Winter Olympics and Foot Problems

David Collard DPM MHA

As we are nearing the end of winter in some of the coldest weeks of the year, the 23rd Winter Olympics is in full force…and I’m loving every minute. If you are like me, you live for the Olympics and are captivated by the toughness, skill, passion, and the even the heartbreak of the athletes who put countless hours into their sport. Every two years, I feel like I can’t get enough.

To feed my temporary addiction, I looked a little closer at some of the athletes and their foot problems; in today’s blog post I’ll cover a few highlights of what can happen to the foot during sports and what it means for the future of these athletes.

Figure Skating

Figure Skating can be very hard on the feet and lead to injuries. Much like with other professional sports, some figure skating injuries can even end careers or limit top performance.

Just before the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last year, Adam Rippon sprained his left ankle and fractured his fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot. The injury occured while hopping up and down to warm up his legs. His foot was immobilized. During his months-long recovery, he stated that he realized that much of the reason for the fracture was his poor diet. Adam admitted to trying to drop much of his weight with drastic dieting measures and eating meals very low in calories. He states he decided to change his diet because he suspected the unhealthy eating regimen had contributed to his injury. “I think I had a stress fracture before I broke my foot, and I think that was absolutely because I was not getting enough nutrients.”
The injury led to his withdrawal from the championships. His winning the US Nationals and now competing in the Olympics is his great return.

Another well-known skater at the Olympics and a previous European champion, Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva, had a similar metatarsal stress fracture in her right foot. This happened less than four months ago, leading into the Olympics. Medvedeva was placed into a cast to allow the bone to heal properly. Unfortunately, she was unable to skate for 2 months, missing both the Grand Prix and Russian Nationals. While immobilized, Zagitova, Medvedeva’s 15-year-old training partner and the World Junior champion, has shown to be a new Olympic power.

Stress fractures are due to several factors, usually from low bone mass, deterioration of bone architecture, and fragile bones. Over time, the bone doesn’t respond well to normal mechanical stresses–like skating routines or simple warm-up exercises–and they crack. While many things can lead to stress fractures, in athletes this is usually tied to poor nutrition.

Snowboarding

Unfortunately, Katie Ormerod is out of the games this year with a fractured right heel. She is part of the Great Britain snowboarding team competing in Slopestyle. She is an upcoming star for Great Britain, having become the first Briton to win a World Cup big air title last year and also coming in third in slopestyle at the 2016 X Games in Aspen.

She suffered this major injury on February 7th during a training session in Seoul, with only a few days before the opening ceremony. Katie exemplifies the toughness of these athletes, having fractured her wrist the day before while training. She had major foot surgery the following day to put the two pieces of her heel back together, which had been split in half. Healing from this type of injury can take several months with cast immobilization after the surgery and with gradual rehabilitation.

[Images found on Ormerod’s Facebook Page]

Sports and exercise are great for the body, but can be demanding at the highest levels, and sometimes accidents happen. But it is important to remember to have proper nutrition and eating enough calories and vitamins to build strong muscles and bones to keep you going. Remember to have the proper footwear for the sport! (I couldn’t resist.) Injures can put you down for weeks to even months. Take precautions and wear all safety equipment the sport demands so you can keep being active for many years to come. And, if you need me and I’m not in my office treating people, I’ll be in front of my TV watching the amazing athletes of the 2018 Games.

If you think you may have suffered a sports or overuse foot or ankle injury please contact us or submit an appointment request here.