Winter Olympics shed light on foot and ankle injuries

If you are like many other New Yorkers, you’ve probably spent part of February watching Olympic athletes take to the snow and ice to compete in some pretty intense sporting activities. It’s really fun to see these Olympians push themselves to the max to receive medals of recognition on behalf of the countries they represent–especially when you’re doing so from the couch. In many ways, watching these competitions as a nation can also bring us together. But there’s something else that the televised games do: they bring attention to injuries, and this includes foot and ankle problems. Just ask British snowboarder Katie Ormerod. Only days before competition, she suffered a severe heel injury during training that required her to have immediate surgery in South Korea and took her completely out of competition.

“Words can’t describe how gutted I am but thank you to everyone for all your support and kind words!” Ormerod said via Instagram.

According to the BBC, Ormerod became the first Briton to win a slopestyle World Cup gold in Moscow last year and also took bronze at the 2017 X Games. She finished third at the Big Air World Cup in Pyeongchang in 2016 – a test event for the Winter Olympics. The BBC reports that Ormerod has suffered a series of injuries in her career: snapping her anterior cruciate knee ligament, damaging the meniscus in both knees, and fracturing her shoulder, both arms and back. Talk about a heartbreaker.

I get that not everyone is an Olympic athlete or even participates in sports, but as with Omerod, foot and ankle injuries tend to happen at the worst possible time. That’s why it’s so important that individuals in need of foot and ankle treatment don’t delay in seeking assistance from a trained professional. In fact, the longer you put off repairing damage, the more extensive and painful it can become.

In our office, we are trained to used the most advanced techniques to get you back on your feet as fast as possible. This might mean that you will have an arthroscopy, which requires less healing time and is less invasive than traditional methods of surgery. Or we might suggest regenerative therapy treatments, like shockwave therapy, platelet rich plasma treatment, or the Phoenix Thera-Lase system, all of which work differently but with the same goal of shortening your injury in an innovative manner. Even if your condition requires a more complex surgical procedure, you can rest assured that you will be in good hands and have a physical therapy regimen to follow and help you get back to normal in a healthy amount of time.

Whether you are going for the gold or just hoping to get back to the office, we can work to help you find a solution for your foot and ankle injury needs. Don’t hesitate to set up a consultation or call today with questions.