Sports Medicine

Physical activities can significantly strain foot and ankle structures, causing injuries requiring specialized care to restore function and relieve pain. Stephanie Parks, DPM, and Justin Ward, DPM, at Bosque Foot and Ankle in Albuquerque, New Mexico, offer comprehensive sports medicine services to help you recover from injuries like stress fractures and ankle sprains. Call Bosque Foot and Ankle to request a sports medicine consultation or book an appointment online today.

What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine provides specialized care to patients who suffer injuries when playing sports, exercising, or engaging in other strenuous physical activities. Sports injuries may affect any part of your musculoskeletal system but are particularly common in the feet and ankles.

If you or your child experiences a sports injury, it’s important to stop and rest — persisting with an injury could make the problem worse and lead to long-term complications.

Bosque Foot and Ankle’s sports medicine experts have undergone extensive additional training. This allows them to optimize healing and get you back in action sooner without long-lasting pain or weakness.

What sports medicine conditions do podiatrists treat?

The Bosque Foot and Ankle team diagnoses and treats all sports injuries affecting the lower leg and foot, including:

Fractures and dislocations

Fractures are breaks in your bones. Dislocations occur when the bones forming a joint partially or entirely separate.

Achilles tendon injuries

The large Achilles tendon runs along the back of your ankle. Achilles tendonitis develops when the tissues become inflamed. An Achilles tendon rupture occurs suddenly when the tendon separates from the bone.

Ankle sprains

Sprains happen if you stretch the ankle ligaments too far or they tear.

Stress fractures

Stress fractures are tiny bone breaks caused by frequent stress. Tarsal navicular stress fractures are common in the middle and back foot bones.

Talus bone injuries

The talus bone is part of your ankle joint. It can suffer bruising or an osteochondral injury that damages the cartilage covering the bone.

Turf toe

Turf toe happens when you sprain the big toe ligaments.

Plantar fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis affects the connective tissue on the foot’s sole, causing intense heel pain. It’s typically an overuse injury.

What sports medicine treatments are available for me?

The treatment your sports injury requires depends on your age, the nature of the injury, its severity, and how it affects you.

For non-emergency injuries, the Bosque Foot and Ankle team generally recommends conservative treatments initially, such as activity modification, applying ice packs, and pain medication.

Other treatments that can help with more persistent or severe sports injuries include:

• Physical therapy
• A splint or brace
• Custom orthotics (made-to-measure shoe inserts)
• Prescription shoes
• Corticosteroid injections

If you have a severe fracture, you might require urgent surgery to realign the bones.

Call Bosque Foot and Ankle to learn more about benefiting from the team’s sports medicine expertise, or book an appointment online today.