Treatment of Field Hockey Podiatry related issues
Field hockey is a sport that has had a lot to do with Melbourne Sports Podiatry over the last few years. With both mens and womens hockey requiring additional support, Melbourne Sports Podiatry has been out supporting the local teams especially the women's division 1 team at MHSOBA with treatment and support to assist players keeping on the park.
Being a dynamic sport no different to football or soccer, hockey requires quick agile movements along with a big engine to sustain effort between sprints. As a result, the stabilising muscles in the feet, ankles and lower legs work overtime to ensure the body is kept stable throughout all lateral movements and striking whilst the global muscles keep firing to help the body generate power in straight-line sprinting.
All this load does come at a cost, with a lot of injuries stemming from poor foot alignment and poor musculoskeletal conditioning. Hence at Melbourne sports podiatry we always screen for the correct footwear, foot alignment and clinical strength signs to ensure our hockey players are good to last a tough season on the turf.
Common injuries seen in our field hockey players
- Forefoot Pain - Turf Toe and Greater toe pain
- Calf and Hamstring Tears
- Plantar Fasciitis and Heel Spurs
- Achilles Tendon pain (tendinopathy)
- Shin Splints - MTSS
- Ankle Sprains and Acute Fractures
- Ankle impingement Anterior and Posterior
- Jumper’s Knee
- Hip impingement
- Low back pain
Prevention and Treatment
If you are in pain now or simply want to look at ways to prevent injury there is never a better time than now to have your body, training loads and footwear looked at.
All assessments are 30 minutes and 45 minutes for those patients who have had chronic or resilient problems that have been untreatable so to speak over a long time.
Common Methodology behind Treatments
Our methodology at Melbourne Sports Podiatry is simple but deliberate. Although all treatments are tailored based on the individual the way we find out how to best work you and our other patients come from the following process:
- Assess specific movement patterns based on the sport
- Assess structures between the lower back and feet
- Identify where the problem is stemming from
- Identify limitations or energy leaks
- Treat on the day and plan ahead.
Common Treatments we use on the first appointment include
- Sports specific strapping and padding
- Footwear assessment
- Soft or Deep Tissue release
- Lower limb Dry Needling
- Balance and Strength Programming
- Running Analysis and Re-training
- PNF stretching and Joint Mobilisation
- In shoe wedging and modifications
Other Treatments we use include:
- Sports specific customised orthotics
- Joint adjustments
- Advanced Foot and Ankle rehabilitation