What is sports medicine in podiatry?
Sports injuries are any type of injury that happens when playing sports or other high-impact activities. In podiatry, sports medicine focuses on injuries that primarily affect the feet and ankles.
Sports medicine helps identify certain factors that might put you at risk of injury. In addition, comprehensive sports medicine promotes healthy healing after an injury to minimize your risk of reinjury.
What are the most common sports injuries?
Some of the most common sports injuries in children and adults include:
Plantar fasciitis
The plantar fascia is a thick band of tissue that connects your heel to your toes. Repetitive impact on the plantar fascia can lead to a painful condition called plantar fasciitis, which primarily causes heel pain.
Runners and those with flat feet are especially prone to the condition.
Shin splints
Shin splints are microtears in the muscles, tendons, and tissues surrounding the shin bone. They can cause sharp pain in your legs that make walking and running difficult.
Flat feet, weak hips, and poor-fitting shoes all lead to shin splints. You can help prevent them with custom-fit orthotic inserts that cushion and mold to your feet.
Ankle sprains
Ankle sprains occur when your foot rolls inward, stretching or tearing the ligaments on the outside of your ankle. Those who suffer repeated ankle sprains may have ankle instability, which the team at Mercer Ocean Podiatry can help treat with a combination of stretches, exercises, bracing, and more.
Achilles tendinitis
The Achilles tendon connects your heel bone to your lower leg. Chronic overuse of this tendon can cause pain and inflammation in your heel that makes movement difficult. Certain therapies, such as physical therapy, ice therapy, and bracing, can help relieve your pain.
How do podiatrists treat sports injuries?
How Mercer Ocean Podiatry treats your sports injury depends on the injury itself, as well as your age and level of physical activity. Some of the most common treatments the team of board-certified podiatrists and ankle surgeons uses to treat sports injuries are:
- Restorative stretches and exercises
- Physical therapy
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
- Bracing, splinting, or casting
- Regenerative medicine
- Surgery
- Custom-fit orthotics
For more information on the sports medicine treatments performed at Mercer Ocean Podiatry, call or book an appointment online today.
