Sports podiatry is a branch of sports medicine which specialises in the prevention, diagnosing and treatment of, injuries related to participating in sports and/or exercise

It is estimate that there are over 5.5 million cases of exercises related injury, this equates to 1 in 10 people sustaining at least one injury each year as a result of their sporting activities.

The majority of sporting injuries occur in the lower limb, for example the commonest acute injury is the ankle sprain; the commonest tendon injury is to the Achilles tendon and the most frequently seen joint pathology is patellofemoral syndrome, an injury involving the knee.

Podiatry therefore has a significant part to play in the keeping the population injury free and active and able to participate in a full range of sports through a full range of treatment interventions.


Common sporting injuries seen by podiatrists are:

  1. Runners knee also known as iliotibial band syndrome
  2. Achilles tendonopathies
  3. Medial knee pain
  4. Shin splints
  5. Tibialis posterior tendopathy
  6. Metatarsal stress fractures


Sports Podiatrists

Sports podiatrists often known as musculoskeletal specialists or podiatrists that specialise in biomechanics employ a wide range of assessment techniques to assess the sporting patient, often utilising sophisticated video gait to view the client while in motion, assessing a runner while in motion is an example of this.


Podiatrists are able to offer a range of treatments to address sporting injuries these can include

  1. Foot orthoses, to realign faulty mechanics, these can be cause by problems such as flat feet.
  2. Footwear advice, specific trainer prescription
  3. Exercise prescription for muscle imbalances.
  4. Physical therapies such as ultrasound, acupuncture and manipulations


Recommended treatments

If you are having problems resolving sports injuries, have injuries that seem to keep resurfacing, constantly seem to be having new injuries or wish to improve your sporting performance a biomechanical assessment or running gait analysis are recommended at Feet in Focus.