Sports Injuries

What sports lead to foot and ankle injuries?

The short answer to this question is that any sport has the potential to cause injuries to your feet and ankles — even non-impact sports like swimming. That said, some sports are harder on your feet than others. As an example, Dr. Van Pham treats a good number of runners with ankle injuries. 

And thanks to the popularity of kickboxing and martial arts, Dr. Van Pham sees a fair amount of injuries because of the direct involvement of the feet.

The bottom line is that if you injure your feet or ankles playing sports, Dr. Van Pham understands the importance of controlling your swelling is imperative to timely healing. At the office of Dr. Van Pham, he can utlize laser therapy to meet that goal so that you spend the least amount of time on the sidelines. 

What are the most common sports injuries?

Some of the more common sports-related injuries in the feet and ankles include:

• Sprained ankles
• Turf toe
• Stress fractures
• Achilles tendinitis
• Plantar fasciitis
• Hematomas
• Dislocations
• Sesamoiditis

While this list is by no means comprehensive, it gives you an idea of the many ways that sports can lead to injury in your feet and ankles.

Of this list, sprained ankles are by far the most common, with almost 28,000 sprains per day in the US.

What are the treatments for sports injuries?

This question is tough to answer as it depends upon the injury. Dr. Van Pham has extensive experience helping their more athletic clients get back in the game again through:

• Splinting and casting
• Assistive walking devices (such as a walking boot for Achilles injuries)
• Diagnostic x-rays or ultrasounds  
• Low-level laser therapy
  

This last treatment is one worth highlighting. Low-level laser therapy is a technique in which Dr. Van Pham delivers light energy into your damaged tissue that doesn’t heat and destroy your tissue. Instead, your cells absorb the light energy, which reduces pain and swelling, and encourages regeneration and faster healing.

Whatever your treatment, it’s important that you do your part by not pushing yourself too hard. More often than not, rest plays a key role in how well you heal from a sports injury, and this is one of the toughest hurdles for athletes. But your patience is rewarded when you can take to your sport again with a foot or ankle that isn’t at risk for re-injury.

For expert sports injury care, call Dr. Benjamin Van Pham, DPM, or use the online scheduling tool to set up an appointment.