A foot injury is common amongst athletes, as well as those who work out to lose weight/stay in shape. This happens for several reasons, mostly because your feet are the foundation and support you during the majority of exercises. This also means that they’re constantly under stress, which means that a single irregular move, faulty piece of equipment, or improper footwear may cause them harm. To learn how to prevent foot injuries while working out, you need to understand these risk factors and learn how to mitigate them. Here are some such factors.
1. Stretch
While stretching, a lot of people completely forget about their feet. Some just skip this part while others fail to see that their feet can also benefit from stretching out. This can help you prevent foot and ankle injury, as well as give you greater nimbleness. This is important in the majority of sports, especially those that involve heavy cardio. You can stretch your feet with a foam roller, a tennis ball, a resistance band, or just cross your one foot over the other (without any additional equipment). This must become a part of your routine, seeing as how the risk of a foot injury never goes away.
2. Heal your previous injury
According to experts providing orthotic solutions, not healing your previous injury will make a repeat injury more likely. The thing is that the rehabilitation process that involves physiotherapy, rest, potentially even a smaller procedure, sometimes gets skipped. This makes people grow overconfident as soon as they can get back on their feet. This is particularly likely with professional athletes who are unaccustomed to these long periods of rest and want to return to full speed right away. However, this is completely reckless and counterproductive.
3. Keep optimal body weight
Remember that your feet are carrying your entire body, which means that your weight directly impacts the pressure that your body makes on your feet. The lighter you are, the lower the pressure on your feet gets. Naturally, we’re not suggesting that you need to be as skinny as possible or that a skinny person never suffers from foot injuries. What we’re saying is that no matter how strong you are, the bones in your feet, your muscles, tendons, and ligaments can carry only so much while remaining safe. Ache in your feet after gaining weight should be a clear warning sign that you have to take action.
4. Pick the right shoes
Another thing you need to do is pick the right shoes. As someone who trains a lot, you must get quality shoes. First of all, you should go to the specialty store. Second, when trying on athletic shoes, you need to make sure that the conditions are as faithfully represented as aver. For instance, go shopping at the end of the day, seeing as how this is the period in which your feet are the largest (swollen from all the daily activity). Also, while trying, wear the same type of socks that you would normally wear.
5. Rest between high-impact exercises
Your feet need enough time to rest. Now, while it is important to have a day of active rest and a day of full rest, resting between exercises is just as relevant. This is especially the case when you’re dealing with high-impact exercises. Exercises like squats or jumping HIIT exercises are one such example. The same goes for running. One great idea (to make this a lot easier) would be to pick a couple of yoga exercises (a perfect example of low-impact training) to mix things up a bit.
6. Go for a regular checkup
Previously, we’ve mentioned that feet ache might be quite alarming and an exercise cause. Remember that your feet probably won’t be injured right away. Chances are that you will have warning signs like aches and pains before an injury. When this happens, you need to do two things. First, you need to visit this list and check if there are any of the requirements that you don’t pass. Second, you need to go to a podiatry specialist and ask for their opinion. Taking a couple of days of rest is preferable to undergoing a rehabilitation process (which can take weeks or months).
In conclusion
At the end of the day, proper foot care is an essential skill for anyone. Slight modifications to this list will keep your feet safe while at work while walking your pet, or by just taking a stroll across your home. Stressing your feet is quite easy to overlook but the consequences can be dire. This is why you need to check your feet regularly, watch out for warning signs and wear proper shoes. These three things alone are a top priority. The rest are something that athletes can greatly benefit from.