Sports Injuries

Staying active with a sport or physical activity is essential for your health and wellness, but sports increase your risk for sports injuries if you’re not careful. Joel Segalman, DPM, FACFAS, FACFAO, and Stephen Lazaroff, DPM, FACFAS, of Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC,  specializing in sports medicine for the feet and ankles, can treat many of the most common sports injuries of the lower limbs. To schedule a visit, call either office in Newtown or Waterbury, Connecticut, or request an appointment online today.

What are sports injuries?

Sports injuries are injuries you get while playing sports or participating in any other type of exercise. Sports involve a lot of musculoskeletal movement, and many of those movements are repeated, causing stress on your joints, tendons, ligaments, and bones.

Other injuries happen quickly upon impact or with improper movements.

What are some of the most common foot and ankle sports injuries?

Using X-ray imaging, which shows bones and joint issues, and ultrasounds, which show soft tissues and blood flow, Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC diagnoses a wide range of common sports injuries from activities like dancing, running, and impact sports.

At Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC, you can get the care you need for:

• Ankle sprains
• Plantar fasciitis
• Achilles tendinitis
• Broken toes
• Trigger toe
• Turf toe
• Stress fractures
• Joint dislocations

These injuries vary in severity, but they can all cause pain or intense discomfort. They can also impact your strength, mobility, and flexibility or stop you from playing sports all together before you get treatment.

The Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC team, builds an individualized care plan to get you back into your sport as soon as possible and with most or all of your original abilities.

How are sports injuries treated?

Sports injuries at Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC require conservative and individualized treatment. After physically examining your injury, testing your foot and ankle strength and mobility, and reviewing the results of imaging tests like an X-ray or ultrasound,  Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC starts creating your treatment plan. 

Not all sports injuries require surgery to make a full recovery. Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC first focuses on caring for sports injuries with nonoperative treatments. Still, they can plan surgery if necessary. Your treatment plan for a sports injury might involve:

• Rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE)
• Medication management
• Exercises
• Physical therapy
• Immobilization with a splint, brace, wrap, or cast

If you need surgery, it’s usually because conservative treatments either can’t make the necessary repairs or haven’t significantly improved. The team may use imaging tests to plan a surgical technique to repair or reconstruct the injured ligaments, tendons, muscles, or bones.

How can I prevent sports injuries?

No matter your sport of choice, there are always steps you can take to prevent injuries in the first place. With any sport, you should warm up and stretch before you play. You should also use proper techniques while practicing or playing and take regular rest days.

Depending on your sport, you may have the option of protective gear that can prevent some injuries, like shin guards or tape for your ankles.

If you get hurt while exercising or playing sports, call Performance Foot & Ankle Specialists, LLC, or schedule an appointment online for sports injury care today.