|
|
|
|
|
Search
12/01/2023
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
RE: Foot Injuries Associated with Pickleball
From: Elliot Udell, DPM
Over my career, I have treated foot and ankle injuries associated with the popularity of certain sports. As a profession, we have addressed our role in treating sports injuries. The best example was jogging and marathon running. Podiatry recognized that it has a role to play to preventing and treating running-related injuries. The same applies to all other sports; and many of our orthotic labs offer orthoses designed for basketball, tennis, skiing, jogging, etc.
The new "game" in town is called pickleball. It is a cross between table tennis, regular tennis, and badminton. It is taking America and many other countries over by storm. Pickleball courts are being built all over, either in parks or in indoor facilities, and you have to literally get into a queue in order to experience this new sport. Many indoor tennis facilities are converting their courts to this new sport. A physical therapist whose practice is at a gym above an indoor pickleball court said that he is seeing a great deal of injuries associated with this new sport. It seems easy and people are not taking it seriously. These can either be long-term overuse injuries or acute injuries.
Elliot Udell DPM, Hicksville, NY
Other messages in this thread:
03/03/2026
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
RE: The 2026 Los Angeles Marathon: Potholes and Injury Prevention
From: Keith Gurnick, DPM
Just ahead of the Los Angeles Marathon, scheduled for next Sunday March 8th, race organizers and city crews are repairing many potholes and road safety hazards caused by recent heavy rainstorms and deferred maintenance. This is an effort to limit potential injuries to participants and observers caused by twisted ankles and falls that could lead to fractures and even fatalities. More than 26,000 runners are expected. The total participants will include hand cyclers, wheelchair participants, and runners of all ages, and groups including elite runners as well. Acute traumatic running injuries can be among the most serious injuries incurred in distance running.
A new comprehensive review pulls together decades of race-day and training data to assess what lower-body injuries actually happen in marathon running, and why? Here were some of the relevant findings. Marathon participation continues to...
Editor's note: Dr. Gurnick's extended-length letter can be read here.
08/21/2024
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
RE: Podiatry and Sports Medicine
From: Jeffrey Trantalis, DPM
Sports medicine was a big part of my practice. I started practice in 1980 in Federal Way, WA. Sports medicine was at its infancy at that time. I became involved with the University of Washington Sports Medicine Clinic under Stephen Rice, MD. I also became involved with Dr. Rice and his program of placing athletic trainers in the high schools. I would visit the high school training room after school at the three local high schools. I was responsible for recruiting doctors to be game doctors at the soccer games.
I had the opportunity of being the game doctor for the national girls’ high school soccer match in which Federal Way High School became national soccer champions 1994. At that time, the population in the area was very young and active. Maybe only 5% had Medicare. So the population was very active outdoors. Podiatry played a big role in sports medicine in Seattle at that time.
Jeffrey Trantalis, DPM, Delray Beach, FL
12/04/2023
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Allan I. Rosenthal, DPM
Dr. Udell is right; there is a new game in town since the 1960s. Pickleball was started in Bainbridge, Washington. It has grown by leaps and bounds not just here in the United States but worldwide, with hopes it can be an Olympic sport someday. I have lectured at the AAPSM on pickleball injuries in the past and have done many podcasts on this subject nationally.
I have earned the name “Dr. Pickleball” and I am a certified instructor and a consultant to a pickleball shoe company. I also have enjoyed the sport, playing both recreationally and in tournaments. It can be very rewarding to both play and treat many patients for their lower extremity ailments. It has added a new dimension to my podiatric practice. I can emphatically endorse the podiatric profession being a part of this phenomena of the growth of this sport.
Allan I. Rosenthal, DPM, Ridgefield, CT
07/04/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
RE: Rearfoot Striking in Running is Not Over-striding
From: Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
While lecturing at a podiatry conference, one of the other podiatrists lecturing on running made a claim about running that I need to address, since I have seen this type of misinformation being also spread on the Internet. What this lecturer stated was that if a runner has posterior heel wear on their running shoes, this means that they are a rearfoot-striking runner and are, therefore, also “over-striding”. While I certainly agree that posterior heel wear at the heel of the running shoe outersole indicates a rearfoot-striking style of running gait, his further claim that a rearfoot-striking pattern in running gait also indicates “over-striding” is simply not true.
Unfortunately, many of the barefoot running and minimalist running shoe zealots who were quite vocal on the Internet during the ill-fated barefoot running and minimalist running shoe fads of a decade ago, also wrongly proclaimed that rearfoot-striking running is somehow an incorrect way to run, leading to injuries, and is not “natural”. They made unsupported statements about rearfoot-striking running that revolved around their odd concept that...
Editor's note: Dr. Kirby's extended-length letter can be read here.
03/23/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Joseph Weisenfeld, DPM
Please be aware that as of January 1, 2022 "the experimental peptide BPC-157 is prohibited under the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. Furthermore, this substance is not approved for human clinical use by any global regulatory authority and it may lead to negative health effects." March 3, 2020 USADA.org
Joseph Weisenfeld, DPM, Staten Island, NY
03/22/2022
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Robert Kornfeld, DPM
I have had great success treating these tears with CAM walkers, high voltage electrical stimulation, and amniotic allograft injections. I also put these patients on Bromelain, MSM, and Curcumin along with adequate hydration. I’m waiting to see some literature on BPC157 peptide injections for the same.
Robert Kornfeld, DPM, NY, NY
01/17/2017
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Andrew Cassidy, DPM, MS
Often the fields kids play on are either true turf or thin grass, not the thick grass of Major League Soccer. Therefore, I often recommend a good pair of turf shoes. I like either the Adidas F5 or the Nike Tiempo. For cleats, I like the Adidas Predator line. These are the only cleats out there that have a true shank in the sole. I also recommend these for other sports like football, baseball, etc. Most of the athletic cleats out there are poorly made and add to the child's risk of injury.
Andrew Cassidy, DPM, MS, Austin, TX
01/10/2017
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
The standard soccer cleats commonly available for youth soccer shoes are no problem for children playing soccer on outdoor grassy surfaces. I coached youth soccer for a number of years, had both my sons grow up on traveling soccer teams, and now have grandchildren playing year-round soccer. Standard cleat pattern soccer shoes seem only to be a problem for youth soccer when the fields are very dry, hard, and lacking adequate grass coverage. If the youth is playing a lot of soccer on these fields (thankfully not very common now in Northern California), then “turf cleats”, with soles consisting of many smaller, shorter cleats designed for playing on artificial grass surfaces, may be appropriate.
I have yet to see any injury caused by soccer cleats in the hundreds of youth soccer games I have attended over the past three decades. However, I have seen children trying to play soccer on a wet soccer field in old soccer cleats where the cleats have become overly worn, where children slip and take hard falls, or suffer groin strains, since their soccer cleats were not “grabbing “properly on the wet, grassy field. My advice if you are still not convinced? Go to your local soccer specialty store, introduce yourself as a local podiatrist, and ask the store owner to give you a short lesson on all the different soccer shoes and cleat patterns available. It will be a very worthwhile education for those podiatrists who are less familiar with the great sport of soccer.
Kevin A. Kirby, DPM, Sacramento, CA
01/09/2017
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Vince Marino, DPM
Out here in CA, I have seen this issue come up many times and in my opinion, cleats of any kind in a child that young is not a good idea. The biggest problem I have seen is that most of the fields the children play on are turf. When using cleated shoes, the actual cleats themselves act as source of pressure exerted onto the plantar surface of the foot. The cleats usually end up being located under one or more of the metatarsal growth plates and under the calcaneus. This in and of itself causes pain.
If a child is not in high school, I recommend they wear “Turf Shoes.” These have treads specially designed for turf traction and they eliminate the pressure from the cleats. I recommend this for children in all sports including lacrosse, soccer, and other turf sports.
Vince Marino, DPM, Novato, CA
01/21/2012
RESPONSES/COMMENTS (SPORTS MEDICINE)
From: Amol Saxena, DPM, Jeff Mossel, DPM
I lived in Chicago for 5 years, but never ran a marathon back then. I do have some advice: wear Thermax or Smartwool socks. Place aluminum foil under the insoles which should be neoprene, or ideally a wicking material. Wear a small plastic bag over the toes so the mesh opening is blocked (sandwich baggies work well as a mini windbreaker), and wear close-fitting tights so that no draft goes up a bare leg. Also, keep moving!
There are two great solutions to running in winter climate. I have NOT run in Antarctica, but running in Michigan winters on trails, snow shoeing, and adventure races, you find a way to stay warm. The first major step is Gortex shoes like the Brooks GTX series which has waterproof, breathable GORE-TEX® membrane so you can go almost anywhere, in almost any weather. The GHOST GTX is the neutral shoe while the Adreneline GTX is for the pronator. Both shoes also accommodate custom functional orthotics well.
If the marathon is on a plowed road or groomed trail, these shoes with appropriate smartwool-type running socks are plenty while running. It there is a possibility of drifting, or snow above the ankles, then ankle gaiters are used. Ensure that they purchase the hiking/running type which allow activities and keep snow from entering the tops of the shoes. I suggest the Seta strapless running gaiter by Mountain Hardwear.
|
| |
|
|
|
