If you are a runner with pain in the ball of the foot at the base of the second toe and start researching online, you may become concerned you have a thing called a plantar plate injury.
If so, you may be wondering whether X-rays or MRI imaging may be needed to tell what is wrong. Before seeing a doctor, it may be helpful to understand which are helpful, and which imaging studies are a waste of time.
What is the worst possible medical imaging study you could get if you’re a runner with a suspected plantar plate injury?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common conditions that affects runners.
In fact, foot pain consistent with plantar fasciitis accounts for about 40% of all visits to the podiatrists in the United States each year.
Unfortunately, just because you think that you have plantar fasciitis, and you started doing some simple things to treat it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to get better.
If you are a runner, and you think you have plantar fasciitis, you must realize there are some avoidable mistakes you could make when trying to self-treat runner’s heel pain.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about the top five reasons runners heel pain doesn’t get better.
View Details »There are three key indications that tell me that somebody may not have plantar fasciitis, but probably have something else.
If you think you have plantar fasciitis, you may have a different form of runner’s heel pain. Treating the wrong condition will not get you back to running. Understanding the ways plantar fasciitis shows up can help you make sure you don’t have something else causing your heel pain.
What are the three best signs that your heel pain is not Plantar fasciitis?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I got a specific question about a recent episode on calluses in runners.
The question was, “Well, if you have that pattern of callus, and reduce the thickness of the callus so the callus is going away, does that mean there is less pressure there?”
You may have checked out the episode on the three callus patterns that I see in runners at high risk for getting a plantar plate injury.
Does callus reduction reduce your risk or decrease the risk that you’re going to get a plantar plate sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »If you are a runner and you get pain in the ball of the foot, particularly at the base of the second toe right. It could be a plantar plate sprain.
Whenever I see a runner on webcam who has pain that sounds like a plantar plate sprain, the first thing I do is look for any callus pattern in the skin that suggests they have too much pressure and friction at that area that could injure the plantar plate ligament underneath the skin.
This episode will help you understand how certain callus patterns relate to some basic foot mechanics when you’re trying to figure out what is causing your ball of foot pain.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about three callus patterns I often see that can suggest you have a risk for getting a plantar plate sprain if you are a runner.
View Details »Let’s say you’re out on a trail run, you roll your ankle and sprain it. So what do you do?
You limp home, you get back to the car, you ice it, you take some pressure off of it, you elevate it, you do all the right stuff. But, it’s really painful and swollen the next few days.
Then, maybe a day or two later, it’s black, it’s blue and swollen. But even worse, you look down and you’re kind of dismayed because your toes are swollen like sausages.
Believe it or not, I have had a number of patients who called me, not because they sprained their ankle, but because they were actually worried they may have broken toes as well.
Is it possible to break your toes at the same time you get an ankle sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Today’s episode comes from a discussion I just had yesterday with an athlete. He had a metatarsal fracture non-union.
A “fracture non-union” can develop when there is a crack in the bone that moving a little bit too much and doesn’t completely heal.
Non-unions can happen if you get a stress fracture, and you keep running on it and you’re tough and you’re strong and it doesn’t really hurt that bad.
If you keep running and repeatedly stress that crack, it can’t heal.
Should I get a CT scan or should I test walking to see if my fracture is healed?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »When you get an injury to a bone like a metatarsal stress fracture, you can develop a thing called a “bone callus.”
You might even see it as a lump visible on the x-ray in your doctors office.
Whether the lump is made up of hard bone, fibrocartilage or something in between, it may help you to understand the significance of that lump in your foot.
When the bone callous appears, and the size of the bone callous itself, can tell your whole lot about your progression of healing, and whether or not you might get other problems in the future.
What is a bone callus in a metatarsal stress fracture? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On the Run Podcast!
View Details »Achilles tendon injury on one leg and a calf muscle strain on the other leg?
Talk about a bummer: 2-for-the-price-of-1 overtraining injuries! Yes, it is possible to get similar running injuries on opposite legs, at the same time.
Today I had a conversation with a runner who has developed both of these injuries from running. These are actually just opposite ends of the same biomechanical spectrum at work. During the call I was explaining to him how it can happen, and how he could make some simple changes to prevent it from happening again in the future.
How can running on the road cause Achilles tendinitis in one leg and calf strain on the other? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast!
View Details »What would be worse than not being able to run because you had foot pain that didn’t get better for a year or two?
I know one thing that would be worse… Having foot surgery to treat a problem that was not actually even located in the foot.
Think about that. You had pain in your foot for two years. Then some doctor convinces you to have surgery, only to find out there was no problem with the tendon.
You stop running. You have surgery. You wait for your stitches to heal. You have to stay off your feet until the incision is all healed.
And your foot pain does not change at all.
Sounds crazy, but this can happen. And it’s most likely to occur when you have something called referred pain. The pain in your foot might be actually caused by nerve compression deep to your glues maximus…that’ right…in your butt.
Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast we are talking about foot pain that is truly a pain in the butt!
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