Why Your Feet Hurt After Exercise
By Sara Butler
If you like to be active but end the day with aching feet, then that may be an indication of a problem. Your feet normally take a beating during the course of a day but when you add in exercise, it can cause its own set of problems. Here are a few common problems you need to be on the lookout for if your feet after your workout.
Plantar Fasciitis
Your plantar fascia is a tendon that runs along the bottom of the foot from heel to toe. This condition can seem to come out of nowhere and continue to be a problem for quite a while because it’s an overuse injury – and you have to keep using your feet even if it does hurt!
This type of injury tends to occur when you’re not wearing the right shoes for an activity, increase your training intensity too much or too fast, or even from weak muscles in other parts of the leg such as your calf. To treat this injury, you first have to determine its root cause, so be sure to talk with your chiropractor about it.
Stress Fractures
There are 26 bones in the foot and anyone of them can be the victim of a stress fracture from exercise. This is a slow building issue that occurs over a long period of time but is experienced as a sudden event when you feel the pain. Stress fractures are caused by increasing intensity or volume of training but they can also happen if you’re outside taking a walk and step in a pothole or on a tree root. If you suspect a stress fracture, get medical help.
Extensor Tendonitis
The tendons that run along the top of your foot can easily become inflamed. The job of these tendons is to straighten your toes and pull them up, effectively helping the entire foot to move. Just as with any other tendon in your body they can become irritated due to overuse and become painful. In fact, the pain may be so intense you may suspect a stress fracture. The difference is that with this form of tendonitis, it will hurt to raise your toes.
A tight Achilles tendon, improper exercise shoes, and tight or weak calf muscles may be to blame. Just as with other injuries, tracing the problem to its root cause is the only way to fix it. So talk to your chiropractor!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Durham, N.C.