The benefits of physical activity for women include improved bone health, lower rates of breast cancer diagnosis and relapse, and improved maternal and fetal outcomes during pregnancy.

For both men and women, physical activity also decreases the chances of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers. Regular physical activity is also associated with improved self-esteem and quality of life.

Women have certain physiological and anatomical differences to men which can lead to increased risk of overuse injuries. These differences include the mechanical alignment of the hip-knee-ankle affected by a wider pelvis, weaker quadriceps (thigh muscles) and increased joint flexibility. (ACSM, 2014)

Often women would like to be maintain a regular exercise regime but an overuse injury is preventing them from exercising. Common overuse injuries can include:

• stress fractures,
• plantar fasciitis
• patellofemoral
• pain syndrome
• Achilles tendinopathy
• posterior tibial dysfunction.

To prevent and treat overuse injuries it is crucial that appropriate footwear is worn, the exercise regime is suitable for fitness level and strengthening exercises are advised if any muscle weaknesses are apparent.

Lack of time and health not being a priority can be barriers in women maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Health professionals need to work together with women to help make physical activity not only a possibility but a priority.

The post The benefits of regular Physical Activity in Women appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

What is General Treatment Podiatry?

The speciality of diagnosing, treating and preventing disease and conditions affecting the skin and nails of the leg, ankle and foot.

Including systemic conditions and their influence on neurological, lymphatic and vascular conditions of the foot, ankle and lower limb.

Initial Consultation

· Detailed and thorough assessment of your presenting condition, causative factors, lifestyle considerations and surrounding medical conditions.

· Initial Vascular and Neurological screening

· Complete and thorough treatment, utilising the highest levels of sterilisation protocol, treatment technologies, practitioner experience and client education.

· Best possible resolution of your condition and ongoing comfort.

Common Conditions

To confirm your appointment today call 5441 4822 or   Book Online

The post Footsmart Podiatry | General Podiatry Services appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

What areas of Podiatry here at Footsmart do you specialize in?

My special interests within Podiatry include lower limb biomechanics and computer walking assessment, Diabetic Footcare, Paediatrics, and Postural medicine. I have aligned the practice with a modern orthopedic group on the sunshine coast and conduct joint consultations on many foot-related related injuries that present at the Sunshine Coast Centre for Orthopaedics. “SCCO” located in the new medical precinct at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

How long have you been working at Footsmart?

As the founder and sole owner of Footsmart podiatry, I have seen the practice grow and develop into the diverse podiatry practice we see today. From humble beginnings in 1996, when I operated out of a shared room at the current site of our head office in Nambour, we now deliver podiatry services from 4 convenient locations across the sunshine coast. 21 years in business in 2017 surely is time for celebration!

What are your interests when you are not treating in the clinic?

In my spare time, I enjoy outdoor activities including cycling, mountain bike adventures and all manner of water activities. I would love to learn the finer skills of off shore fishing and am trying to find time for this in the coming year.

What would be your favorite travel destination?

It is hard for me to split my two favorites Whistler Mountain British Columbia Canada and many places in South Africa.  I have been lucky to visit these places many times in my life and always look forward to revisiting.

To make a booking with Rob give us a call on (07) 5447 4822 or Book Online

The post Meet Rob Dick | Principal Podiatrist and Founder of Footsmart Podiatry appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

What would be your ideal place to travel?

Would love to travel very slowly through the countryside of Italy and France,  experience their lifestyle, food and wine.

What days can we find you at Footsmart when you’re not chasing after your kids?

Find me in Mooloolaba Monday & Wednesday and Nambour Tuesday & Friday

The post Meet Karen | One of our helpful administration team at Footsmart Podiatry appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

Are you preparing for the Sunshine Coast Marathon? Have you got your last few weeks of training structured before the big event that you have worked so hard for? The team at Footsmart have put together some great tips for better preparing yourself and getting the best out of your training sessions to perform the best you can on game day!

Many athletes fail to realize that one of the most important aspects of marathon training is the taper phase.  Taper, or tapering, refers to the reduction of training (either in distance or intensity), before a major competition or race. Tapering promotes recovery from previous workouts while at the same time, allowing one to be completely rested for the big event. Numerous studies have concluded that tapering is essential for best performance and can take place from as little to one week out from race day (a 10km running event) to two or three weeks out (a Marathon event). Research by the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise has shown that athletes who tapered improved performance by up to 3 percent compared to those who did not. This translates to finishing time of 5 to 10 minutes faster in a marathon.

TOP TRAINING TIPS FOR TAPERING

3 weeks out

Reducing your total weekly training volume (distance or time) by 20 to 25 percent during this week gives your body a chance to recover from all that hard work done in training. If your normal training volume is 80km a week you only need to drop 16km. This can also be done by giving yourself an extra rest day or by simply cutting out 3 or 4km from your regular recovery runs.   This will allow for restocking of depleted glycogen supplies and repair of tissue damage. The combination of decreased workload and increased rest can be invigorating—expect to feel excited, anxious, or both!

2 weeks out

During week two of taper, you’ll reduce your training volume again by an additional 15 to 20 percent. Your long run will be shorter and your intense workouts, which should be your biggest volume days, will also be reduced. For example, an 80km week will be reduced to 55 to 60km. Aim for your last long run to be on Monday or Tuesday. If you’re targeting a time goal for your event, do the following fundamental workout during one of your longer midweek runs. Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, then run one kilometer at 30 seconds faster than your planned race pace, followed by one kilometer at 30 seconds slower than race pace. Repeat two to four times. Rest two days. This will keep your body sharp for race day.

1 week out

If you thought the training was tough, wait until you reduce your mileage the week before a marathon. It takes discipline and confidence to give your body the rest it needs At this point, it’s all about staying rested and getting into the zone mentally. The goal for this week is to continue keeping stress levels low by relaxing as much as you can (yes you read it here! You should consider giving yourself an extra rest day while reducing your daily runs by 50 to 60% of their normal volume. So, if you’re used to running 12 kilometers on your easy recovery days, you should target 8-9 kilometers instead. Reduce your running to just four days this week. A very light, race-pace workout early in the week can help you stay switched on and alleviate some nerves. Remember: During this final week, you can’t under-do. You can only overdo.

I like going for a light run the day before a marathon.  Anything up to 5km works well for me. This will actively encourage blood flow your legs and will make you feel less anxious. Running the day before a race also activates the central nervous system, which will enable your legs to respond better on race day! Just remember that you’ve put in the all the hard work with training, don’t go overboard on the taper.

The team at Footsmart can help you prepare before and after the race, make a booking with the team today.

The post Boost your performance in the Sunshine Coast Marathon | Find out more here appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

Holly graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science (Podiatry) in 2017. Since a young age, she has had a desire to work in the health field.

Recently, we sat down with Holly to ask her a few questions about herself to help you know more about her.

What areas of Podiatry here at Footsmart do you enjoy the most?

I really enjoy caring for diabetic patients from their nail and skin needs to assessing their blood flow, callous, corns and overall lower limb health.

How long have you been working at Footsmart?

I have been working here almost 2 years and loving every minute of it. I love being apart of the Footsart team of Podiatrists on the Sunshine Coast.

Holly with a Patient

What are your interests when not treating patients in the clinic?

I spend all my time with my two small children and husband whenever I can. The Sunshine Coast is such a family friendly location and an amazing place to live, and who can’t love this weather.

What would be your favorite travel destination?

Paris, I’ve always wanted to travel through Europe maybe when the kids are older.

You can find Holly at our Nambour clinic Mondays and Thursdays

If you would like to book an appointment with Holly call us on (07) 5447 4822 or Book Online

The post Meet Holly Wilcox | one of our Footsmart Podiatrists on the Sunshine Coast appeared first on Footsmart Podiatry.

Are you prepared for the start of the new sports season

As we stagger towards the end of summer’s oppressive heat, our minds start to turn towards the cool relief of the upcoming winter months. With the change in seasons, comes a change in sporting codes: cricket bats are packed away, rugby & soccer boots are dusted off, netball bibs are removed from the mothballs and – well – you get the idea.

But after a summer of swimming, vacationing & school holidays our bodies are not necessarily prepared for the onslaught of preseason training and the radical change in activity levels. This makes us all (young and old) vulnerable to injury and impairment.

Rather than risk being sidelined with pain that prevents the enjoyment of sporting participation, why not start now and put down a solid fitness base to address those niggling injuries from last year? Get professional advice that will put you in the best position to enjoy and succeed in this years’ sporting endeavors? Do it now!

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Don’t get injured this sports season

This blog post will focus on an area of sports medicine that we at Footsmart see a lot of (especially at this time of year) – lower limb overuse injuries. What are overuse injuries, are there signs? How can they be prevented and managed?

At it’s most basic; overuse injuries develop as a result of an imbalance between training load to the tissues (muscles, tendons, bones) and recovery time. When recovery time is insufficient, the cellular damage to the body that naturally occurs during training is allowed to accumulate unchecked and can eventually result in activity-related musculoskeletal pain, damage and impaired performance.

Different age groups are susceptible to different types of overuse injuries. Adults are generally more prone to tendinous injury due to the soft tissues becoming more brittle over time. Children, on the other hand, are more likely to damage to growth plates (cartilage), which are still highly active and often not ‘knitted’ together yet.

The classic feature of an overuse injury is a slow and gradual (insidious) onset of pain associated with repetitive activities. Pain may initially be sporadic and only present at the start of the activity and gradually ‘warm-up’ only to return later after rest. However, left untreated this pain can become more entrenched and persist throughout activities of everyday life. Most overuse injuries do not have one isolated cause; they are multifactorial.

So how can overuse injuries be prevented?

Science has been kind enough to supply us with a list of risk factors that are associated with overuse injuries. Positive outcomes are achieved by first identifying – and then addressing – the risk factors within a patient; here’s a few of them…

Too much too soon

Training errors are the most common cause of overuse injuries and it is generally accepted that an increase in training volume of more than 10% per week is a significant risk factor for developing an overuse injury. Monitor your ‘miles’, start early and progress slowly.

Previous injury

If you have had an injury before, you are more likely to see that particular injury again. Have yourself assessed by an appropriate health professional & start some (prompt!) targeted therapy. Seeking help early shortens the road to recovery.

Pre-season conditioning

A solid foundation of focused pre-season training is vital to staying injury-free. This stage of training should emphasise strength, balance, flexibility and neuromuscular control. Undertake some preventative measures so you don’t have to face rehabilitation.

Equipment

All sports equipment should be in good condition and also be the right size for the participant. This is none truer than for footwear. Kids feet grow like weeds & many adults (one-third of men and up to half of the women according to one study!) wear shoes that are either the wrong size and/or the wrong shape for their feet. Not all shoes are created equal and it can be confusing when confronted by a wall of foot technology in a shoe store. Your lower-limb health professional can prescribe, recommend and ensure a proper fit for your shoes – we take into consideration your foot size, foot shape, current fitness, injury history, activity levels, activity type, training surfaces and so on…

Kids

Kids can succeed with the right equipment and preparation for the new sports season

Children have energy abound and are often involved in high levels of activity. It has been shown that concentrating on one or two sports too early in life can increase the risk of injury. Too much of the same type of activity can overload growing bodies & lead to a breakdown. Try to vary your child’s activities as much as possible and don’t specialise until the teenage years. If your child does compete in only one sport at a high level, monitor their rest days & pounce on any niggling or new injuries early.

The take home messages are as follows:

Prepare & plan your sporting year. Start training early with a focus on strength & balance – specific sporting skills can be developed closer to the start of the season. Vary your activities as much as possible and REST – even if you don’t feel like it. Make sure your equipment is in good condition and it fits correctly. Lastly, don’t wait to seek professional help – your medical professional is an expert in the diagnosis, management & prevention of injuries – get help early so that you can participate, enjoy, and excel in your chosen sporting endeavors.

Here at Footsmart Podiatry, we can help, we offer a pre-season check-up for Kids and Adults to assess the fit and condition of your footwear, offer advice and assistance with preventative taping and identify it some additional foot support could help improve your enjoyment and results in this season.

To book your appointment today

  BOOK ONLINE

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