Whether you’re training for your very first marathon or preparing for your tenth, it’s important to begin your training program on the right foot.  A lack of experience coupled with the repetitive impact placed on the feet and ankles during a long run can produce enough stress to cause hairline fractures and other debilitating foot injuries.

Many foot problems seen in marathoners are caused by the repetitive pounding over the months of long-distance running. In some people injury is triggered by the abnormal foot biomechanics and in others it is because of poor training. During a 10-mile run, the feet make about 15,000 strikes, at a force of three to four times the body's weight. Even if you have perfect foot mechanics, injuries and pain are often unavoidable with this amount of stress.  

To prevent injury during training, it’s important to pay close attention to your feet.  When increasing mileage, avoid doing so too quickly. The increased forced can make your feet more susceptible to stress fractures.

Basic tips for training include:

• Follow a training schedule that is appropriate for your experience level
• Start easy and increase your mileage slowly
• Stretch and warm up properly to reduce strain on muscles, tendons and joints
• Choose appropriate footwear based on your foot structure, function, body type, running environment and training regimen
• Never ignore pain. If the pain gets worse with reduced exercise and rest, stop training and visit your podiatrist

Aside from stress fractures which often occur from overtraining, additional foot problems you may experience include:

• Toenail problems, including ingrown and fungus
• Heel pain, such as plantar fasciitis
• Achilles tendon and calf pain
• Toe pain, such as bunions
• Shin splints

Before you start training, Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD. recommends visiting a podiatrist for a complete evaluation of your lower extremities.  Our Reston, Manassas & Leesburg offices will examine your feet and identify potential problems, discuss training tactics, prescribe an orthotic device that fits into a running shoe (if needed), and recommend the best style of footwear for your feet to allow for injury free training all the way up to your race day. It is especially important to come in for an exam if you have already started training and are experiencing foot or ankle pain.  

Training for a marathon is hard work. It takes time and dedication.  At Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD., we offer special interest and expertise working with marathoners to ensure good foot health throughout your entire training program to help you achieve your goals.

The Achilles tendon is the strong band of tissue that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. This lower leg tendon enables you to walk, jump, stand on your toes and climb stairs. You rely on it virtually every time you move your foot.

When the tendon is stretched beyond its normal capacity, a complete or partial tear may occur. Most Achilles tendon ruptures occur as a result of sport-related injuries when forceful jumping or sudden accelerations of running overstretch the tendon and cause a tear. Individuals with Achilles tendinitis -- weak and inflamed tendons -- are also more susceptible to tendon tears.

Signs of a torn Achilles tendon include:

• Sudden, sharp pain in the back of the ankle and lower leg
• Snapping or popping sensation at the time of the injury
• Swelling down the back side of the leg or near the heel
• Difficulty walking or rising up on the toes

The best treatment for a torn Achilles tendon is prevention. Avoiding this injury could save yourself months of rehab and extended time away from your game. Help prevent injury to your Achilles tendon by:

• stretching your calf muscles regularly
• limiting hill-running and jumping activities that place excess stress on the Achilles tendons
• resting during exercise when you experience pain
• maintaining a healthy weight
• alternating high impact sports, such as running with low impact sports, such as walking or biking
• wearing appropriate, supportive shoes with proper heel cushioning

If you suspect a ruptured Achilles tendon, visit Reston, Manassas & Leesburg Foot and Ankle Centers as soon as possible. Until you can seek professional care, avoid walking on the injured tendon and keep it elevated. Ice the affected area to reduce pain and swelling and if possible, wrap the injured foot and ankle. For partial tears, swelling and pain may be less severe, but prompt treatment should still be administered.

Treatment for an Achilles tendon rupture can be surgical or non-surgical. Surgery to reattach the tendon is generally recommended, followed by rehabilitation, especially for individuals who want to return to recreational sports. Reston, Manassas & Leesburg Foot and Ankle Centers can evaluate the severity of your tear and suggest the best treatment plan. With proper care, most people return to their former level of performance within six months.

How to Maximize Your Game with Good Foot Health

When it comes to exercise, your feet are one of the most overlooked parts of the body, enduring tremendous strain and stress during a hard workout. It's no surprise that an athlete's foot and ankle are prime candidates for injuries. According to the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), poor foot care during physical activity is a contributing factor to some of the more than 300 foot ailments.

The following tips may help prevent foot and ankle injuries to keep you in the game.

Get a check-up
Visit Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD. and your regular physician before starting any sport or fitness activity. This should include a complete foot and physical exam. During a foot exam, a podiatrist can identify whether your previously injured ankle is vulnerable to sprains, and recommend supportive ankle braces for increased stability.

Pre-workout warm up and stretch
Jogging before a competition or workout can help reduce the risk for foot and ankle injuries by warming up muscles, ligaments and blood vessels. Proper stretching before beginning a workout is also important. When muscles are properly stretched, the strain on joints, tendons and muscles is greatly reduced.

Treat foot and ankle injuries immediately
It's possible to injure bones in the foot or ankle without knowing it. What may seem like a sprain at the time may actually be a fracture. See a podiatrist at the first onset of ankle pain. The sooner you start treatment, the better your chance of preventing long-term problems like instability, and the sooner you can get back in the game.

Wear shoes specific to your sport
Different fitness programs require different footwear. Wearing the appropriate type of athletic shoe for your unique foot type and needs can help prevent foot problems while keeping you at your best performance. Remember to replace old, worn shoes in order to ensure optimal stability and support.

Pay attention to what your feet are telling you and remember to rest and consult our Reston, Manassas, Leesburg, VA office when you first notice pain. Exercising is a great way to stay energized and fit, but if you're neglecting the health of your feet, you may be setting yourself up for serious injury.

Treating an array of problems of the foot and ankle at Reston, Manassas & Leesburg Foot and Ankle Centers, we put the best of technology to work in diagnosing many biomechanical injuries and abnormalities that cause pain and discomfort when walking or running.

After extensive research and new advances in podiatric technology, there are now faster and more accurate ways to asses a patient's feet and administer the most appropriate treatment. In fact, many foot problems can be treated most effectively by addressing their mechanical function, and at Reston, Manassas & Leesburg Foot and Ankle Centers, we offer our new Computerized Gait Analysis technology that helps us identify biomechanical faults faster and more accurately than ever.

Assessing Your Gait

Our Computerized Gait Analysis is an advanced method used to assess the way an individual walks or runs to highlight biomechanical abnormalities. While many of these common problems are treatable with modern medicine, assessing motion, and more specifically how you walk, has always been limited until the recent development of the Computerized Gait Analysis.

The Procedure

A Computerized Gait Analysis uses pressure mapping technology to identify pressure points in the feet as a patient walks or runs. Dr/s. Bruce Vogel can observe and analyze the way an individual moves, looking in particular at the feet, ankles, knees and hips to determine the problem. This can then be relayed to a computer screen where slow motion and freeze frames can be used to carefully assess your running or walking style. By assessing the condition in the actual environment that causes that particular problem, we can actually identify what is happening while you walk and give you the best treatment for your condition based on this data.

By analyzing the mechanics of a patient's stance, postural alignment, and flexibility of the hips and back, recommendations can be made for orthotics, shoe modifications or a course of physical therapy designed to strengthen core muscles. Many times, with the right treatment, surgery can be avoided, thus diminishing the recovery time from a variety of injuries or disorders. With the new foot pressure measurement technology, our Reston office can identify foot abnormalities more accurately than ever before.

Your feet are the foundation of your entire body, supporting you when you stand, walk and run. But when your feet are functioning poorly, signs and symptoms of altered biomechanics usually result in pain, instability, and poor performance.

The good news is that a custom-made orthotic from Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD. can relieve your chronic foot pain by supporting the bone structures of your feet, allowing these structures to work together properly. Orthotics help correct structural problems and conditions such as heel pain and plantar fasciitis; arch pain; pain related to diabetes or age; and many other foot pains related to bunions, sprains and other conditions.

State-of-the-Art Foot Scanners from Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD.

Now when patients come into our Reston, Manassas & Leesburg Foot and Ankle Centers offices, we can use our state-of-the-art foot scanner to provide a dynamic, biomechanic assessment of the foot. Our new foot scanning technology offers precise mapping of the contours of the feet, resulting in a more accurate orthotic fitting for each patient. The process is extremely fast and accurate, and using this advanced technology, we can create the most comfortable and suitable solution for the correction of your feet.

If you are experiencing foot pain or instability, visit Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD. for a thorough biomechanical assessment. After an evaluation of your foot, we can use our advanced foot scanning system to manufacture the best orthotic specifically for you and your feet.

If your feet hurt, your entire body hurts. At Reston Podiatry Associates, LTD. our goal is to design and fabricate the most effective custom orthotic devices to help relieve your pain and get you on the road to recovery!