Three Common Sports Injuries That Affect The Foot

Sports activities are a great way to keep oneself healthy and active. It is for this reason that both professional and amateur players indulge in a lot of sporting activities so that they can stay fit and flexible. However, many times such sporting activities do lead to serious injuries that can affect the lives of these individuals. Our feet are one of the most important parts of our bodies and accidental impacts can hamper the ligaments, tendons, bones or muscles of our legs. A foot sports injury can take months or years to heal and have a significant impact on a professional player’s career.

Here are some of the common foot sports injuries that a person can experience.

Stress fractures:

A large number of professional and amateur players go through stress fractures while playing impact games like soccer, rugby, hockey and even skiing. They are also often caused by overtraining combined with poor diet. The extent of the metatarsal stress fractures can vary greatly from one instance to another. There are mainly two different clusters of bone cells which can be held responsible for such bone turnovers. One of these groups break down the bones and the other group builds them up. If an imbalance is caused between these rhythms, then the rate of bone breakdown will override that of the bone break down. This will eventually weaken the bones and make them predisposed for stress fractures. Conditions like osteopenia and osteoporosis are also caused by such factors.

A person affected by such stress fractures can experience tenderness and swelling over middle or most of the distal part of the metatarsal. While standard x-ray procedures often fail to detect the fractures, MRIs and bone scans can help in diagnosing the condition.

Turf toes:

Turf toes develop when the big toe is exposed to repetitive hyperextension. People wearing light flexible shoes or indulge in movements that require forced and repetitive hyperextension of great toe (box jumps, triple extension and double under) are affected by turf toes. Severe pain is felt in the affected toe along with signs of swollenness. The best way to ease the condition would be to take a lot of rest and put ice in the affected area. A number of tapping techniques can also be used to limit the movement of the toe. The best solution to this condition would be to use turf toe inserts or stiff-soled shoes.

Plantar Fasciitis:

Plantar Fasciitis is a condition that affects numerous athletes regularly who tend to wear minimalist or flexible shoes without the necessary level of strength and support in foot muscles. The micro-tearing and inflammation of plantar fascia lead to plantar fasciitis. The condition is characterized by pain, swelling and discomfort of the affected areas. A person may feel tenderness around the heel and arch as well as experience thickening of plantar fascia. Activities such as jumping, running and other types of repetitive stresses can also cause straining of the plantar fascia which is accompanied by tightening of the region.