Arch Madness!

March madness brings the game of basketball to the national spotlight. The excitement of the game inspires many to hit the court. This usually will start arch madness in our Grapevine and Keller, Texas offices.

Why arch madness? Basketball is a high-impact and physically demanding sport. Most people jump in with both feet, literally and figuratively. This leads to overuse and traumatic injuries. In fact, one study revealed that more than 1.6 million Americans sustain foot and ankle injuries annually while participating in basketball. The traumatic ankle sprains and fractures are the headliners, but there are also many repetitive stress induced injuries like stress fractures and arch pain caused by plantar fasciitis.

Shoes can also be the main culprit for many of these arch issues. Most basketball shoes are made for lower arched people. And most players do not change their shoes often enough. If you have a normal to high arch, the shoes are not supportive enough and fatigue will set in quickly. This fatigue leads to inflammation of your mid arch and plantar fasciitis symptoms. Playing without warming up accelerates this inflammation. A 5-10 minute light jog, elliptical, bicycle or fast walk will warm up your legs and feet to better take the stress of the court.

Arch pain happens. Rest, ice, stretching (see video link), over-the-counter arch supports and over-the-counter anti-inflammatories can be helpful in the early stages. If your pain lingers more than a week or so with home therapy, a visit to the office is indicated. You may need custom orthotics, physical therapy or more advanced therapy to permanently bench your pain.

Bottom line: Basketball can lead to arch madness so prepare yourself to hit the court with more supportive shoes, stretching, a warm up routine and arch supports. A visit to your favorite podiatrist is indicated if your pain persists.

Strengthen Your Strides!

So many of my patients are coming in asking for exercises to strengthen their feet so they will decrease their overuse injuries and be able to wear more flexible shoes. A recent study showed that 27% of people can run barefoot without any issues and that another 14-17% can learn to run barefoot. The other 60% or so have unstable feet that are prone to injury if they run barefoot. More studies are needed to see if these percentages really hold up, but more flexible running shoes with less heel drop are here to stay. Help yourself by strengthening your feet! These exercises can really help thwart the injury bug and stabilize flexible foot types.

Long Second Toe Causing Pain on the Run?

Do you have a freakishly long second toe? Does the ball of your foot or your second toe hurt after running? Is the toenail on your second toe deformed or black? You may have what has been coined as “Morton’s toe”.  Really this is a condition that is usually characterized by a cosmetically long second toe; but really it’s a short, hypermobile 1^st ray (that’s your big toe and the metatarsal behind it) and a long second metatarsal (often the same length as the 1^st metatarsal).

This foot structure is known to cause lower extremity pain due to hypermobility. Examples of problems associated with this foot type are:

            Metatarsalgia (ball of foot pain)

            Morton’s neuroma

            Capsulitis of the 2^nd MPJ

            Hallux Valgus or Limitis

            Metatarsal stress fractures

            Plantar fasciitis

            Calluses

            Hammertoes

            Posterior tibial tendonitis

            Shin splints

            IT Band Syndrome

            Chondromalacia

            Calf strains

            Lower Back Pain, Piriformis syndrome and even neck pain!

Wow! Lots of problems due to an inherited foot type!  Morton’s toe can really affect your posture and change the way you run and walk.  The most common thing that we see is an excessive adductory twist on toe off (also called late-stage pronation). This is when you barely pronate in your rearfoot but wear away the forefoot of your running shoe with a twisting motion when you push off.

There are no running shoes that are fabricated to stop late stage pronation or an adductory twist, but a simple functional orthotic can really change the function of the inherited unstable foot and allow you to run, jump and play with all the other kids without pain.

So, if you do have a freakishly long 2^nd toe and have had a myriad of postural symptoms, give us a call and let’s see what we can do to straighten that wobbly tire with a functional orthotic prior to contemplating surgical correction!