Physical Therapy and Running

Image by roger_mommaerts via FlickrIf you have ever had a sports injury, you’ve probably have gone through some physical therapy.  Podiatrists, like many doctors who deal with injuries, work very closely with physical therapists.  As with any injury to the body, physical therapists work with people who have a range of injuries to their feet and ankles. 

Doing physical therapy will often help pain and swelling to subside, allowing the injury to heal faster, better and with less stress to you since the pain level will be reduced.  Physical therapists strive to also help you restore or increase the range of motion to the injured part of the foot.  That way the joints will not stiffen up, preventing a full recovery from the injury.  Another way a physical therapist helps with an injury to the foot or ankle is to help you rebuild and strengthen muscle around the injury and make sure that the foot and ankle line up properly.  With all that they do for an injury, as long as a patient follows their directions and does their physical therapy, that injury will soon be a thing of the past.

Physical therapy isn’t just for sports injuries though.  There is physical therapy for many other foot problems too.  Problems like plantar fasciitis, bunions, and Achilles issues all respond well to physical therapy.  So if you have a foot issue, contact your podiatrist and ask them to recommend what type of physical therapy you need to help relieve your pain and fix the problem.

If you need a podiatrist, Dr. Adam Teichman at East Penn Foot & Ankle Associates would like to be your podiatrist.  Contact us on our website (www.eastpennfoot.com).  If you are in need of a physical therapist, Dr. Teichman recommends Robbins Rehabilitation.  He has partnered with Robbins and has found that they are extremely reliable and will help you get over your injury and back to health.  Check out Robbins difference of why you should choose them.

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• Running and Injury: When Should You Get it Checked Out? (trpfitness.wordpress.com)

Protect Your Ankles While You Run

            Have you ever sprained your ankle?  You know if you did or not, there is a panicking feeling when you have to put weight on it again.  The feeling of having your ankle bend sideways beyond what it should ever normally bend is very painful.  And while the pain is kind of a quick sting at first, when you try to move or put weight on that foot, you’ll know right away - it isn’t going to feel good.

            What happens when you sprain your ankle is that weight is placed on the outside edge of your foot, and then your foot shifts sideways, making you place all you weight on the foot, while it is sideways.  This stretches and/or tears the ligaments in your ankle.  As you would know, or imagine, this doesn’t feel pleasant at all.  Your ankle, especially if you take your shoe off, will swell up to the size of a softball, or baseball, depending on how big your ankle was before.  The best thing you can do is to not try and fight through the pain and continue running or continuing doing whatever it was you were doing.  Instead, get somewhere where you can rest and ice your ankle, elevating your ankle.  However, it would be recommended to see a podiatrist to make sure that you haven’t torn any of the ligaments, which will take surgery to fix.

            When you're not running, this is also another reason why you shouldn’t be wearing ridiculously tall high heels.  If you get the heel caught or walk on a slippery sidewalk, chances are that your high heel will slip sideways, making your foot go sideways, and all your weight will land right on the side of your foot, thus spraining your ankle.

            To learn more about ankle sprains check out http://www.eastpennfoot.com/anklesprains or for other sports related injuries, check out http://www.eastpennfoot.com/sportsinjuries.  Make sure to check back every once and a while to see the additions to the sports injuries page, as we are adding more content.  If you have suffered an ankle sprain, we’d love to help get you back on top of your game.  Contact us at http://www.eastpennfoot.com/contact-east-penn-foot or by phone at 610-432-9593 to schedule an appointment.