Feeling pain in your foot after an injury from running? Finding the right kind of care is essential to a swift and complete recovery. To understand which treatments are right for you, it can help to know more about your condition. There are plenty of injuries that can affect the foot. This is especially true for runners and other athletes. Though running is an excellent form of exercise, it can come with a unique set of risks. Runners tend to put a lot of pressure on their feet and legs. Over time, this can heighten the risk of a foot injury.
Sustaining a foot injury from running can have a major impact on your performance. Symptoms like pain, stiffness and weakness can hinder your ability to run. If restoring your physical capacity is a top priority, seeking rehabilitative care can be an excellent decision. Specialized return to sport therapy programs can help alleviate your symptoms and improve your physical functionality. Physical therapists can address a wide range of foot injuries through tailored treatment. By learning more about some of the most common foot injuries, you can get a better understanding of your own condition and which treatments may be most helpful.
Common foot injuries from running
- Stress fractures — People tend to put a lot of stress on weight-bearing bones while running. When this stress continues over an extended period of time, it can cause tiny fractures in the bones. These small cracks are called stress fractures. Stress fractures most often occur in the metatarsals, but they can appear in many different bones throughout the foot. Unlike more significant bone injuries, stress fractures can heal over time. Letting your injured foot rest is essential to recovery. With physical therapy, you can learn new ways to exercise without worsening your stress fractures. Physical therapy can also be a great way to reduce your pain and promote faster healing.
- Tendinitis — Tendons play a crucial role in the way your body moves. These cords of fibrous tissue serve to connect bones to muscle, allowing the different parts of your body to work together. Repetitive or stressful activities sometimes irritate the tendons. This can lead to tendinitis, which is tendon inflammation. The most common kind of tendinitis in the foot is Achilles tendinitis. Your Achilles tendon runs from your calf to your lower heel. When this tendon becomes inflamed, you may experience pain in your foot, ankle and lower leg. Other common symptoms include stiffness, swelling, and a warm or burning sensation around the tendon. Because tendinitis tends to arise from overuse, allowing your tendon to rest can help reduce your symptoms. Your physical therapist can also help with specialized exercises. With the right strengthening exercises and stretches, you can work to reduce the inflammation in your tendon. This can help alleviate your tendinitis symptoms.
- Turf toe — Turf toe occurs when one of the joints in the big toe is sprained. The name of this condition refers to the turf of football fields, as turf toe is often a sports injury. Hitting your toe against a surface like turf or sidewalk while running can injure the joint, causing pain and bruising. Sports that involve frequent abrupt changes in direction while running can increase your risk of turf toe. Like many other foot injuries, rest tends to be a core part of turf toe treatment. With the right physical therapy exercises, you can help your joint stabilize and recover. Your physical therapist can also help you adjust your gait to reduce the risk of future toe injuries.
- Plantar fasciitis — The plantar fascia is a thick band of connective tissue that runs across the bottom of the foot. It connects the heel bone to the toes. Overuse and hard impacts can inflame this tissue, leading to a condition called plantar fasciitis. Physical therapy stretching exercises can be a great way to address tension in the plantar fascia. Another excellent treatment method is dry needling. By releasing tension and promoting blood circulation, dry needling is designed to alleviate symptoms and stimulate natural healing.
REPAIR SI can help treat foot injuries from running
Need an effective treatment solution for a foot injury from running? REPAIR SI can help. We offer a variety of top-notch treatments designed to optimize your recovery journey. With the help of our expert team, you can address your injury with a holistic personalized treatment plan.
Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.