Rugby Foot & Leg Pain | Masterton Podiatrist

Rugby is a big favourite of ours – and that of many of our patients here in Masterton. Being a fast-paced, high-impact collision sport with rapid stops, starts and changes in direction means that it also takes a toll on the body. While it’s easy to shrug off rugby injuries, especially during a laid-back social game with friends, the types of injuries sustained in rugby are prone to worsening without the right care and treatment. 

As podiatrists that have a strong focus on sports medicine and rehabilitation, we’ve put together a list of the top rugby injuries we see and treat, as well as what they mean, so you know when to take action and get help. 

Rugby Overuse Injuries

The first category of injury is something we call overuse, meaning that the injury is caused by repetitive stress over time that leads to the damage of a muscle or tissue. Often these injuries may be linked to your foot posture or alignment, abnormal foot biomechanics, muscle tightness or weakness that causes imbalance, footwear, or other issues. The common rugby overuse injuries that we see include:

• Plantar fasciitis heel pain: painful damage and inflammation of a connective tissue called the plantar fascia that spans the bottom of the foot. Characteristic signs of plantar fascia include notable heel pain on walking first thing in the morning and on standing after rest.
• Achilles tendinopathy: your Achilles tendon is the cord-like tendon that connects to the back of the heel. Tendinopathy means that the Achilles tendon becomes damaged. This causes pain and sometimes inflammation at the back of the heel. Achilles problems are often linked to tight calf muscles.
• Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD): this describes the damage to a tendon called the posterior tibial tendon, which travels down the side of our lower leg, crosses the inside of our ankle, and attaches to the underside of the foot. The posterior tibial tendon plays a very important role in the structure of our foot and arch, as well as helping support healthy and pain-free movement every time we take a step. If you have PTTD, you may experience pain on the inside of your ankle, and it may become progressively more painful to stand up onto your tip-toes.
• Peroneal tendinopathy: Your peroneal tendons run down the outside of your leg, crossing your outer ankle and moving down to the outer border of your foot. When the tendons are excessively strained, whether it’s a one-off event like an ankle sprain or repetitively over time due to the structure and function of the feet and legs, the tendons become damaged, leading to pain, sometimes inflammation, and degeneration. Pain is often felt around the outer ankle, especially when twisting the foot inwards or feeling behind or around the ‘bony bump’ at the outer ankle.
• Sesamoiditis: damage to and inflammation of the sesamoid bones and associated tendons just beneath the big toe joint. As such, it’s often associated with big toe pain and swelling, and is another common problem we see in runners.
• Stress fractures: these occur from excess pressure and stress to a bone over time, forming micro-cracks that grow bigger if the pressure isn’t managed and offloaded. This pain tends to be gradual at first, feeling more like a niggle or dull ache, and progressing to a sharper and more intense pain as the injury worsens.
• Knee pain: repetitive high-impact forces through the knee can cause various problems with multiple knee structures – from straining ligaments like your medial collateral ligament (MCL) to wearing down knee cartilage and more. This can often leave the knee feeling weak, unstable and painful.
• Shin splints: leads to pain and inflammation along the front of the shin bone due to excess stress or force – something that is plentiful in a game of rugby.
• Hamstring strain: your hamstrings are the muscle group at the back of the thigh. When they are excessively stretched or overloaded beyond what they can safely handle, an injury occurs. In rugby, this can occur when forcefully pushing off the ground, or when rapidly swinging the leg through for a kick.

Rugby Traumatic Injuries

Aside from overuse injuries, we also see a range of traumatic injuries in rugby that occur as a result of a collision, fall or other blow. These include:

• Ankle sprains: Whether it’s from a tackle or from an attempted quick change in direction while your weight and force are still travelling in the opposite direction, ankle sprains are a biggie on the field. During a sprain, the ankle supporting ligaments are strained and become damaged. If ankle sprains aren’t effectively rehabilitated, long-standing ankle instability may develop.
• Fractures: unlike stress fractures that develop gradually over time, these are the one-off “broken bones”. They occur because bones are vulnerable to large impact forces during play and fracture when the force exceeds what they can normally tolerate.
• Tears in muscles, tendons and ligaments: impact to the lower limbs can cause muscles, tendons and ligaments to move in a way they weren’t designed for and can’t withstand, leading to a partial tear or at the worst case, a complete rupture.
• Turf toe: this is the medical term for spraining your big toe. When your big toe is suddenly thrust upwards, damage occurs to the ligaments surrounding the big toe which become sprained – just like the ligaments surrounding our ankles can become sprained when we roll it. Turf toe gets its name from its higher occurrence rate on artificial turf.
• Plantar plate injuries: the plantar plate is a ligamentous structure that runs along all the toes at the ball of your foot at the joints and connects them together to protect the joints and limit them from hyperextending which would damage the plantar plate (and may cause turf toe).
• Toenail damage: running over or stepping on one’s foot can not only damage bones and tissues, but also the toenails. As a result the toenails can thicken, fall away, have bleeding beneath the nail, and become more vulnerable to infections – such as a fungal nail infection.

Experiencing Pain After Rugby?

If you’re getting any pain after a rugby game, even if it’s a practice match, it’s a good sign that something has gone wrong – or an injury may soon be around the corner. Getting treatment early means you can avoid significant pain and get back to your game with minimal downtime.

To book in with one of our sports podiatrists, book online here or call us on 06 370 4057