Sports Medicine Podiatry, what is it?
Kent Sports Podiatry, Mr Liam Stapleton BSc PGc MCPod HCPC
What is Podiatric Sports Medicine?
Podiatric Sports Medicine is the diagnosis and treatment of lower limb sports injuries. This includes injuries to the knee, calf, foot and ankle.
Do you only treat Sports injuries?
No, there is significant overlap with areas such as Dermatology, Rheumatology and Orthopaedics. I regularly treat arthritis of the foot, ankle and knee, and perform minor surgical procedures on ingrowing toenails and skin lesions like verrucae. These are both common in sports people and everyone else.
What is your biggest success case?
One patient that comes to mind is a female powerlifter who had a long-standing Achilles tendon injury. With a scan, some exercise rehab and a carefully placed injection, she competed in her event, which included dragging a lorry up a hill. Amazing!
What conditions do you see most often?
Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common, which causes heel pain that often goes on for months or years. The trick is to know which treatment will work best, and having an ultrasound scan, which I perform in clinic takes away all the guessing.
The other common condition I see is a Morton’s neuroma, a trapped nerve in the ball of the foot. I have developed a protocol to treat these conservatively, which means 90% will not need surgery.
You treat arthritis, how?
This depends which joints are affected, and how badly it is affected. However, the knee and ankle respond very well to an injection not available on the NHS. It is called hyaluronic acid, which is a lubricant reducing the friction and grinding within a joint, like WD-40 for rusty door hinges. I often use perform these under local anesthesia making the injection almost pain free.
If you have foot or ankle problems, speak to the specialist.
In Chislehurst, Medway and at Benenden hospital, Cranbrook.
Visit www.kentsportspod.com
Call on 02082951066
Or email at Kentsportspod@gmail.com