Foot, Ankle & Achilles pain
What is it?
Ankle pain can be common and the cause can be wide and varying. Ankle pain can stem from the heel or further up the leg as well as the ankle area. It can also be accompanied by redness or swelling alongside either a sharp sudden pain, or a dull aching pain. This is why our experts are on hand to fully assess your condition.
Foot pain can occur along any area of the foot, ranging from the toes, to the middle of the foot and also the heels. You may feel pain in the arch of your foot and discomfort can range from a sudden sharp pain to a dull aching pain. Plantar Fasciitis is a condition we deal with regularly and effectively and can be both assessed and treated by our in house experts. This presents as often a sharp pain when you put weight on your heel.
Achilles conditions can present as pain or swelling at the back of the ankle of heel. The pain may be minor but continuous or it could be sudden and sharp. It may be worse first thing in the morning.
How can we help?
Physiotherapy is an effective way to identify what is causing your discomfort from any of the above and also to set you on the path to recovery and prevention or re occurrence.
Before they begin to treat you, a Physiotherapist will pin down what exactly is causing you the discomfort via a Physio Assessment.
If you pain is foot pain we also offer a specialist service with cutting edge FOOTSCAN TECNOLOGY
If you are experiencing Achilles pain, Shockwave Therapy can be incredibly beneficial and transformative.
If your pain is foot pain, we offer specialist Footscan services to review symmetry, biomechanics, and imbalances when standing or mobilising. Gathering an enhanced understanding of weight distribution, pressure mapping and foot/ankle biomechanics through this specialist service has improved quality of life for many of our patients suffering from long term foot and ankle pain’.
What does a Physio Assessment Involve?
Do I need a Physio Assessment OR a Sports Massage?
Pre-event Sports Massage
If you have a sporting event such as a rugby match, 10km run, marathon training sessions or a triathlon coming up then sports massages can help to prepare your body by ensuring that your muscles and soft tissues are supple and ready for activity.
Post-event Sports Massage
Sports massage can help to accelerate recovery following activity enabling you to get back to training.
Maintenance Sports Massage
Some people will use sports massage to keep them fresh during training for large events but also when managing a long-term issue that has already been assessed and diagnosed. It can also help when you are working on posture improvements.
So at what point do I require more than a massage?
Some people think a Sports Massage is the answer to their problem, when the problem may be deeper rooted, or stemming from a totally different location on their body. If you have neurological symptoms (like pins and needles or numbness) or we suspect that there may be an underlying cause for your aches and pains then we’d often recommend a deeper investigation with a physiotherapy assessment.
Our bodies are cleverly made up of so many different parts which are designed to work perfectly and efficiently in sync with each other. If a cog in our wheel becomes imbalanced, weak, tight, injured or dysfunctional, we run into issues, and here’s the interesting part – you may experience pain in completely different parts of your body! Weird right? Some common examples of this are, back issues stemming from a weakness and imbalance in the hip or even feet!
Most of us are also sitting more and moving less, which can lead to muscle imbalances and weaknesses that have a knock-on effect to the way you move. When left untreated these imbalances can eventually result in pain and dysfunction. With non-traumatic injuries, pain is often the last thing to be felt and there’s usually stiffness or weakness well before pain comes on. In professional sport players are screened regularly to identify these imbalances so Physio’s can intervene before pain.
So, when you’re faced with the decision of whether you need a sports massage or physio assessment remember….
- Maintenance – assists in managing longer-term issues, and addressing on-going postural or repetitive strain issues.
- Post-event – accelerates recovery and ensures on-going training is not disrupted.
- Pre-event – assists in event preparation, ensuring muscles and soft tissue are supple and ready for activity.
