Don’t let foot pain or discomfort slow you down. If you’re dealing with a foot issue that is affecting your gait or causing you to shy away from physical activities that you love, know that you have options to fix the underlying issue. One of the most common forms of treatment for a variety of foot conditions is physical therapy because it can benefit your feet in many ways. Below, we take a look at five ways that physical therapy can help your feet overcome a number of foot issues.
Why Physical Therapy Is So Helpful For Foot Problems?
A lot of problems caused by chronic or acute foot injuries can be improved or alleviated by working with a physical therapist. Here’s a look at five ways your feet can become healthier through regular physical therapy exercises.
- Strength – The most obvious benefit of physical therapy for any injured or weakened structure is that these exercises are designed to make the area stronger. Slowly working to develop muscle and ligament strength will help the area return to a pre-injury level of strength, or it may even become stronger than before. If one foot remains weaker than the other, you may be at risk for additional injuries because the foot can’t safely handle the same amount of stress as the other.
- Range Of Motion – Physical therapists can also gradually help to expand your comfortable range of motion, which will likely be affected by an injury or surgery. Range of motion restrictions or flexibility limitations can be uncomfortable, and they can also limit your success as an athlete. We can help to push tissues out of their comfort zone so that you can safely expand your range of motion.
- Stability – Being unsteady on your feet can increase your risk of a severe fall, and this unsteadiness is typically tied to ankle joint instability. We can put you through a physical therapy routine that targets the supportive ligaments on either side of your ankle joint. As these ligaments heal from trauma and become stronger and tighter, you will feel more stability in your ankle. If you regularly roll your ankles or one ankle feels weaker than the other, odds are you are dealing with ankle instability, and that problem can easily be addressed with physical therapy.
- Avoid Surgery – Since physical therapy is one of the most effective treatments for mild and moderate foot issues, it can oftentimes be the difference in whether or not you eventually need surgery to correct the problem. Nobody wants to undergo a surgical operation if they can avoid it, and physical therapy can oftentimes help you make enough improvement that surgery is no longer needed. By making your foot or ankle stronger, stable and more flexible, you may be able to prevent the need for surgery.
- Pain Relief – Finally, if your foot pain is tied to a gait abnormality or chronic inflammation, teaming up with a physical therapist can be just what you need. Exercises to tweak your gait, boost your circulation or change how stress is dispersed on your foot can calm inflammation and related causes of pain. Foot pain is not a normal part of getting older, so if discomfort or pain has become a normal part of your daily routine, reach out to a physical therapy team.
If you want help treating a new or chronic foot condition, reach out to the talented team at OrthoRehab Specialists today at (612) 339-2041.
PT of Costa Rican National Soccer Team for 2007 World Cup in Victoria, CAN. Clinical Instructor for University of Minnesota Doctor of Physical Therapy Affiliations
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