Im a young athlete with foot or leg pain
Children are more active than ever, with an increased participation of organised sports and longer training sessions. This can often result with injuries affecting the lower limb, particularly the leg and foot.
What causes it?
The injuries frequently sustained are fractures, sprains, dislocations and soft tissue injuries. This is often the result from an immature skeletal system, namely the bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments in a growing child combined with the overexertion of modern day sports participation.
The analogy of ‘too much too soon’ can lead to repetitive strain injuries in young unfit athletes. Sports frequently focus on one area of the body leading to repetitive stress of that area.
Common conditions affecting young athletes are;
- Severs disease, pain at the back of the heel. Common in Athletics, Aussie Rules, Soccer and Netball.
- Ankle sprains, pain on the outside of the ankle. Common in Netball and Basketball.
- Osgood-Schlatters, pain around the knee cap. Common in Netball and Basketball.
What can a podiatrist do to help?
At Bounce Podiatry we perform full musculoskeletal screenings that assesses flexibility, strength, biomechanics (i.e the way you run or walk), footwear and training loads. We often glean the necessary information to identify what training errors may be causing the problem. We also offer pre-season screening to prevent any problems.
What about my pain?
Our primary goal is manage the painful condition, through various techniques to offload the tissue which usually involves soft tissue therapy such as low level laser therapy, strapping, prefabricated orthotics and footwear prescription. Once the pain has started to settle we then focus on rehabilitation to restore normal tissue function. This will involve appropriate functional activities such as stretches, strengthening, technique modification and increasing training load.