 82,000 amputations.

Dr. Green explains that in many cases the most effective way of treating diabetic foot ulcers - a condition that effects about 15 percent of the 17 million Americans with diabetes - is to apply casting on the foot; however, foot ulcers often return once the casting is removed and the patient starts walking with shoes on again. "Healing the ulcers is tough, but keeping them healed is tougher," he states. "At this stage, the skin on the foot is not strong enough to handle the pressure during walking, and the same pressure points are at risk of ulcerating again. Botox relaxes the tension on the foot, giving it a more stable position. Then the wound can heal and it will have adequate offloading, so that you're not having added pressure on the wound site."

The same mechanism also provides tremendous benefits to patients with muscle spasticity. "If there's damage to the brain or spinal cord, such as what you'd see in a traumatic spinal cord injury, head injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or cerebral palsy, it can result in abnormal posturing of the muscles of the feet," Dr. Morton, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, said.

"In these cases, one muscle or muscle group is overpowering the surrounding muscles, causing abnormal positioning," says Dr. Morton. "With Botox, we relax the problem area, and return the foot to a more normal position."

Drs. Morton and Green are among only a handful of doctors in the country providing this type of Botox treatment.