8 Easy Steps to Preventing Overuse Injuries

Staying active is important in maintaining a healthy weight, building strong bones, muscles, and joints, and keeping your ligaments limber. Too much of a good thing can be bad - even when it comes to exercise. There are more than five-million sports related injuries happening every year. With that, almost half of all sports injuries are because of overuse.

In order to prevent overuse injuries, please follow our helpful tips:

• Create warm-up and cool-down routines. Stretching out your muscles and tendons keeps them strong and prevents stiffening, which can easily result in an injury. Create a 10-15 minute warm up routine and with the same routine to cool you down and relax your body.

• Know the correct techniques. Every sport and exercise comes with its own physical demands, but knowing the right techniques can protect your body from injuries. If you are unaware of the proper techniques, ask a coach or trainer for a proper evaluation and lesson.

• Do not over train. Of course, practice makes perfect, but too much training can take you out of the game. It’s important to train for all aspects of the game, so don’t focus on one specific area. Remember to give yourself a break and of course have days to rest.

• Get a physical. Before sports season begins, you should receive a proper physical. It’s important to determine that you are in good health before you begin extensive training. Contact our office to schedule a foot and ankle examination before you begin your training routine.

• Increase your workout routine gradually. When you sign up for a sport it’s typical to jump right into intense practices every day, but this can be dangerous. Ease into physical activity and increase your time on a weekly basis.

• Vary your sports. Sticking to one sport can easily lead to overuse injuries. If you vary your sporting activity, it provides different motions so your feet and ankles are not forced into the same positions year round.

• Give it a rest. Staying physical is important to your overall health, but so is allowing your body time to rest. If you are active in sports, you should give yourself time to rest after every season. Playing year round is an easy way to gain an overuse injury.

• Treat your injuries. If you do experience an injury, don’t think that playing through the pain makes you a better and more dedicated player. Playing through an injury is dangerous to your health, and the health of your body should always come before the game.

You can reduce your risk for an overuse injury by following our helpful tips. Overuse injuries, like all injuries, should be taken seriously and treated immediately. If you don’t treat overuse injuries in a timely matter, they can result in permanent damage. If you develop an overuse injury, contact our office at (518) 273-0053 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tejas Pandya.

References:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20120421-OPINION-204210304

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Tips to Keep Your Running Feet Healthy

Running can be very intense and take a toll on your entire body - particularly your feet. Your feet bear the weight of your whole body every day as you walk, stand and run. Running may leave your feet sore and can put them at risk for many foot ailments.

In order to prevent injuries caused by running, Dr. Tejas Pandya has come up with some tips to improve the health of your feet.  They include the following:

• Cut your toenails. Your toenails should be trimmed on a weekly basis. Toenails should not exceed the ends of your toes and should be cut straight across. Cutting on a curve at the ends of the toenail can lead to painful ingrown toenails. Toenails that are too long can be irritated by your shoes or other toes while you run.

• Exercise your feet and toes. It’s important to exercise your entire body, but it is also important to pay special attention to areas like your feet and toes. Your feet are often ignored when it comes to exercise despite the fact that they do so much work for you day after day. You can perform simple exercises to keep your feet healthy, such as rolling your foot on a tennis ball, moving each toe individually and pivoting your ankles in order to strengthen muscles.

• Wash your feet. You should wash your feet on a daily basis to keep them clean, healthy and infection free. Make sure to wash with warm water and soap. It’s also important to dry your feet completely especially between all of your toes so you do not develop fungal infections.

• Stretch. Stretching helps keep your muscles from tightening. You should stretch at least 2-3 times every day. Try to stretch out your feet by pointing your toes to the ceiling and then the floor while holding for at least ten seconds. Make sure to alternate between each foot. You can also stretch your toes by lifting and pointing each toe individually.

• Rest. Running can tire your feet out so it’s important to rest your feet. Try running on non-consecutive days so you have days to rest your feet in between. If you experience pain from running take more time to rest while icing and elevating your feet.

If you experience pain, or an injury, as a result of running contact our office at (518) 273-0053 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Pandya.

Resources:

http://www.fitsugar.com/Tips-Ease-Sore-Runners-Feet-Prevent-Injury-22125091

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Bunion Prevention: Keep Track of Your Child’s Feet & Yours!

Taking proper care of your feet is important at all ages and children’s feet are especially important to take care of.  You want to make sure to keep up with the health of your kids’ feet to help prevent future painful foot ailments such as bunions.

A bunion is a growth of the bone, or tissue, that surrounds the joints based at your big toes. Bunions tend to develop slowly, so prevention techniques should be taken even during childhood.
Have your children follow these healthful tips to prevent bunions:

    •    Exercise your feet and toes. Include your children in your daily exercise routine and work out your feet and toes. Rotate your feet and try to move each toe individually. Point your toes up and down and practice picking up small objects using your toes.

    •    Wear correct shoe and sock sizes. Shoes that scrunch your toes can lead to bunions or causes them to spread. Children’s feet can grow at extremely fast rates so check your child’s shoes regularly.  You can do this by feeling the front of their shoes and see where the big toe lands. Footwear should allow the toes enough room to move. Your toes should not touch the end of your shoes and should be wide enough that toes will not be pushed together.

    •    Avoid excessive pronation. If your child’s feet roll inward too much during walking, running, or any form of physical activity, it can result in bunions. Supportive shoes, or arch support shoe inserts, can prevent this problem. You can also look into purchasing custom made orthotics, which can be used to prevent many different foot ailments and give your child’s feet the best functionality.

Keeping your feet healthy from an early age can help to keep you active for longer. If your child develops a bunion, or any other sort of foot ailment, contact our office at (518) 273-0053 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tejas Pandya.  He can help your child get back to his or her best foot health.

Resources:

http://www.capitaldistrictpodiatry.com/library/1773/BunionPrevention.html
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bunions-prevention

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Got Calcium? It May Help Prevent Future Foot Pain

Calcium is an essential element in maintaining the health of your bones, joints, muscles and ligaments. It helps build strong bones and bone tissue. But if you do not receive the proper amount of calcium, then over time calcium may be taken from your bones and given to the rest of your body.   This will weaken bones and bone tissue, which can result in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is a disease causing pain and stiffness in the joints and ultimately can limit mobility.  Your feet are more likely to develop arthritis because each foot contains 33 different joints and they carry around the weight of your entire body. Osteoarthritis may start as centralizing a particular joint, but may gradually expand to the other joints. In most cases, osteoarthritis slowly progresses and initial pain in the joints may only occur after physical activity. However over time, the cartilage between your bones will thin and pain will start to occur more often.  It may be painful at the slightest instances of physical activity, such as walking or using the stairs. Eventually pain and stiffness in the joints can even occur after extensive periods of relaxation until pain becomes consistent throughout all periods of activity and rest.

Osteoarthritis can cause numerous symptoms in the joints, which include:

·         Swelling
·         Inflammation
·         Tenderness
·         Pain
·         Immobility
·         Numbness
·         Tingling sensations
·         Skin abnormalities (rashes and growths)

You can keep foot joint tissue strong and healthy by maintaining healthy levels of calcium. Calcium can be found in many dairy products, as well as, leafy green vegetables, salmon, sardines and tofu. Your body should receive at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day and should be accompanied by vitamin D, which helps your body to absorb calcium.

Arthritis affects nearly 40 million Americans. The disease can be very painful and in serious cases disabling. Prevent your feet from developing osteoarthritis, or control your osteoarthritis, by maintaining healthy levels of calcium in your body. If you believe you are experiencing symptoms of osteoarthritis call our office at (518) 273-0053 or contact us online to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tejas Pandya.

More Info: http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/arthritis/osteoarthritis-symptoms

http://www.capitaldistrictpodiatry.com/library/1759/Arthritis.html; http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00227

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/osteoarthritis/DS00019; http://www.nutri-notes.com/novdec97_simple.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH00014

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