Do you find yourself missing out on many of your favorite activities due to foot and ankle pain? Has limping, hobbling, or simply staying off your feet replaced walking, jogging, dancing, or doing a day’s work? From soft tissue strains and degenerative joint problems to broken bones, problems afflicting the foot and/or ankle can put serious constraints on your life. But you don’t have to let your foot and ankle pain dictate your mobility and comfort. Physical therapy can get you back on your feet again, so contact our clinics to talk to our physical therapist about a personalized treatment plan!
When you consider how much work your feet and ankles have to do, it’s little wonder that these structure feature so many working parts, each of which must cooperate with the others to permit normal function. The foot contains up to one-quarter of all the bones in the human body, with 30 joints articulated by about a hundred different muscles and connective tissues. A network of fine nerves branches from the leg through the ankle and into the foot and toes — nerves which ensure that you feel pain whenever a problem occurs in this area. Since the foot and ankle are responsible for supporting and balancing your body under its full weight as you stand and move, even a small injury or dysfunction can cause big pain.
Some causes of acute foot and ankle pain may seem straightforward enough. A fracture in one of the many foot or ankle bones will obviously cause intense pain that prevents you from putting any weight on it. “Turning” your ankle by accidentally hyperextending it inward or outward can cause an acute strain (stretching or tearing of tendons or muscles) or a sprain (stretching or tearing of the ligaments).
Other causes of foot pain may prove harder to figure out because you can’t connect them to a particular accident or traumatic event. These chronic foot pain problems include:
Why might you take your foot and ankle pain to a physical therapist? The most common alternatives, painkilling drugs, only provide temporary relief — and some of them can cause physical damage, dangerous interactions, or dependence. Physical therapy not only eases your pain safely and effectively; it also treats the underlying issues behind your pain so you can enjoy better function and health.
The physical therapy plan you receive for your foot or ankle problem will vary according to the exact cause of your pain and what stage of the problem you’re experiencing. Common techniques include:
Get your feet back under you the safe, effective, drug-free way. Contact our physical therapy centers today at Casper, WY and Glenrock, WY to set up a treatment plan!
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