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Educating Patients About Soccer Cleat Design
A competitive soccer player recently came into my office with a new $250 pair of Adidas adiPower Predator TRX FG soccer cleats. When he asked me to evaluate his cleats, I was shocked to discover that they sat everted on the table as the image at left shows.
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Teaching Patients How To Use Rocktape For Injury Prevention And Rehabilitation
We use tape for many conditions. We use tape to illustrate what custom orthotic support might feel like. We use tape to rehabilitate plantar fasciitis. Typically, however, we do the taping as opposed to teaching our patients how to tape themselves.
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Why Recommending Barefoot Running As An Alternative For Injured Runners Can Be A Reckless Proposition
I recently blogged about minimalist shoes and injuries (see http://tinyurl.com/73qpd6x ). Dana Webb, DPM, commented on the blog, emphasizing the contention that effective minimalist running is all about technique. Here is the comment from Dr. Webb and my subsequent response.
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Educating Patients About Worn Out Athletic Shoes
We are routinely asked by patients to help them determine when their athletic shoes are worn out. Unfortunately, this is not a one-sentence answer and can be frustrating for both patient and practitioner when the question cannot be satisfactorily answered.
Running shoe stores typically recommend 300 to 500 miles on a pair of running shoes but this number is useless when talking about gym shoes, hiking boots, basketball shoes, tennis shoes or any number of other sport specific shoes.
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Minimalist Shoes And Injuries: Keys To Diagnosis And Patient Education
Footwear News reports that the emergent category of minimalist shoes represents between 10 and 20 percent of the business of runner specialty stores.1 Through July 2011, minimalist shoe sales have already totaled $30 million, up nearly twofold from the year-ago period. What this means to podiatrists is the trend toward minimalist shoe purchases is not a temporary flash in the pan phenomenon but rather a groundswell of change, at least for now.
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How To Fix Squeaky Orthotics
We learn in school that when an orthotic squeaks, sprinkling powder on the insole of the shoe before placing the orthotic in the shoe will eliminate the squeak. What do we do when this does not work?
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Educating Patients About Slip-On Shoes And Flat Feet
Let’s face it. Patients want to look stylish and have footwear that is easy to get on and off no matter what their foot pathology. Certain styles of footwear, however, can actually predispose patients to pain and injury. This is especially the case when it comes to slip-ons with elastic goring that are worn by patients with flat feet.
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When Patients Ask For Recommendations On Sandals And Flip-Flops
With increasing temperatures outside, patients will ask for recommendations for sandals. Accordingly, you will want to teach your patients about proper sandal design and fit.
First and foremost, the more surface area contact there is between the foot and the sandal, the more support the foot will have. This means the wider the sandal and the higher the arch, the better the support as this will provide more of a foundation for the pronating foot.
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What You Should Know About Flex Grooves And Forefoot Pain
Horizontal grooves in the forefoot of running shoe midsoles are called flex grooves. As the name implies, flex grooves are designed to promote forefoot flexion across the metatarsophalangeal joints (MPJs).
In many cases of forefoot pain, however, this is exactly where you don’t want the shoe to bend. You actually want the shoe to be as inflexible as possible in this area when patients have hallux limitus, sesamoiditis and lesser MPJ capsulitis or predislocation syndrome.
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When Patients Ask About Trail Running Shoes
Giving patients guidance on trail running shoes can be a challenge as the design of these shoes is different from non-trail running shoes. Essentially, trail running shoes have a more rugged outsole of varying degrees to facilitate better grip of uneven terrain. They are also lower to the ground and softer for better shock absorption.
