Springing Back from a Sports Injury: 3 Ways We Can Help

Sports injuries are common, and injuries to the feet and ankles are among the most common of them all. In fact, up to 30% of football-related injuries are due to injuries to the foot or ankle.

Each of your feet is composed of 33 joints, 26 bones, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Running, jumping, and stopping short put tremendous pressure on your feet, ankles, and legs, leading to sports injuries such as:

Achilles tendon injuries
Tendinitis
Ankle sprains
Toe sprains
Fractures, including stress fractures
Strains
Plantar fasciitis
Bone bruises
Joint dislocations

At North Park Podiatry, our expert podiatrists evaluate your sports injury, determine the cause, and design a treatment plan.

At our San Diego, California, office, our goal is to make sure your injury heals properly, that you’re strong enough to return to play, and that you avoid a subsequent injury.

How can we help with your sports injuries? The following are three important ways.

1. We understand your sport

Not all podiatrists specialize in sports injuries, but we do. Our team is aware that sports injuries can differ from other foot injuries due to the increased velocity and torque you subject your feet and legs to during intense athletic activity.

We’re trained in the biomechanics of a wide variety of sports, so we understand how your injury may have occurred. In addition to examining your injury through visualization, palpation, and X-rays or other imaging techniques, we examine how you move in general.

If you’ve sprained your ankle or fractured your foot, we want to know why. For example, you may be overpronating. Or, there could be inefficiencies in your kinetic chain (the movement from feet to hips) that increase the likelihood of an injury.

We also look at your athletic footwear. You may have a misalignment in your feet that contributed to your injury. You could benefit from customized orthotics to keep your feet and toes well aligned, supported, and safe.

2. We help you set specific rehab goals

The standard advice for treating an injury is often represented by the acronym RICE: Rest, Icing, Compression, and Elevation.

That may work for a minor strain, but if you have a sports injury, you may need a more involved routine. Instead, think MEAT: Movement, Exercise, Analgesics, and Time.

When you’re an athlete, you don’t want to rest your injured foot or leg for too long because inactivity can cause stiffness and may prevent healing.

Of course, you can’t hit the track an hour after you sprain your ankle. You have to start with gentle movements and gradually increase their duration and intensity, as advised by our physical therapist (PT).

We help you set specific rehabilitation goals based on your injury and your sport. We estimate when you can return to play and give you a program to follow so that you continue to rebuild strength and flexibility gradually and safely.

3. We can enhance your performance

The goal of our rehab routines and treatments isn’t just to help you recover from your present injury. Instead, they’re designed to make you stronger, more flexible, and less prone to injury than you were before.

We consider your athletic goals when we design your customized treatment plan. Depending on your needs, we may recommend:

Surgery to repair damaged tissues or stabilize fractures
Ultrasound therapy to enhance healing
Shockwave therapy to break up scar tissue
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to aid bone and tissue healing

We also guide you through your therapy until it’s safe to return to play. We can continue to work with you to ensure that you’re building strength and flexibility where you need to, modifying your biomechanics, and getting the foot support you need to perform at your personal best.

Don’t leave healing from a sports injury to chance. Instead, get help from an expert by calling our sports specialists today or using our online appointment form.