The Best Lunch Hour Fix Me Up Ever: “The Loub Job”

We know! Your feet are killing you! It’s summer and it’s beautiful out there in New York. You have made the most of it: jogging, tennis, golf, the beach, aerobics, and just fun in the sun. Your feet are paying the price especially your big toe.

“You need a ‘Loub Job’,” says the eminent, Manhattan-based podiatrist Dr. Suzanne Levine. “It only takes a few minutes, has minimal discomfort, and there’s no recovery time.” You can hear the enthusiasm in Dr. Levine’s voice. “My patients come in during their lunch hour and walk right out feeling better and you can resume exercise as soon as you like.”

Our favorite summer activities help keep us in shape, leaner and fitter, but are feet bare the brunt of the extra load on our bodies and the extra stress of all this exercise. This repeated stress and repeated micro-trauma can injure the big toe. And not only does the big toe hurt, but the pain can make you change the way you walk putting extra stress on the rest of the foot, the ankles, knees, hips, and even your spine. So what to do?

“A Loub Job” is Dr. Levine’s term for viscosupplementation, an injection of hyaluronic acid into a joint, often the big toe. “Think of it as Restylane for the feet,” says Dr. Levine. At Dr. Levine’s luxurious Park Avenue office, The Millennium Podiatry, she works with the latest in equipment, in this case a digital fluoroscope (a form of real time x-ray). The fluoroscope lets Dr. Levine see precisely where she is placing the small needle, that is into the affected joint at the base of the big toe. This makes the injection easier, quicker and almost discomfort free.

Dr. Levine says, “Your body produces hyaluronic acid, a fluid that lubricates your joints so that they can move freely with no friction. If the production of hyaluronic acid slows, the joints do not glide smoothly this puts wear on the joint and can be very painful. Loss of this natural lubricant can occur from overuse, injury, poorly fitting shoes, arthritis, or a genetic predisposition.”

Dr. Levine’s patients are not only weekend warriors, but also professional athletes who must get back to “work” quickly or cost their team big bucks.

“A ‘Loub Job’” can produce miraculous results,” says Dr. Levine. “Relieving pain that aspirin and Ibuprofen can’t even touch.”

Dr. Suzanne Levine is available for interview and taping while administering her “Loub Job” on one of her patients in New York.