FOOT AND ANKLE SPORTS INJURIES

Sports injuries are common due to the amount of sports there are to choose from. That awful pop or crunch that happens when you are running or playing football means you have injured your shoulder, knee or ankle. The pain and the dread that it will be a while before you will be doing that again can be devastating.

Sometimes working out can be the cause as you could be off balance and working some muscles more than others. With each gruelling session you could be wearing down the muscles that you rely on when you are playing sports. If you work out and push yourself too much, you could find that tired muscles weaken the tendons that attach the muscles to the bones and if you work through the pain, the tendons scar. If you find that during workout you have habitual pain you could be overworking the muscles and heading for disaster.

Keep to the 10% rule. Never increase the workout by more than this each week and your muscles will have time to recover.

 
Never go into workout without warming the muscles, this means working yourself into a light sweat first. When your body temperature is warm enough for the skin to sweat it means the tendons and ligaments have warmed up and the cartilage and bones are lubricated.

Never stretch to warm up, jogging or cycling which are cardiovascular exercises are best and when you have warmed up then you can do some stretching once your body is warm.
 
  Pounding the pavements or making quick movements are things that our feet were not designed for and if the feet are damaged, stress or strains and fractures can lay us up for weeks. The most common foot, ankle and lower leg injuries are:

-Pulled or torn Achilles; the Achilles tendon that runs along the back of the ankle is pulled or at the worst torn. This is often caused by a sudden sprint or uphill run before the calf muscles have stretched sufficiently. Pressure must be kept off the tendon while it heals so you can't put pressure on the foot. A complete tear of the Achilles tendon will need surgery.

-Heel pain; also known as plantar fascilitis give you pain near the heel and moves into the arch of the foot. This is caused again by running without stretching enough and the foot has tightened. Stretching exercises to lengthen the Achilles tendon and the plantar fascia will help but if the pain is bad, heel inserts or cortisone injections will help.

-Sprained ankle; a swollen or bruised ankle may be because you have torn the ligaments that hold the ankle together. You need to control the swelling by resting and bandaging the ankle but moving the ankle a bit at the same time. You do not want to stop the blood circulation around the injury because this would delay recovery.

-Broken or fractured ankle; If you find you are unable to stand on the foot and it is very painful with swelling and under skin bleeding you have probably broken or fractured your tibia or fibula bone. This type of injury needs immediate medical attention and will take between 8 and12 weeks to heal.

If you are looking for information on foot and ankle sports injuries the following links may also be of interest to you:

 

-Stress fractures of the foot; If there is swelling and pain in the metatarsal long bones that are found down the middle of the foot and behind each toe it can mean there are hairline fractures in the bone. This can be caused by running improperly, too fast and too often. This problem is difficult to diagnose and it really needs an MRI scan rather than X-ray to show the damage. Rest and compression while elevating the leg is the best form of recovery.

-Peroneal tendonitis; If you have turned your ankle you may have stretched or torn the peroneal tendon on the outside of the ankle. Rest the foot and remember that before any  sport to warm up with suitable exercises.

-Calf strain; Tennis and football sports can cause calf strain because the calf muscles on the back of the leg can tear if sudden movement pushes the muscles back. This causes pain, bruising and swelling. Rest and compressing to control the swelling will aid recovery.

-Shin Splints; The shin bone or tibia runs down the front of the lower leg leg and an injury occurs if the tissue covering the bone is inflamed. This can be caused by too much running on a hard surface. Runners who hit the ground with the inside of the foot are particularly prone to this injury. Rest and compression will speed up recovery.

Most sports injuries are caused by not warming up properly or using the wrong warm up exercises. It is important if you are serious about sport to be sensible about it too.

 

 
 
Try searching on the Internet for "foot and ankle sports injuries information " and you will be amazed just how many pages are on offer. Try it for yourself by hitting the search button below!