Health is an inevitable requirement to promote people’s all-round development, and it is also the common pursuit of the broad masses of the people. At present, with the continuous improvement of people’s health awareness, more and more people realize the importance of sports and actively participate in various sports. However, in the process of exercise, many people have done some damage to their bodies due to lack of knowledge and blind pursuit of exercise. This edition invites experts to explain the injuries that are easily overlooked in life.
As the saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", and ankle health is the foundation of human standing and sports. However, about a quarter of the people in the world are suffering from ankle diseases to varying degrees. However, due to the hidden symptoms of foot diseases, it is easy to be ignored and delay treatment, thus affecting the quality of life.
1. Most ankle diseases are acquired.
Bipedal is called the second heart of human body, which is very important to human body.
Although the ankle is only a small part of our whole body in terms of volume, and the area of joint contact is much smaller than that of knee joint or hip joint, the ankle bears the weight of our whole body, which will inevitably lead to higher local pressure of joints than other joints, and it is more prone to injury.
Foot and ankle is an extremely complex structure, including foot and ankle, and foot is divided into three parts: forefoot, middle foot and hind foot. A small ankle part, the bones alone involve tibia, fibula, and tarsal bones 7, metatarsal bones 5 and toe bones 14, a total of 28. It’s more complicated in terms of joints. Besides the ankle joints (tibiofibular joint, tibiofibular joint and talofibular joint) that we all know, there are tarsal joints such as talocalcaneal joint, talocalcaneal joint, calcaneal roll, cuneiform joint, cuneiform roll and cuneiform roll, tarsometatarsal joint, metatarsal joint, metatarsophalangeal joint and interphalangeal joint. From the research field, it includes ankle trauma, podiatry and orthopedics. It should be emphasized that apart from congenital factors, such as congenital clubfoot and flatfoot, most ankle diseases are acquired, such as ankle ligament injury and heel pain.
Due to the extremely complex structure of the ankle, many kinds of diseases in each part, and the strength of our whole body in daily life, these factors make our ankle more prone to problems, and the ankle problem is more difficult to treat. Excessive exercise and trauma can cause various ankle diseases, especially ankle sprain, which accounts for 40% of sports injuries. It can be seen that ankle disease is a big problem, and what is most closely related to people, but most easily overlooked, is how to wear shoes.
2. Many problems with ankles are related to wearing shoes.
Speaking of it, people have been wearing shoes since they learned to walk. Can’t they choose shoes? In fact, most people may not know that many problems with ankles are related to wearing shoes.
Bad shoes not only easily cause ligament damage, but also easily lead to many diseases in the ankle. A typical example is that many women who love beauty often wear high heels to cause foot pain. Different heel heights will lead to different forces on the forefoot when walking. The higher the heel, the greater the pressure on the forefoot and the worse the stability when walking, which will cause forefoot pain. At the same time, most of the high-heeled shoes are pointed leather shoes, and when they are worn, they squeeze into the big toe, which is easy to cause the big toe to valgus, which in turn causes the lateral arch of the forefoot of the second to fifth toes to sink, further causing forefoot pain. Overloading the forefoot for a long time will also cause some foot diseases or appearance changes, such as metatarsalgia and Morton’s disease, which are related to wearing high heels for a long time. In addition, the heel of high-heeled shoes is generally thin, which will reduce the stability of the back of the ankle when worn, so it is easy to cause ankle sprain. Therefore, in life, if female friends like to wear high heels very much, it is suggested to choose a high-heeled shoe with low heels and a slightly wider forefoot design. It would be better if we can strengthen the muscle strength of the calf, which will help to increase the stability of walking in high heels.
3. What should I pay attention to when choosing shoes?
● You can’t have only one pair of sports shoes. What kind of sports shoes should you wear?
Although we all know that we should wear sports shoes when exercising. However, it needs to be reminded that no sports shoes can be suitable for all sports. For example, basketball shoes for playing basketball require a thicker sole, a flatter overall, and a higher upper at the back to prevent sprains and slips. Football shoes running on the grass require more flexible ankle movements and lower uppers. The ground where tennis is played is usually hard, which requires shoes to have anti-slip cushioning effect. Jogging, on the other hand, requires slightly lighter jogging shoes with shock-absorbing air cushions. People who exercise regularly must prepare shoes for the corresponding sports.
● It is necessary to cut the shoes properly, not to cut the shoes properly.
Everyone looks different, and the 28 bones of the ankle are naturally different. It can be said that billions of us can’t find the same feet. To a large extent, the arch of the foot is high and low, and the feet are wide, narrow and fat, all of which need special attention when choosing shoes. For example, people with flat feet have poor cushioning when walking with load, and their feet will hurt when walking too much, so try to choose shoes with raised arch pads. Some people have wide toes, or have eversion, so they should choose loose toes, otherwise it will cause wear between toes, and long-term walking will cause pain. In addition, people with heavy weight should choose elastic shoes when choosing shoes to reduce the impact of walking on the soles of their feet.
● Older people choose shoes not as soft as possible.
With the increase of age, the fascia and ligament of the ankle will also age, and the bones and joints will also undergo degenerative changes. Compared with young people, the ankles of the elderly are more vulnerable to injury, and the speed of recovery after injury will be much slower than that of young people. Therefore, the elderly should pay more attention to the choice of shoes. A common misconception is that the elderly like to wear soft-soled cloth shoes, and feel that the softer the better. In fact, too soft soles can’t give enough support to the soles of the feet, and at the same time, too soft shoes can’t provide good elastic cushioning, which will increase the damage to the soles of the feet. Old people should choose shoes with sufficient cushioning and good elasticity. The part of the insole that directly contacts the foot surface is also required to be relatively soft and fully fit to the sole of the foot. In addition, if the blood circulation of the soles of the feet of the elderly is poor, they should choose looser shoes. The requirement is not only that there is no squeezing and grinding of the feet when trying on, but also that there is no grinding of the feet when the feet are slightly swollen.
● Good-looking and expensive shoes are not necessarily suitable shoes.
In modern society, shoes are not only a tool to protect the body from cold, but also an aesthetic requirement and even a symbol of identity. Some shoes are worth several thousand yuan or even ten thousand yuan. However, it needs to be reminded that no matter how beautiful shoes are, you can’t have them if they are not suitable for your feet. Just as many women will find that wearing high heels can cause foot pain, sometimes, expensive shoes are not necessarily suitable shoes. For example, for patients with lateral ankle ligament injury, it is recommended to wear some high-top shoes. This is because a higher upper can provide stability to the ankle joint and reduce the occurrence of sprained ankle. For patients with hallux valgus, when choosing shoes, we should try to reduce the pressure on the forefoot and try to avoid wearing high heels. Similarly, women who often sprain their ankles should wear less high heels, especially those with extremely high heels. Because when wearing high heels, our ankles are in a "plantar flexion" position, which is relatively loose, and thin high heels are not easy to stabilize, which will increase the chance of spraining our ankles.
● Don’t wait for the soles to wear out before changing shoes.
Although we advocate hard work and simplicity, from the point of view of protecting ankles, don’t wait for the soles to wear out before changing shoes. From the above, I believe everyone already knows that everyone’s feet are different. A pair of suitable shoes needs to have a high fit with your feet. When the sole of a pair of shoes is worn thin, the shape of the shoes changes accordingly. At this time, these shoes are no longer suitable for you and need to be replaced. In life, we often find that a pair of shoes are always worn in a certain part. For example, sometimes, the inside of the heel is worn thin, and other places are fine. In this case, many people are reluctant to change their shoes. But in fact, in layman’s terms, it is this worn-out sole that replaces our feet to bear the damage caused by walking. If it is not replaced in time, it will be our feet that will be damaged next.
● Foot pain must not be tolerated, and timely medical treatment is the key.
Ankle is a complex structure, and everything can’t be done just by choosing the right shoes. Once there is pain in the foot, you should see an ankle specialist in time. What needs to be understood is that many diseases of the ankle need surgical treatment, and there are still many diseases of the ankle that need standardized rehabilitation training, so I hope everyone will not be careless, so as not to delay the treatment and bring serious consequences.
