How Can Podiatrists Help Runners?
I hear you questioning what can a podiatrist do for me?
From pesky corns to knee pain, we as podiatrists, can assess your feet and treat any problems you may be having.
Running puts a lot of pressure on your feet, as you will all know, so why not treat them to a bit of TLC. At The Foot Company, we can carry out routine appointments and biomechanical assessments.
We can help treat any damaged toenails you may have from shoes pushing on the end of your toes whilst running during a routine appointment. We can assess and remove any corns which are caused by a specific area of high pressure. Your corns may appear on the bottom of your feet, along the side, in-between your toes of even on the tops of your toes, so if you are getting any discomfort when you are running don’t leave the pain and the problem to get worse. It’s unlikely it will disappear by itself. The removal of corns is a pain-free process, and you will be leaving the clinic with instant relief. We can also remove patches of hard skin and educate you on maintaining your good foot health in-between visiting us.
A biomechanical assessment is a little bit more specialised. If you are getting any specific areas of aches and pains when running, this is the appointment you need to look at. During this assessment, we will assess your lower limb joints and review any areas of pain that you have specified. We will aim to pinpoint the pain and establish why this is happening.
We have many skills and treatments we can offer, depending on the body part we have identified is causing the pain and discomfort. We will assess your joints, have a look at you whilst standing and watch you walk and running on a treadmill. We may also ask you to take a walk in our specialist podosmart insoles. This technology allows us to identify the highest areas of pressure and track your walking patterns. We can see how your foot is falling on the floor and identify any problem area that we can then fix.
At the clinic, we will provide you with a treatment plan tailored to your requirements to get you back up and running. We can fit you with insoles to help stabilise and provide some support to the structures of your feet, a podiatrist will be able to discuss the different varieties of insoles with you during the appointment.
You may require strapping, some exercises and laser treatment. At The Foot Company, we have an MLS laser machine. This machine can help reduce pain and inflammation almost instantly. The laser machine increases your bodies natural healing capacity and encourages inflammatory cells to work harder for a faster recovery. The laser is brilliant for treating minor aches, pain, twinges that you have been leaving, hoping that they would go away. But it is also fantastic for treating the more intense conditions related to the plantar fascia, Achilles and metatarsal area.
If you have any condition highlighted in the blog, then please call the clinic; we can help. Remember, your body can’t look after you if you don’t look after it!