Health blog Category: Foot and Ankle
Plantar Fasciitis: A Common Foot Problem
Ouch! If you’ve ever had plantar fasciitis, you know just how excruciating those first few steps are when you get out of bed in the morning. It can feel like you’re stepping on a knife as the tight connective tissue on the bottom of your foot stretches out. As someone who has had a recurrence of plantar fasciitis over the years, beginning in high school, I can tell you first hand just how painfully necessary it is to address the underlying cause to avoid flare-ups.
Read full blogChronic Ankle Instability
Have you sprained your ankle more times than you can count? You are likely suffering from what is called chronic ankle instability, aka CAI.
Why does this happen? Once you injure your ankle once, unless rehabbed well, the function of the ankle itself is forever altered. Every part of your body has little internal GPS sensors called proprioceptors. The function of these proprioceptors decreases following ankle injuries. With this decline in function, your ankle has a hard time knowing where it is at in space and therefore has a hard time righting itself when walking on uneven surfaces or running.
Read full blogRock Climbing Injuries to Lower Extremity and Ankle
Rock Climbing can lead to many different types of musculoskeletal injuries. Some of the most common injuries to the lower body include;
- Meniscal tear
- Stiffness, swelling, feeling like the knee is going to give out, catching in the knee.
- Knee ligament tear
- Swelling, instability, loss of range of motion.
- Morton’s Neuroma
- Sharp burning pain with standing and walking between two toes, tingling in foot.
Healing Our Heel Pain
The heel, also known as the calcaneus, is located on the bottom of the foot directly below the ankle joint. The heel bone has many muscles and ligaments attached to it. When injuries or irritation occur to the attached muscles or ligaments, it can create pain in the heel. This pain can lead to many other additional issues in your daily life.
The pain can be described as:
- Tight
- Spasm
- Burning
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Dull
- Achy
- Sharp
Why Does Heel Pain Occur?
Read full blogAnkle Sprains
Ankle sprains are a common injury for people. Ankle sprains are when your ankle “rolls” either in or out and causes the ligaments in your joint to stretch. The most common ankle sprain is when your foot rolls inward and you have pain on the outside of your ankle. This can happen from playing sports, or just stepping off a curb wrong. If not treated properly you can have chronic problems with your ankle such as:
- Decreased rain of motion
- Recurring ankle sprains
- Pain
When ankle sprains first happen you might experience any of the following signs or symptoms:
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Tenderness in or around the ankle
- Limited range of motion
- Inability to bear weight
- Pain with ankle or toe movement
To help with the initial pain of the ankle sprains:
- Elevate your ankle
- Ice your ankle as soon as you can for no more than 20 minutes
- Wrap your ankle with an ACE or compression wrap to help reduce some of the swelling
You should consult a medical profession to make sure your ankle injury not anything more serious and to help get you back to your favorite activities.
Read full blogStrengthening the Foot and Ankle
Strengthening the Foot and Ankle: Ankle and foot strengthening is very important in preventing all sorts of injuries including plantar fasciitis, ankle sprains and tendinopathy. Here are some basic exercises to help:
Toe Raises: Standing or sitting with your feet shoulder distance apart, try lifting your toes up off the ground, and slow and controlled come down.
Heel Raises: Standing or sitting with your feet shoulder distance apart, go up and down onto your toes and come down slow and controlled.
Foot and Ankle Injuries Commonly Seen
The foot/ankle is a joint in the body that is made up of a multitude of different structures and tissues that can each be injured in many different ways. Primary structures in the ankle include bone, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and fascia.
There are many injuries that can occur to these structures, but most common include:
- Ankle sprains
- An ankle sprain is an injury to the ligaments in the ankle.
- Sprains are classified in “grades” (1-3) which describes the severity of the sprain.
Foot and Ankle Problems
There are many reasons as to why your foot and ankle could be bothering you. Some of the primary injuries we see here at LSTC are:
- Ankle sprains
- Plantar fasciitis
- Achilles Tendonitis
Ankle sprains are a very common injury we treat here at LSTC. The most common ankle sprain is an inversion sprain which happens when your foot gets turned towards the other foot and stretches the tendons and ligaments on the outside of the ankle causing the injury.
Read full blogPutting a Spring Back in Our Step
If you suffer from knee pain, arthritis, low back pain or other aches and pains that keep you from being active, there are things you can easily do to become more active and put a spring back in your step.
Change How You Sit
A lot of aches and pains relate to how we use our bodies in the day. Many back pain sufferers actually begin having back pain, because they sit too much.
Read full blogProper Footwear and Parts of Our Shoe
Choosing Footwear
Usually when we go to pick out footwear, we often make our decisions based on:
- Style
- The latest trends
- Price
Our feet take on a lot of stress all day long. We often don’t think about the impact our feet take until the end of the day when they are sore or achy. When selecting footwear, think about what you are going to be doing during the day.
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