Spring has officially sprung, and summer will arrive before we know it. Now, living in Gilbert (or just about anywhere in Arizona) means the transition to summer months is a bit different than in other areas of the country.

Sure, we may not be putting snowy days in our rearview mirror (at least, until the end of the year rolls around), but this is still a simply outstanding time of year for various outdoor sports. Baseball, softball, soccer, golf, and tennis are all picking up momentum at just about every level – from little leagues to the pros!

In case you missed it, we actually started talking about this in our previous blog post. If you haven’t already, make sure you check it out!

Given the abundance of opportunities for people to get out and be active, spring is an ideal time of year to talk about sports injury prevention.

Now, our Gilbert office helps many patients overcome spring and summer sports injuries, but we would much rather know you didn’t have to suffer from one in the first place!

The inherent, unavoidable downside of any sport or other physical activity is that there’s always a risk of suffering a foot or ankle injury. This makes sense when you consider how essential lower limbs are for most athletic activities.

Foot and ankle sports injuries fall into two general categories – acute and chronic. Basically, acute injuries are ones that happen in a single event, like an ankle sprained when a foot twists too far.

Chronic sports injuries are those that develop over time. A majority of these are common overuse injuries like stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and Achilles tendinitis.

Of course, there is so much upside from leading an active lifestyle that you can’t allow the injury risk to keep you from exercising or playing favorite sports.

And if you are worried about injury risk, you should know that foot and ankle injury prevention is not only possible – it’s also quite easy in most cases!

One common trend we see behind many sports injuries is simply that the patient was trying to do too much too soon. When you begin an exercise program or join a rec sports team, it’s tempting to go out and give the proverbial 110%. The enthusiasm is certainly admirable, but you must give your body time to strengthen and adapt to new workouts and activities.

• Instead of “hitting the ground running,” begin a workout program at low-to-moderate levels of intensity and duration. Gradually increase your effort by around 10% per week. That is an ideal target for challenging your body, but without pushing it too far.
• If you are beginning a running program, start with a walk/run mix. 1 minute of light running followed by 4 minutes of walking, done on a repeated basis for your workout, will help you build up endurance.
• Be sure to always warm-up and stretch properly before physical activity. Keep in mind that your body needs to be prepared, so get the heart pumping and loosen your muscles first.

In addition to physical preparation, wearing the right equipment—especially with regard to your athletic footwear—will help keep you safe. For your shoes, you need to:

• Choose a pair appropriate for your activity. (Run in running shoes, play basketball in basketball shoes, etc.)
• Make sure they fit comfortably – not too tight, but not too loose. Overly tight shoes create an array of problems for your feet. Loose footwear leads to blistering.

Being able to prevent a foot or ankle sports injury is awesome, but it is virtually impossible to eliminate 100% of the injury risk from sports and other physical activities.

Fortunately, most of these injuries can be effectively treated without the need for surgical intervention. In fact, conservative care measures like PRICE, NSAIDs, custom orthotics, and physical therapy are quite beneficial in helping patients overcome lower limb injuries.

PRICE is an acronym standing for “protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation.” Let’s break this down a little further:

• Protection. Protecting an injured limb from sustaining further damage is essential for making sure the injury is as minimal as possible. The initial form of protection is to simply remove yourself from the responsible activity. This is important to note because too many people try to “walk it off” and end up with a bigger problem than it could have been.
• Rest. Our bodies are absolutely amazing when it comes to being able to heal. As amazing as those abilities are, however, they take time. This means you need to avoid intense physical activity for a certain period. If it’s frustrating that you can’t play soccer (or whatever) for a couple of weeks, consider the fact that your recovery will take much longer if you don’t rest now!
• Ice. Ice therapy has been used for eons for a very simple reason – it works. You do need to protect the skin to avoid damaging it, but ice can both relieve pain and keep inflammation to a minimum, which is especially important at early stages.
• Compression. When you use a wrap or elastic bandage, you are providing compression to the injured site. This serves to reduce the amount of inflammation in the area. If you are wrapping a sprained ankle or any other injury and start to feel numbness, loosen the wrap. Yes, it should be snug, but you don’t want to completely cut off circulation.
• Elevation. You can further reduce inflammation by elevating the injured limb above heart level. In addition to helping on its own, this also is a great way to ensure you are properly resting.

When we mention NSAIDs, we are talking about nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These are ones like ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. If you aren’t sure what kind of dosage you should take, check with our office and we’ll be glad to help!

Surgery for foot and ankle sports injuries tends to be rare, but sometimes it is needed. When this is the case, you can rest assured knowing that we have been able to help many patients overcome severe pain and difficulty through surgical intervention. If conservative treatment is not providing the results we hope to see—or you have a particularly severe injury—we may recommend this particular course of treatment.

As we stated earlier, our hope is that you are able to avoid injury in the first place. In the event you (or a loved one) do hurt a foot or ankle while participating in a favorite sport, contact Preferred Foot & Ankle Specialists and request an appointment.

Either give us a call today at (480) 497-3946 or connect with us online and one of our team members will be happy to help you!