5 Ways to Prevent Foot Injuries When Starting a New Workout Routine

Getting into better physical shape is a respectable goal, but if you go about it the wrong way, you could hurt your body more than help it. This can be hard on the feet in particular, so here’s what you can do to avoid injury when working out.

The festive holidays are over, and as we welcome the new year, many of us make resolutions to improve various aspects of our lives. Improving physical health is among the most common resolutions, whether it's building muscle, getting into a regular exercise routine, or improving mental health.

However, in all the excitement of getting into increased physical activity, it’s also relatively easy to hurt yourself. Many of the exercises in a new regimen can be particularly hard on your feet, and to help you prevent damage to them from renewed efforts to stay in shape, we need to review common injuries, how they affect your feet, and ways to avoid them.

Dr. Glen Beede and the experienced staff at Trinity Foot & Ankle Specialists are dedicated to preserving the foot health of the residents of Weatherford and Fort Worth, Texas.

Common exercise injuries

In the determined effort to get into shape, these are the common types of injuries people frequently deal with:

Sprains and strains: pulling or tearing ligaments or muscles from overexertion

Runner’s knee: overuse, falls, and lack of preparation cause this problem

Wrist and elbow tendonitis: inflamed tendons in the elbow and wrists from repetitive stress

Rotator cuff injury/ frozen Shoulder: dips and upright row exercises often cause these problems in the shoulders

Back injury: muscle pulls and tears, which can be painful and slow down exercise progress

The effect on your feet

Feet and ankles will be subjected to significant stress during these activities, which can increase pressure on these hardworking parts, especially if exercises are performed improperly or you overdo them. Other contributing factors include improper footwear and any existing biomechanical issues (the way your body’s aligned when moving).

This often causes damage in these parts of the feet:

Plantar fasciitis

An important area of soft tissue located under the feet, stretching from your heels to your toes, that becomes inflamed and causes stabbing, sharp pains.

Achilles’ tendonitis

Inflammation and swelling in the tendon that connects your heel to your lower leg muscles, leading to stiffness, tenderness, and pain.

Stress fractures

Dull, aching pain that gets worse with exercising often indicates stress fractures, which usually occur in the metatarsals of your feet (the long bones connected to the tarsals near the base of your feet and to the toes).

Metatarsalgia

Another problem that can affect the metatarsals, metatarsalgia, causes the ball of your foot to feel pain and inflammation, with a sensation that you have a pebble under your foot.

Prevention methods

To avoid the pain and discomfort of these issues, try these exercises:

1. Toe raises, points, and curls

While sitting up straight with feet flat on the floor, raise heels while keeping your toes on the floor. Hold for five seconds, then lower the heels. Next, raise your heels and point your toes so the tips of your big and second toes touch the floor. Hold for five seconds, then lower.

In the next stage, raise heels and curl toes inward with only the tips of them touching the floor. Hold for five seconds.

2. Big toe stretches

To improve range of motion, sit up straight and keep your feet flat on the floor. Rest the left foot on your right thigh. Gently stretch the big toe upward, downward, and to the sides with your fingers.

3. Toe splays

To improve your toe muscle control, sit back in your chair with your feet resting gently. Without straining, spread toes apart as much as possible five times over 10 sets.

4. Marble pickups

To strengthen the soles of the feet and the muscles, sit up straight with feet firmly flat, placing a bowl of marbles in front of you.

5. Achilles stretch

To keep this tendon strong and flexible, stand facing the wall with your palms against it. Move one foot with the knee straight, and bend the opposite knee forward. Push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the tendon on the straightened leg. Hold for 30 seconds, then switch sides.

We absolutely encourage you to get into the gym and get fit, but do it the right way to avoid foot injuries. For help staying healthy while improving your health, schedule an appointment with Dr. Beede and the Trinity Foot & Ankle Specialists team.