Blog, Sports Care
Winter sports’ greatest enemy…ankle sprain
Winter sports season means netball, footy and rugby union games galore (maybe even a spot of skiing!), but it also presents the increased risk of ankle sprains and strains…
“The chilly season means that muscles become cold. Without adequate warm-up exercises the muscles and connective tissue aren’t as flexible as they should be and this can lead to injury,” says Dr Brenden Brown, sports podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care.
Dr Brenden is calling on health practitioners to “up their ankle game” beyond the simple “text book approach”.
“Ankle sprains are a common winter sports injury. They occur as a result of involuntary sliding or twisting of the feet when you step on slippery or unstable ground. The sprain happens when the foot is forced into an unnatural position
“The intensity at which the ligaments stretch can sometimes be so severe that it causes fracture or serious inflammation and pains. Doing whatever you can to prevent an ankle sprain is a no-brainer.”
Avoiding winter sports ankle injuries
Planning ahead is a great way to prevent winter sports injuries—particularly when it comes to ankle injuries. With the right preparation and precautions you can reduce the risk of an ankle sprain or strain.
“The common preventative treatment for ankle sprains is balance exercises, but while this might go some way to help reduce ankle sprains the approach really needs to be multi-factorial,” says Dr Brenden.
“To lessen the risk of injury you need to use taping, bracing and practice strength exercises.”
But be warned, Dr Brenden explains that many healthcare professionals—including, physios, chiros, sports coaches and others—at times only suggest doing calf raises. He says, “This is fine if the sport you’re doing only requires you to move the ankle up and down, but if your sport means moving your ankles side to side (for example, skiing, netball, rugby league, football and almost all sports!) then calf raises are of no use.
“A textbook response to ankle sprains will often end patients in trouble. If your health professional is merely suggesting calf raises, it’s time to look further afield.
“More and more evidence suggests we need to look much further up the body, toward the gluteal muscles and alike.
“As such, your strength training needs to incorporate more than just your ankle and should be more sport specific.”
Dr Brenden says you need to functionally challenge the ankle in order to strengthen it appropriately and a special emphasis should be on preparation.
“Those participating in winter sports (or any sports for that matter!) can benefit from completing a tailored muscle strength-conditioning program. This is particularly the case if you’ve suffered a previous ankle sprain or are at high risk of injury.”
Points to note:
- Ankle strengthening activities should include hoping, jumping and cutting movements if that is part of your sport
- Strength exercises should include loading the muscles to be able to dynamically work as they would in your chosen sport
- Loading the muscle prepares your muscles for the activity ahead. This may include using more than just weight-bearing exercises and incorporating resistance-based training.
Additional measures to help prevent ankle sprains include:
- Warming up. Cold muscles are less flexible and more prone to injury
- Wearing footwear appropriate to your sport
- Making sure your footwear fits you properly (loose boots can cause falls, increasing risk of ankle injury)
- Taking the time to cool down. Slow stretching can reduce post-sports muscle tightness and soreness and may help reduce future risk of injury
- Knowing your limits and sticking to them
Treating your ankle sprain
The immediate treatment for an ankle sprain is the RICE approach. This incorporates: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.
- REST: “if it hurts don’t do it”. Giving your ankle a period of rest after the sprain can assist with healing
- ICE: apply ice packs to the ankles, or area of discomfort
- COMPRESSION: apply bandages over the injured area. Compression socks are available from your local podiatrist’s clinic
- ELEVATION: lift the foot up above the waist or heart.
“Evidence shows that ankle sprains are unlikely to get better by themselves. Plus once you have an ankle sprain, you’re significantly more likely to have another sprain.”
“So just like the pre-sport preparation phase, it’s time to get back to strength and exercise-based rehabilitation as your next phase in rehab,” says Dr Brenden.
Related articles:
Your guide to rock-solid ankle stability
Your guide to choosing the best netball shoe
Your guide to choosing a footy boot
Think you have a heel spur, think again
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years.
With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.
Blog, Sports Care
Your guide to choosing the right football boot
“Numerous sports people come to see me every year and apart from problems with foot or body posture, a big issue is wearing the wrong football boots for their feet,” says sports podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care Dr Brenden Brown.
Common football foot injuries and how you can avoid them
Achilles tendonitis and Sever’s disease
“Most shoes are not flat, they’re higher at the heel than at the front. Yet, the majority of football boots on the market are perfectly flat.
“A combination of tight muscles (muscles that are overworking due to sport) plus wearing completely flat shoes—which is common in most footy boots but uncommon in your regular footwear—can lead to serious foot problems in adults and kids. Foot issues include pain in the arch of the foot and heel pain.”
Quick fix: To address some of the issues associated with flat shoes, most podiatrists can give you a heel raiser to pop in the back of the shoe. You can also look for a football boot with a raised heel.
Ankle strains
“Amongst other things, one of the keys to preventing ankle strains is to avoid shoes with a highly flexible shank (midsole),” says Dr Brenden.
“When selecting a football boot —or any shoe for that matter—hold the shoe with one hand on the back heel and the other hand on the toes and try to twist in opposite directions, as if you’re wringing the shoe out. If you can wring out the shoe easily (like a cloth), it’s a no, no.
“Good football boots won’t allow you to do this; they should have strength and support in the midsole section to control and stabilise your foot. This can help to protect against ankle strains.”
Shin splints
“Most football boots are designed with a flat foot bed, which can lead to many issues — one of which is shin splints. Shin splints are more common in people with flatter feet than in those with high arches and can be a result of poor choice of football boot or sudden increase in activity.”
Dr Brenden explains that the lack of cushioning puts excess pressure or force on the muscles, tendons and bone tissues surrounding the shin. This leads to inflammation and pain.
“Calf tightness is also a culprit!” he adds.
Quick fix: Stretch out those calves. Make sure to stretch both muscles. A quick internet search will throw up lots of great calf-stretching exercises.
A guide to choosing a great footy boot
“Footy boots are often designed for and around elite footballers and while a particular football boot might be fine for Beckham—it’s often not ideal for Bradley in the Under 13s!”
General Manager of product for ASICS Mark Doherty says, “In ASICS football boots we raise the heel by 10mm and that’s quite unique to ASICS; most footy boots are flatsole boots (or zero platform as we call it).
“The principle behind the 10mm heel is injury prevention; it raises the heel to take a bit of the strain of the muscles in the lower limb and hopefully it helps with some of the muscle overuse injuries that people get.”
ASICS Lethal Ultimate has a full midsole—on the fore foot and the rear. It also still has the 10mm heel raise. The idea behind the Ultimate is that it offers comfort and cushioning, so on really hard Aussie ground it gives the added protection that you don’t normally get from a soccer boot.
“The midsole also allows for a wider fit,” adds Mark.
“The Lethal Tigreor is a speed shoe. They look like any other football boot (from other brands) but they’re unique in that they have a midsole in the rear of the shoe, which gives the shoe that 10mm raise.
“Our boots are also unique in that they all have a removable sockliner. You can take the sockliner out and put an orthotic in without losing that all-important depth in the heel of the shoe.”
He says price will play a factor in determining the quality of the shoe. Shoes can vary from 100% synthetic upper to part synthetic, part leather through to full kangaroo leather (as is the case with ASICS Testimonial).
“The Tigreor Junior has a kangaroo toe box, which is unique and feels really good. Kangaroo is only 0.8 mm thick, whereas most synthetic or calf leather is 1.3mm thick. The thinner the material the better, as you get a greater feel of the ball. Kangaroo is thin but also very tough, making it ideal for football boots,” says Mark.
Key factors to consider when selecting a footy boot
- It needs a firm heel counter
- You shouldn’t be able to wring or twist the shoe
- A shoe shouldn’t bend in the middle
- It should be highly flexible in the toe area
- Most people will also benefit from having a slight heel raise
Other articles you might like:
Your guide to rock-solid ankle stability
10 things you should know about heel pain
Think you have a heel spur? Think again
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years.
With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.
Blog, Sports Care
Your guide to choosing the best netball shoe
“The days of calling netball a non-contact sport are well and truly over,” says sports podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care Dr Brenden Brown.
He says netball is not only physically demanding, it’s a high-impact sport in which foot and ankle injuries are rife (particularly if players aren’t wearing appropriate footwear!).
Do players really need new netball shoes every season?
Short answer is, ‘Yes, they do!’
“Netball involves lots of twisting on one foot, side to side motion, jumping and running—as a consequence, many players get ankle sprains. Having a new pair of shoes at the beginning of netball season is essential. It’s an injury-prevention no-brainer!
“Good quality netball shoes go a long way to assisting with injury prevention. I witness this time and time again…I’m a netball Dad and when I see a child on the sideline with an injury, it’s universally in a poor shoe,” says Dr Brenden.
Regular runners vs netball shoes: what’s the difference?
Mark Doherty, ASICS general manager of product, knows a thing or two when it comes to sports shoes. He explains that the sole of a netball shoe is a lot different to that of a running shoe.
“We tend to use solid rubber in the soles of our netball shoes, whereas in a running shoe we use blown rubber which is an air injected rubber.
“While we want netball shoes to be lighter and lighter, we also need to make sure they last and offer the wearer the protection they require.
“Solid rubber has the ability to wrap around the shoe and it also stabilises the shoe so that when you go into cross-lateral movements there’s the solid platform you need.
“If you were wearing a running shoe, the shoe could potentially collapse on the lateral sides because of the movement involved in netball.”
What makes a great netball shoe?
“When choosing a netball shoe consider cushioning, stability, support and weight (you want it to be lightweight). A firm heel counter is important and there should be minimal twisting or ringing out of the shoe,” says Dr Brenden.
“An adequate toe box is essential too. Make sure the shoe is comfortable and roomy enough around the toes when you first try it on; these shoes are NOT designed to stretch.”
Mark says the basic principle is that a netball shoe should have a more stable base than a running shoe, but it’s also important to consider durability and performance of the shoe to last longer.
Are new designs just marketing hype?
“We have a couple of top shoe models that we change every two to three years, based on the latest technology. This might allow us to make the shoe lighter, more durable or more flexible,” says Mark.
“For 2018 ASICS’s introduced the new Netburner Professional with an updated midsole foam that’s much lighter than any foam we’ve ever developed before.
“The Professional has more of a running-type feel to the shoe with the added bonus of that extra protection that’s needed in a netball shoe.”
Final note: It pays to get professional advice when choosing a netball shoe.
“When you’re buying a sports-specific shoe, it’s a great idea to get professional advice.
“If you’re someone with a really high arch and you select a shoe that’s designed for someone with a low arch you are VERY likely to increase your risk of injury,” says Dr Brenden.
“Shoes differ from season to season—for example the Netburner Professional has a new, more flexible, upper material this year—which can change the feel of the shoe.
“But also, a shoe is like a fingerprint; because of the amount of manual labour involved, no two shoes are the same,” says Mark.
“Even if you pull out two size eights in the same shoe, there can be slight differences because of the tolerances you have in midsole density or the upper might be slightly different. It’s always best to try on shoes to allow for these minor differences.”
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is one of Sydney’s leading foot and ankle clinics. Principal podiatrist and founder of A Step Ahead Dr Brenden Brown (AKA Dr Foot) has been taking care of people’s feet for more than 20 years.
With a background in sports medicine and having served as a former president of the Australasian Podiatry Council, Brenden is a wealth of information when it comes to foot and ankle care.
Got a foot-related question? AskDrFoot
Blog, Heel Pain, Shockwave, Sports Care
Blog, Kids Feet, Sports Care
Blog, Kids Feet, Sports Care
Tripping, falling, clumsy or Growing pains – Is it really normal?
Is growing really responsible for your little one’s discomfort?
So, your little one is having a tough time and, therefore, so are you! There’s something not quite right but you just can’t put your finger on it.
Perhaps they seem clumsy, or they trip and fall a little more than their friends of the same age. Maybe they don’t want to walk distances. Perhaps it appears they tire out more than the other kids. Sound familiar?
One of the most frustrating things for a parent or carer is having a child that, for no know apparent reason, wakes at night with pain in their feet legs and lower limbs. Often they’ll be in tears with pain. You’ve tried massaging them, or heat packs. You may have tried Panadol and Nurofen.
What you need is answers!
You head to the GP to tell them the things you’ve noticed. Frustratingly you’re told, “they will grow out of it” or…
“it’s growing pains” or…
“All kids get that” or …
“There’s nothing that you can do” or…
“Oh, it’s completely normal”
Whaaaaaat – You scream!!!
Well we don’t think it’s normal and there is something you can do!
All of the above are classic symptoms we see and recognise as signs your child has foot and lower limb posture problems, and this most certainly CAN be treated.
Getting rid of your child’s pain
We see hundreds of kids who present with their parents with very similar complaints each and every year. Frustrated parents with children who are looking for answers.
One of the most rewarding things about being a practitioner is getting these kids back to health, activity and pain free! To do this we start by running through a detailed history. We examine walking, standing and posture.
We will then recommend treatment aimed at stopping the pain and making your child comfortable (and happy!) again. We provide useful suggestions around footwear, prescribe therapies like massage or orthotics alongside possibly stretching and muscle strength exercises – all aimed at kids and designed to be kid friendly!
Results that make you smile!
There is nothing better than seeing a once uncomfortable child who woke at night crying sitting in your office with a big smile! With parents who have equally enormous smiles!
Parents get to see their once-clumsy-child running around without as many grazed knees. Many mums feel relieved that they no longer have to continuously pick up their child or push them endlessly in the pram because they can now walk distances complaint free!
As a clinic we see numerous kids each week, and we LOVE it! There is little greater than knowing you’ve made someone else’s life just a little bit better. It’s quite addictive.
In an age where we find ourselves complaining that our kids need to “get outside and play more” or we’re constantly saying “put your device down” it’s important that we make certain that they have the ability to be active – without pain.
Too many times we have meet frustrated parents and upset kids who come into our office after being told there is nothing they can do only to find they could have been making things better weeks months or even years earlier!
First steps
Is this sounds all too familiar, we’d like to help. Perhaps this is something that a friend or relative may benefit from. If that’s the case we’d love you to share it with them so they can find relief!
A Step Ahead Foot + Ankle Care is based in Western Sydney. We have multiple practitioners with loads of experience treating kids! Its our passion!
If you’d like more information please contact our helpful front desk team. They are brilliant at working through what help you need, guiding you to the appointment that is right for your family, running through costings and then reserving your appointment time. Call us today on +61 2 9673 2987 we look forward to helping.
Have you checked out our page dedicated to kids’ foot problems? Click here for more information.
Got a question? Visit us on instagram #AskDrFoot