Foot pain may occur in your heel, arch, ball of foot or toes.
If your pain is a niggling ache just above the ankle, and you find yourself limping, then your achilles tendon may have become inflamed.
Sudden pain in the ankle together with swelling, bruising and instability probably means you have sprained your ankle. Sprains occur when the ankle is forced to move beyond its normal range when walking, running or jumping.
You should avoid putting weight on the ankle for at least the first 24 hours. Putting ice round the joint for ten minutes every hour during this period will also help. A bag of frozen peas will do nicely. Compression bandages and keeping the ankle elevated, preferably above the level of the heart will reduce swelling due to fluids accumulating below the skin. Prompt assessment is important to rule out severe injury such as a fracture or full ligament tear as these need to be treated differently. Untreated injuries can lead to poor healing and permanent damage
What to Expect
We will listen to your medical history and examine your feet and ankles to confirm whether the injury is a sprain, involves the achilles tendon or has another cause. We will rule out the possibility of a severe injury, and recommend an X-ray if a fracture is indicated.
We will assess your gait while walking, and look how you stand on your feet. We will use our hands to determine the position of the bones in and around your foot and look for other problems before deciding which treatment will be most effective for you.
- We can help rehabilitate your ankle after a sprain by hands-on soft tissue treatment of scar tissue and by restoring range of motion of the ankle.
- Where achilles tendinitis is diagnosed we will gentle articulate your ankle to encourage blood flow, reduce swelling and stimulate tissue repair. We will suggest a gentle stretching exercise regime that slowly increases in activity.
- Pain in different areas of the foot may be diagnosed as arising from a number of causes. Often manipulation techniques will relieve discomfort and tension. We will check to see if imbalances in the foot area have affected posture to the extent of causing changes in the pelvis and lower back. If not corrected such changes would cause pain in these areas later on.
We will consider contributing factors that may have helped caused any sprain or injury.
- Stiff ankle joints which tend to make the ankle ligaments work too hard.
- Overuse or sudden increases in activity involving the achilles tendon.
- Restricted joint movement in the knee, hip or back.
- Comparative length of your legs, as if these are unequal an ankle may be carrying too much load.
- Poor footwear.