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Sports Injuries

The Condition

Sports injuries result from acute trauma or repetitive stress associated with athletic activities. Sports injuries can affect bones or soft tissue (ligaments, muscles and tendons).

Nearly all sports involve the complicated biomechanics of your foot and ankle. With sport comes the risk of injuries that can range from simple to extremely serious and life threatening. Currently, concussions are at the forefront for media attention; however, there are many commonly occurring injuries that can impact your ability to participate at a high level.

The most commonly encountered sports injuries of the foot and ankle include Achilles tendon injuries, ankle fractures, ankle sprains, capsulitis, fractures of the foot, osteochondral lesions of the ankle, Lisfranc injuries, peroneal tendon injuries, shin splints, plantar fasciitis and turf toe.

The Treatment

Too often athletes try to ‘tough it out’ or ‘play through the pain’. Unfortunately, this attitude can lead to additional injury and deterioration of the condition, keeping you sidelined even longer. Early evaluation by your podiatrist is key. The vast majority of sports injuries can be treated through simple measures that allow you to continue to participate in your respective sport. Generally speaking, most injuries require some degree of rest or non-weight bearing exercise in addition to anti-inflammatory medications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. As play continues throughout your practice or game, the tape will actually loosen and become ineffective. It is better to discuss any instability problems with your podiatrist and consider using prefabricated ankle braces. Braces have the distinct advantage of not loosening during play and they provide increased durability for your ankles throughout competition.

Turf toe is a sprain injury of the big toe joint caused by excess/extreme dorsiflexion through repetitive push-offs or injury. It was given its name because of the large number of athletes that developed this problem as a result of playing on hard artificial turf surfaces.

Yes. The acronym R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression and elevation) should be the initial treatment guideline used for the majority of foot and ankle injuries. Ice can be a powerful pain and inflammation reduction agent. If pain continues or if a deformity of your foot or ankle is noticed, please consult your podiatrist as soon as possible for evaluation, definitive diagnosis and treatment.