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Why You Should See a Chiropractor When You Hurt Your Foot

When you experience any trauma to your feet, you may need to schedule a visit to the chiropractor. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a sprained ankle that puts you on crutches for six weeks or a small fracture that causes you to end up in a giant boot. Your feet connect to every other part of your body, so when damage occurs, it unbalances your musculature all the way up. This could mean pressure and damage to your knees, hips, and lower back.

Chiropractic care centers on disorders of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems and how they affect the rest of the body. These parts of your body don’t perform separately, but rather as connected mechanisms tied together by the nervous system.

Broken toes change the way you walk

The nerves that control every function of your body originate at the spinal cord and their transmission may if a connected part isn’t moving properly. When you break a toe, the pain and inflammation can cause you to change the way you walk. Over the course of four weeks of healing, the change can cause your hips to start aching.

Chiropractors perform movement assessments to see if the hip pain is truly coming from the hip or if it’s actually stemming from a foot injury. Correcting the cause of the problem relieves symptoms and restore flexibility and range of motion.

A boot worn after a fracture causes your hips to be uneven

Misaligned musculoskeletal structures contribute to lower back, knee, and hip pain. The source of the pain can start at the head and neck, or can initiate in the foot when an injury changes your stride.  

A change in stride can have dramatic effects on your knees, hips, and lower back. Chiropractors focus on minimizing the effect of an injury on the rest of the body with adjustments, exercise, stretching, and the application of heat and ice.

Sprained ankles cause you to favor one side

Even an injury as simple as a sprained ankle can wreak havoc on your nervous system. The pain from your initial injury can cause you to favor one side for a week, causing misalignments along your spine which may manifest as a headache or lower back pain.

Using a wide variety of treatment options like acupuncture, ultrasound, or spinal adjustment, a chiropractor can treat the related injuries and restore natural movement patterns.

Plantar fasciitis can shorten your stride

People who stand or walk for unusually long periods of time while on vacation can develop inflamed and irritated tissues on the bottom of their feet. It’s a common occurrence when people unaccustomed to walking travel to a big city like New York. The plantar fascia and supporting tendons that connect your heel to your toes can become inflamed from walking and standing.

This thick band of tissue provides support and strength so that the bottom of the feet can support your body weight, so pain can disturb the normal heel-toe gait. Visiting a chiropractor in NYC can help salvage the rest of your vacation with advice on proper footwear, stretches, and exercises to alleviate the painful inflammation and restore your normal gait.

The nervous system connects to every part of the body

Kinesiology studies show that foot movements are complex and connected to every part of the body. Because your spine is one unit attached to the nervous system that serves the whole body, any change can have a domino effect on your spinal alignment. Misalignments in your spine can show up as pain in your hips and knees, and it can cause digestive issues as the nerves branch away to various organ systems.

Make an appointment to see a chiropractor before you leave on a strenuous vacation, or if you have any injuries or pain in your feet. Early intervention can limit the effects on the rest of your body.

Comments

  1. Mary Ambrosino says

    Never thought of seeing a chiropractor for a foot injury. Thanks for the tips.

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