Section 3: You will hear two sports physiotherapy students, called
John and Kath, preparing a joint presentation on foot injuries in sports players.
John: I’ve had a look at your draft presentation plan and compared it with mine, Kath, and we seem to have the same basic structure.
John: We’ve both included the same three main sections – that’s the anatomy of the foot, the injuries and the treatment – and we’ve organised our presentations in the same way.
John: But the types of sports we’ve chosen to illustrate the possible injuries aren’t the same.
John: I’ll deal with the anatomy bit.
John: I’ve got notes and a handout on that from Professor Gilligan’s lecture.
Kath: Oh, I was hoping to do that.
Kath: I’ve downloaded some useful stuff.
Kath: I do think we should limit this section though.
Kath: We don’t want to spend much time on anatomy when the main focus is on the treatment.
John: That’s true, but in the last section, maybe the two of us could show how some of these therapies actually work.
John: I could be the patient and you could do the treatment.
Kath: Good idea, because it’s hard to find pictures as injuries are mostly internal.
John: It would be good to hear some first-hand accounts from injured athletes too.
Kath: Yeah, but we don’t have time.
John: No.
Kath: Should we then discuss different types of heel injury?
John: It’s worth pointing out that these vary enormously in how bad they are.
John: It might be just a pulled muscle or a bone injury which needs surgery.
John: Sometimes only an expert can tell the difference.
Kath: Excellent.
Kath: I’ll do the slides on that. Leave that one to me.
John: Now, what about causes of heel injuries?
Kath: Well, it’s easy enough to list them over use in proper footwear.
John: This incorrect running style.
Kath: They’re all relevant, but for simplicity, let’s just pick one cause.
Kath: Say, stuff about changing your training habits suddenly.
John: You mean like suddenly doing a lot of mountain training?
Kath: Yes, that’s a good idea.
Kath: And there was research on that in the latest edition of Physio Journal, wasn’t there?
John: Professor Gilligan recommended it to us.
Kath: Great.
John: You can leave the bit on stretching techniques to me.
John: I really like all that stuff.
Kath: So, what’s going to be your approach there?
John: Well, I’ll summarise all the various techniques with visual support and then I’ll make the point that the stretching should be carefully managed.
John: Obviously you have to be careful not to over-stretch and to stretch only when your muscles are warmed up, otherwise you could do yourself more harm than good.
John: It’s also important that on a supervised programme stretching is later on combined with balance exercises, which stretch and also strengthen the muscles.
Kath: Okay then.
Kath: Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27-30 on page 5.
Kath: Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
Kath: It’s always useful to have some information on case studies at the end, in case we’re short of a material.
Kath: Did you manage to find anything?
John: Yes, a female runner in her thirties talking about her treatment for a swollen heel.
John: Initially she rested the injury.
John: This did help to reduce the swelling, although it was still a little bit uncomfortable.
John: Then she applied an ice pack to the injury twice a day.
Kath: Did that work?
John: Well, she persisted with this treatment for the first month but decided it wasn’t helping.
John: After this period she was shown how to use deep tissue massage techniques and was surprised at how much freedom of movement this created in her foot.
Kath: Wasn’t she having ultrasound treatment?
John: Yes, she was having sessions at the hospital but she remained unconvinced about its value.
John: She felt the same about the balancing exercises she was prescribed.
Kath: Okay, that’s interesting.
Kath: I looked at the aftercare program of a male sprinter who was allowed to do some sports activity as part of his rehabilitation.
Kath: After four months of treatment, he did some light running on grass, wearing shoes that gave plenty of support to his injured heel.
John: So it didn’t hurt.
Kath: Well, he found the heel was sore afterwards and the same happened with some jumping exercises he was asked to try.
John: Did he go to the gym and use weights?
Kath: Yes, after a few weeks, and if he used light weights, he could train without pain.
Kath: He also tried cycling and found this beneficial as his foot was not making contact with the ground.
Kath: He expected a similar result with swimming but found the repetitive kicking motion was actually aggravating the injury.
John: Well, both these case studies have value…
John: That is the end of section 3.
John: You now have half a minute to check your answers.
John: Now turn to section 4 on page 6.
