Foot and ankle injuries in athletes are very common. It’s important to know what to look for so that you can rest the injury without “playing through it” and making it worse. Often times, injuries occur more in practice than in games. Stretching and warming up before practice needs to happen every time. If you notice an area is stiff or is bothering you, call it to the trainers attention before continuing.
WHAT ARE COMMON INJURIES?
Many athletes develop plantar fasciitis. When you feel pain in the arch or heel of the foot, you could have inflammation occurring in the thick band of tissue that runs through that area. This can be felt as a sharp or tight pain. Wearing custom orthotics can greatly reduce the pain felt from plantar fasciitis and can also help prevent this injury. If you are experiencing this type of pain, ice and rest are your best friends. If the pain is not going away, contact our office, it may be time to visit a Podiatrist. We can do further testing and imaging to rule out other causes.
Athletes who play on uneven surfaces are even more at risk for developing foot pain. Other common injuries that athletes see with their feet and ankles are achilles tendonitis, stress fractures, sprained ankles, and heel spurs. Achilles tendonitis involves the achilles tendon which runs from your calf muscle to your heel. Your tendon can feel like it’s popping, which is often accompanied by severe pain. It can also feel like dull pain in the back of your lower calf muscle. What are heel spurs? Heel spurs are calcium deposits that cause protrusions on the heel bone. Wearing improper footwear and running on hard surfaces repetitively are the most common causes of heel spurs.
HOW DO I PREVENT AN INJURY?
The best thing you can do to prevent a foot or ankle injury is to wear supportive footwear. Most will need custom orthotics to ensure the best fit of their shoe, as every foot is not made the same. Some have higher or lower arches than the average person. Every shoe will fit each person differently. Call us to schedule an appointment for a 3D scan so you can be one step closer to owning custom orthotics and be less likely to cause an injury. The other thing you can do to prevent injury is stretching and warming up before each practice and each game. Also, give yourself a cool-down time afterwards. Listen to your body. If something doesn’t feel right, take it easy. No one wants to sit on the bench, but sometimes it’s important to prevent a serious injury that could completely take you away from the game you love. When in doubt, call our office and we’d be happy to take a closer look at the issue you are having.
At Howard County Foot and Ankle, we treat everything from warts and ingrown toenails to flatfeet and heel pain. Many people come to us for diabetic foot care or simply because they have foot pain or ankle pain and don’t know the cause of it. We handle emergencies such as fractures and infections as well. Dr. Bui performs a wide variety of surgeries and specializes in reconstructive surgery of the foot and ankle. You won’t find a better foot doctor than our highly skilled and highly qualified, Dr. Christina Bui! Call or email us to ask any questions you might have. We would love to be your go-to Podiatrist!
