Dane Swan's Foot Injury Explained
We see and hear a lot in the media regarding our beloved footballers state of affairs. Some are of interest, most gossip and others make you cringe when you see the footage repeated on slo-mo over and over again. This was one of those times you cringed and hoped for the best.
In his latter years of football at the Pies "Swanny" has suffered 2 foot injuries that have kept him on the sidelines. One an extremely common foot complaint seen almost daily in our clinics and one a not so common and potentially life altering traumatic foot injury. In round 1 of the 2016 AFL season the heavily tattooed Brownlow medallist suffered a highly traumatic foot injury where his foot and ankle became folded back against each other under the load of his opposing player. The end result was a Lisfranc joint injury. The Lisfranc joint is a complicated joint involving bones and ligaments of the midfoot. The most common cause of a Lisfranc joint injury is a motor vehicle accident and of the 2 lisfranc joint injuries I have seen in practice both were from motor vehicle accidents. It is a serious injury that can at times make return to normal daily activities a struggle. Dane has undergone surgery and faces a long rehabilitation program. Fingers crossed he can recover and get back to finish a wonderful AFL career.
In 2014 swan missed a month of footy due to the much more common plantar fasciosis or "plantar fasciitis". The plantar fascia is a thick band on the bottom of the foot that attaches to the heel. It is an important stabiliser of the foot as well as assisting with shock absorption.
Repetitive strain on the plantar fascia is common leading to micro tears and in worse cases tearing of the fascia. This results in a thickened and painful fascia most commonly resulting in heel pain that is at its worse after periods of rest.
There are several good treatment options your podiatrist can provide to manage your symptoms until your plantar fascia heals. These include footwear changes, stretching programs, strengthening programs, dry needling, massage therapy, taping, foot orthotics and prolotherapy. Don't suffer with heel pain get in and see one of the podiatry team at Base Podiatry!
