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Back-to-School Soccer Season: Prime Time for Foot, Ankle Injuries

Kids, Coaches and Parents Can Overdo It

CHICAGO – Parents and coaches should think twice before coaxing young, injury-prone soccer players to “play through” foot and ankle pain, warned a leading sports medicine expert with the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.

“Skeletally immature kids, starting and stopping and moving side to side on cleats that are little more than moccasins with spikes–-that’s a recipe for foot and ankle sprains and worse,” cautions Christopher Hendrix, DPM, FACFAS, a foot and ankle surgeon practicing in Memphis.

“Kids will play with lingering, nagging heel pain that, upon testing, turns out to be a stress fracture that neither they, their parents nor their coaches were aware of,” he said. “By playing with pain, they can’t give their team 100 percent and make their injuries worse, which prolongs their time out of soccer.”

Hendrix said he has actually had to show parents x-rays of fractures before they’ll take their kids out of the game. “And stress fractures can be subtle–-they don’t always show up on initial x-rays.” 

Symptoms of stress fractures include pain during normal activity and when touching the area and swelling without bruising. Treatment usually involves rest and sometimes casting.  Some stress fractures heal poorly and often require surgery, such as a break in the elongated bone near the little toe, known as a Jones fracture.

Soccer is one of the most popular and fastest growing youth sports in the U.S. The American Youth Soccer Association, for example, has 50,000 teams and 650,000 players, not including thousands of high school players. 

Constant running in the sport can place excessive stress on the foot. Pain from overuse usually stems from inflammation, such as around the growth plate of the heel bone, more so than a stress fracture, according to Hendrix. “Their growth plates are still open and bones are still growing and maturing–-until they’re about 13 to 16.  Rest and, in some cases, immobilization of the foot should relieve that inflammation,” he said.

Hendrix added that Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis (heel pain caused by inflammation of the tissue extending from the heel to the toes) are other types of overuse injuries.

Quick, out-of-nowhere ankle sprains are also common to soccer. “Ankle sprains should be evaluated by a physician to assess the extent of the injury,” said Hendrix. “If the ankle stays swollen for days and is painful to walk or even stand on, it could be a fracture,” Hendrix said.

Collisions between soccer players take their toll on toes. “When two feet are coming at the ball simultaneously, that ball turns into cement block and goes nowhere. The weakest point in that transaction is usually a foot, with broken toes the outcome,” he explained. “The toes swell up so much the player can’t get a shoe on, which is a good sign for young athletes and their parents: If they are having trouble just getting a shoe on, they shouldn’t play.”

For further information about various foot conditions and to locate a foot and ankle surgeon in your area, visit www.FootPhysicians.com.