Foot and Ankle Pain

Ankle & Foot Pain and Injuries

Alleviate Your Pain and Move Freely Again

Pain in your feet and ankles can be debilitating and severely limit your freedom to move about and do what you love. When movement is hard, everything is hard.

Our Physiotherapists are experts on foot pain, ankle sprains, achilles tendon pain, and most importantly treatment and recovery. We’ll meet with you to assess your foot or ankle symptoms, identify the root problem, and develop a tailored rehabilitation plan to get you back on your feet and doing what you love to do.

Our goal is always to understand what the cause of your pain might be and identify the source. Once we’ve identified the root problem, we’ll develop a tailored rehabilitation plan to get you on the road to recovery.

Common Foot Injuries & Treatments

Here are some common foot injuries, causes of foot pain, and treatments we might suggest:

Plantar Fasciopathy (or commonly known as Plantar Fasciitis)

Plantar fascitis is a foot condition that gradually worsens over time, usually due to continued stress. This often leads to inflammation that builds up in the tissue which connects your heel bone to your toes. Common symptoms can include heel pain after activity, sharp foot pain first thing in the morning, and pain in the arch of your foot which gets better through the day.

Mortons’ Neuroma

Morton’s Neuroma involves the nerve tissue leading to your toes thickening. It an cause a sharp, burning pain in the ball of your foot. Other symptoms can include stinging in the affected toes or a numbness in the affected toes.

Posterior Tibialis Tendinopathy

Posterior Tibialis tendinopathy is a condition that starts with pain and inflammation on the inner part of your foot where the tendon runs. Common symptoms can include pain around the tendon, pain when performing a single leg heel raise, weakness around the ankle, and pain when walking or running.

Treatment for Tissue, Nerve, and Tendon Injuries
We commonly treat plantar fasciitis and Morton’s Neuroma through education, taping, targeted manual therapy, and gradual rehabilitation progression.

Stress Fractures

Stress fractures in the foot are commonly caused by overuse and are very common in people who spend a lot of time on their feet – especially runners. Typical symptoms of a stress fracture can include a bruised heel, pain when applying pressure to the heel, and pain that worsens over time.

LisFranc Fractures

LisFranc fractures result from broken bones or torn ligaments that support the middle of the foot. The severity of these fractures can vary from an injury to a single bone to an injury involving many joints and bones. Symptoms can include a swollen top of foot, bruising on the top of the foot, bruising on the bottom of the foot, and pain that worsens when standing or walking.

Treatment for Fractures
Common treatment for stress fractures and LisFranc fractures vary depending on how severe the fracture. Once you’re able, we’ll work to help you regain the muscle and flexibility in your foot, ankle, and lower leg through exercises and load management.

Bunion Surgeries

Bunion surgery is a treatment to correct bunions, bony bumps on the side of the big toe joint. There are a few different types of bunion surgeries and all will result in different recovery times, but the typical recovery time is 6-12 weeks while the bone heals.

Bunion Surgery Recovery
Once your bone has healed, the goal is to regain foot strength and range of motion. Together with your Orthopaedic surgeon, through education, load management, and a gradual rehabilitation progression, we’ll help you get back to normal activities as quickly as possible.

Common Ankle Injuries & Treatment

Here are some common ankle injuries, causes of ankle pain, and treatments we commonly utilise:

Ankle Sprains

Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries in sports, but can also be obtained through everyday activities, too. There are two types of ankle sprains: low ankle sprain and high ankle sprain. A low ankle sprain is most common, usually due to rolling your ankle. High ankle sprains occur when the large ligament above your ankle is injured. As you recover from an ankle sprain, Physiotherapy can help you regain range of motion, restore strength, improve proprioception, and prevent the risk of chronic ankle instability. Treatment for Ankle Sprains Gone are the days of RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate). We now recommend PEACE and LOVE to guide your approach after injury:

Protect. Restrict movement for 1-3 days to minimise bleeding and prevent distension of injured fibres.
Elevate. Elevate your limb higher than your heart to promote fluid flow out of your tissues.
Avoid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs. They can be used to help reduce pain, but be careful taking NSAIDs as these can actually inhibit long-term tissue healing. We’ll educate you on the potential complications.
Compress. Taping or bandages can help limit swelling and tissue bleeding. We may also suggest an ankle brace during the beginning stages of recovery.
Educate. Educate yourself on the benefits of an active approach to recovery.

After a few days, we can help you implement LOVE:

Load: An active approach helps promote tissue repair. We’ll walk you through simple exercises and activities as soon as symptoms allow.
Optimism: Being optimistic and believing for recovery regularly results in better outcomes and faster recovery.
Vascularisation: Cardiovascular activity can increase blood flow to the ankle, so we may recommend pain-free aerobic exercise a few days after injury.
Exercise: We’ll introduce you to exercises to help restore mobility, strength, and balance early after injury.

If your goal is to return to sport, we lean on the PAASS framework to assess your performance and inform us when you’re ready to return to sport:

Pain: Are you still experiencing pain during sport?
Ankle Impairments: How is your range of motion, strength, endurance, and power?
Athlete Perception: How confident are you in your ankle?
Sensorimotor Control: How is your control and balance?
Sport Performance: How is your performance? Can you complete a full training program?

Ankle Fractures

The severity of broken ankles can vary – you may be able to walk on it with only moderate pain, or you may be unable to put any weight on it at all. After your bone has recovered, Physiotherapy can help you restore mobility, strength, and balance.

Ankle Fracture Treatment
Once you’re able, we’ll work to help you regain the muscle and flexibility in your ankle, foot and lower leg through load management and a gradual rehabilitation progression.

Achilles Tendon Pain / Achilles Tendinitis

If you’re experiencing achilles tendon pain, you may have achilles tendinopathy, a common injury in which your achilles tendon becomes irritated and causes pain behind your heel.

Treatment for Achilles Tendinitis and Tendinopathy
Our primary approach to treating achilles tendonitis and tendinopathy involve:

Load Management. We’ll gradually re-introduce your achilles to bearing load that produces tendon adaptation which causes harm.
Strengthening of the Glutes and Calf Muscles. We’ll introduce you to and walk you through exercises to strengthen your glutes and calves to aid recovery.

When Should I Contact a Doctor About My Foot or Ankle Pain?

If your foot or ankle pain is severe and persistent, you should seek immediate medical attention. Otherwise, you should consider seeing a doctor or Physio if:

You have persistent swelling that doesn’t improve after a few days
You have persistent pain that doesn’t improve after a couple of weeks
You experience any burning, numbness, or tingling in your foot or lower leg

Why Choose PhysioX

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Tailored Care

We provide a wide range of personalised and individualised programs to suit your specific injury, pain, or ache.

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Goal-Oriented Therapy

We are fiercely focused on helping you recover as quickly as functionally possible, setting goals and milestones along the way.

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Personalised Consultations

We don’t want to temporarily treat your symptoms, but to uncover your root problem and provide lasting relief.

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Going the Extra Mile

We don’t do the bare minimum, but make every effort to guide and help you meet your rehabilitation needs.

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Client Education

We don’t just treat your pain, but aim to educate you on why you’re experiencing it, common treatment options, and why we’ve chosen your specific programme.

Satisfied Patients

Derek is very professional and knowledgeable. He was able to accurately diagnosed my foot injury issues on the first visit. The exercises he prescribed helped tremendously and resulted in a full recovery. I would highly recommend him and his team! – Nick Wong

When Derek first saw my fractured right ankle xray, he was wondering how long its going to take his oldest patient to recover? He started off with some very painful exercises but they got results. He listens to your problem and makes changes to the exercises to fix your conditions. I could see improvement after each session. He is also aware about my mental and physical condition. After my 8th session, he encouraged me to try my golf swing at the driving range. It really boosted my confidence and I was pleased that I could stand firm on my right leg and rotate my ankle. I was discharged after 11 sessions. Now I am back to golfing 18 holes weekly and going for regular walking exercises. Thank you Derek for your patience, encouragement and excellent treatment. – Song Siew Meng

Derek was very attentive and patient in listening and explaining the problem to me. He was able to find the actual root cause of my 1 year long ankle pain. I used to wear insoles and sport shoes everywhere. Had been living in this protected environment for a year. Derek gave me the confidence that I should not rely on those, but to exercise on the weak part of my body instead. It works and I no longer need to use insoles and can slowly resume back to my intense workout! Much thanks! – Jessy Chen

It’s been a joy having Derek as my Physiotherapist. He has patiently walked me through the past few months to nurse my sprained ankle back to health. Thanks for always listening, for diligently prescribing exercises to help my ankle recover to its original form, and mostly importantly, for having service with a heart – Hui Zhen Go

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