How Can I Cure My Heel Pain Fast? The Pain of Plantar Fasciitis. What is Plantar Fasciitis? Heel pain is a common problem that affects people at any stage of their life, but it is more common in our middle age. It can be very restricting, and last for extended periods of time for some people. The plantar fascia attaches to the heel bone, and it can become very painful at this site. The condition is more common in active people, runners, and those who stand on flat hard floors for extended periods of time.   Diagnosis Commonly heel pain [...]

Are you a runner? Partner of a runner, child or parent of a runner? Workmate of a runner? If you are any of these doubtless you have lived through the experience of being around a runner who is being prevented from running. Working with injured runners as a health professional can also bring its challenges, as the mindset of a runner can be quite different… To a non runner, the very idea of pounding pavements for hours on end in driving rain, winds, freezing temperatures and darkness sounds ridiculous. However, more and more people are taking to the roads, and [...]

Its that time of year again when we see an increase in the number of verrucae coming through our clinic doors. Is it because of swimming pools on holiday, more sports over the summer, or the lack of socks in warmer weather? We aren’t sure, but we often see peoples anxiety over these pesky warts. Verrucae are warts, on the foot, and are caused by a virus. People have mixed reactions to them, but usually they are quite motivated to get rid of them, especially if they are causing them pain. Verrucae come in many shapes and sizes, and can [...]

We know that orthotics work for pain related to disorders of the foot in 70 to 80 percent of cases. There has been numerous studies which always arrive at this percentage of successful interventions for orthotics, which in the world of evidence based medicine is a very good success rate, and high enough for podiatrists to prescribe devices with confidence that they have a good chance of reducing their patient’s pain. How do they work? There has been a number of theories and paradigms over the years, and the reality is that we are still not exactly sure how they [...]

In a word, change. Change is what causes injuries. As healthcare professionals we always try to ascertain the mechanism of injury, what movement caused the injury. This can be anything from a football tackle, to lifting a toddler or a sneeze (more common than you may think). These are sudden changes, when the forces acting on the tissues in the body have a sudden increase in their size or the forces are applied in a different direction. A sudden change has been introduced, and as such an injury has occurred. Of course, change doesn’t have to be sudden. The straw [...]

 School Shoe Shopping Its that time of year again when the shoe shops are filled with parents and kids getting uniforms and shoes in preparation for the new school year. “Do they feel too tight? Where’s your toe in them?” Parents doing their utmost to ensure they don’t pay for shoes which the child will claim hurt them inside 20 minutes of wearing them. Shoe shop assistants helping and measuring feet. The surprise at the till when 3 pairs come to pretty much what you paid for your first car. It can be a stressful time. What matters? Fit, support [...]

Balance What do our feet do? Why are our feet such complex structures, so many bones, muscles and ligaments?  It all comes down to balance. Its a tough ask to get a structure the size and weight of a human to balance on something the size of feet, let alone move without falling over, just ask any engineer. It has taken years of the finest engineering minds and enormous corporate budgets to make clumsy robots that fall on rough ground.  Our feet are a wonder, in their ability to hold us up on pretty much any terrain, and allow us [...]

Cracked heels can make for a miserable summer for many, but why do they make an appearance in the summer months? The skin on the soles of our feet has a much harder job than anywhere else on our body. Skin has to allow perspiration, be waterproof, house nerve endings, protect deeper structures. The skin on our feet has to do this whilst taking our full body weight for thousands of steps each day. Skin needs to be supple so that it may stretch and deform according to the demands placed on it, and any changes in hydration of the [...]

Inspired to Run Great sporting events leave a bit of their magic with many of us. I’m sure we can all remember a sporting event from our childhood that put a fire in our belly, if even for just a little while. The roads are currently littered with people on bikes, inspired by Le Tour coming to the UK. Are you inspired to run? This week, the Commonwealth Games will be dominating the sporting media, and lets hope it brings some inspiration with it. Being inspired to run might just change your life, running can offer enormous health [...]