Is Your Lifestyle Fueling Your Tendon Pain?

We use our ankles and feet all the time for everything from basic activities like walking and jogging to intense physical activities when exercising and participating in sports. And the bones, tendons, ligaments, and other musculoskeletal tissue in your ankles are key to how well the joint moves and how much strength you can put on your legs and feet.

Tendon pain is a common problem in your ankles, and several causes can lead to dealing with this unpleasant condition. Among the many factors that can cause tendonitis in the ankles are habits in your normal lifestyle. To better understand how much lifestyle choices can affect foot and ankle health, let’s look at the types of tendon-related ankle injuries, the types of pain caused by lifestyle habits, and changes you can make to improve foot and ankle health.

Residents of the Fort Worth, Texas, area looking for help with foot and ankle pain can get help from Drs. Gary Driver, Glen Beede, Gregory Jaryga, and the expert staff at Trinity Foot & Ankle Specialists.

Types of tendon related ankle injury

You have several tendons connected to your ankles that can be damaged or inflamed:

• Peroneal tendonitis: inflammation of the tendon on the outer side of the ankle
• Achilles tendonitis: injury of the Achilles tendon, located at the back of the ankle, attached to the calf muscles in your legs
• Posterior tibial tendonitis: damage to the tibialis posterior tendon, which is connected to the deepest muscle in the back of the lower leg
• Flexor tendonitis: pain the the tendon of the flexor, located in the inner back of the ankle
• Extensor tendonitis: problems with the extensor tendons, located on the top section of the foot

Lifestyle causes of foot pain

Here are some habits you may have leading to problems in the tendons in your ankles:

Obesity

Because you feet bear your whole body weight, being overweight or obese can affect your entire lower body. It can cause your ankles in particular to work overtime when you’re performing basic functions while standing, leading to problems with your tendons, ligaments, and other musculoskeletal tissue.

Wearing ill-fitting shoes

Something as simple as wearing ill-fitting shoes affects the way your feet move, and can lead to heel pain, deformed toes, bunions, corns, calluses, and many other problems.

High heels

While they may look sexy, high heels are not healthy for feet. They can cause many similar problems to ill-fitting shoes, and lead to ingrown toenails, bunions, blisters. The pain of wearing these shoes can take a very short period of time to set in.

Not stretching before exercise

Warming up before running, walking, or exercising can make a big difference in the flexibility and health of your ankles. 

Changes to improve foot health

Some basic lifestyle changes to maintain healthy tendons in your ankles include maintaining a healthy weight to remove stress from your lower body, wear shoes that fit, and avoid high heels shoes as much as possible. Stretching your calves routinely can help maintain flexibility in your ankles using basic techniques that include standing on your toes and lifting and lowering your heels up to ten times. Be sure to not overdo the stretches, and don’t force your heels any farther than they want to go.

Your lifestyle can definitely affect the tendons in your ankles, and if you find yourself dealing with tendonitis in your ankles, we can help. Make an appointment today with Drs. Driver, Beede, and Jaryga, and Trinity Foot and Ankle Specialists, to get relief.