Four Ways A Podiatrist Can Help An Athlete

Athletes are often prone to issues with their feet due to extreme amounts of force and stress their legs have to endure during their sporting activities. In most sports such as football, basketball, track, etc., the legs experience tremendous stress due to running and jumping. As a result, athletes often suffer from numerous foot injuries and conditions that can affect their performance in their respective sports.

Thus, the role of a podiatrist to an athlete is vital in every way imaginable. A podiatrist is a doctor who specializes in issues affecting the feet. Hence, they are in a prime position to assist athletes in recovering and preventing foot injuries as well as improving their performance.

With that in mind, here are four reasons visiting a podiatrist can benefit an athlete.

Foot Assessment

Foot assessments are often recommended for athletes who suffer frequent foot injuries. The assessment involves a podiatrist examining various factors of an athlete's foot to determine the root cause of the frequent injuries.

Foot assessments usually involve evaluating:

• Ankle dorsiflexion
• The range of motion of the big toe while running
• Stability of the lateral and medial columns
• The motion of the joints
• Gait analysis

Typically, a podiatrist will try and assess every part of the foot to ensure they zeros out the root cause of the injuries. Once the root cause of the injuries has been identified, the podiatrists can provide adequate treatment or advice to help prevent the injury from occurring again.

Shoe Evaluation

Though sports shoes are designed to improve athletic performance, it is essential to pick the right shoe for your specific kind of feet. In most cases, athletes buy sports shoes based on the shoe brand they prefer instead of the most suitable shoe for their feet. As a result, picking the wrong sports shoe can often inhibit an athlete's performance instead of enhancing it. Additionally, if a particular shoe design doesn't match the nature of your foot, it can potentially lead to an injury.

Thus, before selecting a specific sports shoe, athletes are urged to seek the counsel of a podiatrist. A podiatrist will assess your foot and recommend a suitable type of sports shoe that will provide the optimum level of comfort and support to help an athlete perform better and avoid injuries.

Orthotics/Shoe Insert Prescriptions

Sometimes even with the right type of sports shoe, an athlete may experience foot pain due to how their feet are aligned. Feet alignment refers to how your ankle joint aligns with your feet while running or walking. If an athlete's ankles lean inwards or outwards, they are considered misaligned, and the misalignment often leads to extreme pressure exerted on the ankles and heels, thus resulting in pain.

Unfortunately, most athletes often prescribe orthotics for themselves, making the situation worse or causes additional problems because their orthotic is not suitable for their feet. Thus, it is best to have a podiatrist examine your feet first so that they can recommend the appropriate shoe inserts for your feet.

Injury Super Vision and Rehabilitation

When an athlete's feet get injured, they mostly focus on physiotherapy to regain the functionality of their feet. Physiotherapists play an important role in getting athletes back on their feet. However, it is also essential for podiatrists to be consulted even after the foot injury has healed.

Even when injured, people still rely on their feet to get around, and thus, after a foot injury has healed, new issues can present themselves. Thus, chances are when moving around on an injured foot, a new issue may have presented itself. For instance, walking on an injured foot leads to excess pressure exerted on the ankles because you can't place your foot properly on the ground while walking due to the injury resulting in a minor ankle injury.

Hence, during rehabilitation and physiotherapy, it is essential for a podiatrist to regularly assess the foot to ensure new issues that could affect the foot's performance don't materialize.