Running

People who run make up the largest group of athletes and sports enthusiasts that are assessed and treated at The London Podiatry Centre.   Our premier sports specific gait assessment leaves no stone unturned in identifying the cause and hence most effective treatment for runners regardless of what level.  Running is a great way to both get healthy and stay healthy. However, without the proper precautions, foot and ankle injuries can occur.   Many running injuries are linked to various compensations due to foot structure or knee, hip and pelvic alignment.   Lower limb compensation may cause excessive pronation of the foot (rolling in of the foot and lowering of the arch),  however, injuries can also be associated with the highly arched or supinated foot type.  The reasons why compensation occurs is multifactorial and these are identified using advanced assessment techniques and through complex gait analysis which is provided at The London Podiatry Centre.

Running and jogging are excellent forms of exercise but they subject the anatomical structures in the body to considerable stress.   Each time a runner strikes the ground, it generates forces equivalent to at least three and a half times body weight.   The most common types of injury that occur are those resulting from "over-use".   Over-use injury results from the repetitive loading (stress and strain) of the soft tissues causing what is known as tissue stress.   Micro damage occurs within to the anatomical structures that are under this repetitive load and these accumulate to a level where failure of the anatomical structure occurs thus resulting in an injury. Pain and inflammation can occur in these cases resulting in weakness in the affected tissue which inhibits normal function.  This repetitive stress and strain which results in overuse injuries is often the result of lower limb mal-alignment or as a result of lower limb and foot compensation mechanisms.

The practitioners at The London Podiatry Centre are uniquely qualified to treat running-related foot and ankle injuries due to their specialised education, training, and experience.