Together your foot and ankle take your weight when you stand, and propel you along when you walk, run or jump. Your foot and ankle is made up of an astonishing 28 bones, 38 muscles, 25 joint complexes and 214 ligaments. It is therefore not surprising that foot and ankle problems are common affecting 75% of people at some stage in their lives.
Common foot and ankle problems
- Sprained Ankle:This is the most common injury. When a sprained ankle occurs you will feel a sense of ‘going over’ on your ankle forcing the foot inwards. This stretches over the outer ankle ligaments. Symptoms include ankle pain, ankle weakness, ankle swelling and ankle instability.
- Plantar Fasciitis:This is another common problem that causes heel pain and also pain in the sole of the foot.
- Fractured Metatarsals:This injury has been suffered by a number of high profile football players and sports people. It is a common overuse injury in runners and injury prevention techniques are needed to avoid it.
- Achilles Tendinopathy:Due to repeated stress and a spike in use this can lead to the deterioration of the tendon. This pathology is extremely common in runners.
- Medial foot pain:this may be due to a tendinopathy of muscles in the inside of the foot such as tibialis posterior or may be due to an eversion injury causing a pathology of the deltoid ligaments.
How can physiotherapy help your foot and ankle?
Initially we will give you an in-depth assessment to diagnose the nature and cause of your problem. Once we have a diagnosis we can identify the best way to rehabilitate your injury and from this, create a personalised programme. Often with foot and ankle problems specific exercises can help to improve the flexibility and strength of the joints that support the muscles. These are important to practise in order to ensure a full recovery.
Can one of our amazing physios help you?
If you have any aches or pains, would like a program for work or any activity or sport, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on 01285 238240 or 07427 442103.
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You can book an appointment or speak to a physio here get in touch
Let us help you to prevent, recover, re-gain your movement and be pain-free!
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Thanks for reading…
George