Best Ways to Care for Your Feet After Exercise

If you are active on a regular basis, you may not be able to escape the aches and pains that often accompany your body being put to the test. Due to the stresses involved in most sports and exercise activity, feet often take the brunt of the impact and can leave you limping.

Do you have tired, sore and achy feet after exercise?

There could be several reasons for having sore feet after exercise but let’s start with some easy ways you can care for your feet. Dr. Tejas Pandya, a foot specialist in Troy, NY treats athletes and sports enthusiasts on a regular basis and consistently encourages them to treat their feet well to stay in the game. Prevention can keep injuries away!

Here are some easy but worthy tips for caring for your feet after exercising:

• Get off of your feet and rest. Simply bearing the weight of your body can make feet tired and sore even without the extra impact during exercise.

• Put your feet up. Sore feet are often accompanied by swelling and elevating your feet after exercise will help to reduce any swelling that may occur. Take off your shoes and socks as well.

• Ease soreness with ice. Grab an ice pack or bag of frozen peas and put it on your foot to ease discomfort and help reduce any swelling.

• Relax in a footbath. A footbath with warm water or cold water can relax muscles or help with soreness. Adding some oils or Epsom salts can soothe feet as well. Just a note, if you have diabetes, it is advised to stay away from warm footbaths altogether.

It is normal for your feet to need time to adjust to a new workout routine or exercise activity but any lingering pain should never be ignored. A small problem could turn much more serious without proper treatment. For treatment or other foot health information, call our podiatric office today for an appointment. You can reach Dr. Pandya at (518) 273-0053 or visit www.capitaldistrictpodiatry.com.

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Maintain Healthy Feet through an Unpredictable Forecast

As you enter the fall season and colder weather is headed your way, you need to prepare your feet for the upcoming changes. One day it feels like summer and the next fall is ever so present on your doorstep. With this up and down in temperature it feels like whiplash weather!

While the forecast may always remain unpredictable, despite the weather’s man’s predictions, your health can pay the price. In order to maintain the health of your feet and the rest of your body throughout these weather changes follow these helpful tips.   

• Maintain a healthy diet. Make sure that your meals are packed with nutritional foods like green veggies and plenty of omega-3 fats, which can be found in fish or fish oil supplements. A well balanced diet can reduce inflammation in your feet and keep your entire body healthy no matter what weather blows your way.

• Get enough sleep. Your body needs eight hours of sleep every night so remember to plan your day accordingly. Sleep restores energy and can reduce stress levels.

• Take a shower. You should try to shower every night before you go to bed and every morning directly after you wake up. Taking a shower before you go to bed can help you fall asleep more easily. Taking a shower after you wake up can increase the blood circulation throughout your entire body, which reduces your risk for aches and pains.

• Drink water. You need to stay hydrated throughout the day to ward off sickness. Drinking water regularly keeps your immune system at its best. You should try to drink about two to three liters of water every day.

• Dress for the occasion. It’s important to keep your feet protected, so as the weather changes make sure to warm your feet with socks and enclosed toe shoes. Just like the rest of your body, your feet need to maintain a healthy temperature. Feet that are too hot or too cold can easily damage your health.

In order to maintain your health all year long, you need to take the proper precautionary steps and adjust to the changes in weather. If you notice a decline in the health of your feet this season contact our office at (518) 273-0053 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tejas Pandya.

References:

http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=192947
http://www.momtastic.com/health-and-beauty/diet-a-nutrition/161679-stay-healthy-as-the-seasons-change
http://www.everydayhealth.com/foot-health/nutrition-and-your-feet.aspx

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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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Give Your Feet a Rest

If you are a runner you know exactly how demanding the sport can be. Runners often train everyday to keep up or increase their stamina.  But this can be a huge mistake concerning the health of your feet and entire body. Running can be extremely stressful to your joints and muscles.  Your body and feet need off days to rest.

Running causes your feet to strike hard against the ground beneath them, which can often be damaging to your muscles. This makes it so important to not only stretch your feet, legs, and ankles, but also give them proper rest. One or two days off from running every week is not enough and your body should receive at least one or two days in between each run. This time allows your days of training and exercise to be broken up so the muscles of your feet, ankles, and legs can catch up. Giving your body days of rest can actually make your muscles stronger rather than exhausting them from overtraining.

Just like your brain and the rest of your body requires sleep every night for energy and to stay healthy, your feet require their own form of rest - especially when you are a runner. This doesn’t mean you need to remain completely inactive for an entire day, but just spend a day without your usual run. Dr. Tejas Pandya does not suggest you taking days off as a couch potato, watching TV or sleeping the day away.  But he encourages you to stretch, perform yoga, or any form of lighter exercise. Days of rest can also maintain your motivation to the sport of running because it is no longer a daily chore and you receive mental breaks from the sport.

Running on a daily basis without giving your feet proper days of rest can be severely damaging to your muscles and may result in a wide range of injuries. Allowing your body resting days has shown to decrease painful overuse injuries. If a running injury does occur, contact our office at (518) 273-0053 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tejas Pandya.

References:

http://running.about.com/od/injuryprevention/f/restdays.htm

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