Injury Management
Managing Injuries in the Lower Limb
Injuries to the lower limb are very common so it is important to recognise and seek early management of an injury to reduce the recovery time.
After early detection of an injury, an appointment with a podiatrist will involve diagnosing the injured structures and determining the cause of injury followed by early treatment/management with the eventual goal of returning to sport.
Treating an Injury
Acute symptomatic injuries respond with initial rest, ice, anti-inflammatory, compression and elevation to manage the initial pain and help prevent the injury from becoming a chronic injury (long term).
Treating symptoms of an injury in isolation will rarely solve or prevent the injury from occurring again. A podiatrist will assess all aspects of an injury.
Diagnosing the Injury
A podiatrist will assess the structures involved and the symptoms which often results in a diagnosis.
This involves a history of the injury, palpation of the injury area, biomechanics assessment of the lower limb and visual gait assessment.
This allows for an accurate assessment of what tissues are affected and we can then diagnose the injury correctly.
However, referral for further investigations of X-ray, ultrasound or MRI may be required to rule out other possible diagnoses.
It is important to have an accurate diagnosis as treatments plans vary depending on the tissues affected.
It’s important to identify what factors caused the injury which helps resolve the injury quicker and stops the injury coming back.
Sometimes these injuries are from trauma of rolling an ankle whereas other injuries from overtraining are preventable.
Rehabilitating Your Injury
It is important when having an appointment with a podiatrist that you leave with a diagnosis of the injury, and the causative factors leading to the injury.
You also need to know the prognosis and timeframe of resolution and a treatment plan to help manage the injury to return to previous function.
It is important to prevent niggles turning into a serious injury.
To make an appointment with one of our Podiatrists to help prevent injuries and get you pain free – Call 3351 8878 or
