Sports and athletic activity are great ways to stay in shape and have some fun, but they are also one of the most common sources of injury. The potential for injury shouldn’t deter you from this wonderful form of exercise, but you should make sure you properly train and stretch in an effort to minimize your injury risk.
But even if you do what you can to prevent injuries, odds are if you play long enough, you’ll suffer an injury. That’s completely normal and fine, so long as you know how to successfully rehab from the injury. In most cases, treatment involves some form of rest and physical therapy. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at a couple of the most common foot and ankle sports injuries that we treat at our clinic.
Achilles Tendonitis
The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in your body, and it connects your calf muscles to your heel bone. It helps lift your heel off the ground, and considering how many sports require you to make quick cuts and movements, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this tendon can become inflamed. We see this most often in sports like basketball and volleyball where jumping and quick movements are commonplace. Preventing recurrences involves strengthening nearby muscle groups to take stress off the tendon, and this is best accomplished through a guided therapy routine.
Ankle Sprains
Thousands of ankle sprains occur every day, and a good portion of them heal just fine on their own. If you suffer a severe ankle sprain or recurrent sprains during sports, there’s a chance of damage to the supportive ligaments on either side of your ankle. If you don’t treat these microtears in the ligaments with strength training, you’re going to be at high risk for future sprains, which doesn’t bode well if you’re planning to keep playing sports. Instead of dealing with the risk, connect with a physical therapist to help these ligaments heal and reinforce the ankle joint as a whole.
For more information about how we can help you recover after a sports injury, reach out to our team at OrthoRehab Specialists today.
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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