Tag Archives: podiatry

What is the role of Podiatry in Sports Teams?

One of the more favorite sports activities in Australia is Australian Rules Football (AFL). To those outside this it is regarded as a bit weird as they quite simply have seen any game like it, but they are in awe of just what tremendous sports athletes those who participate in the sport at the professional high level can be. It’s a entirely professional men’s league of Australian rules football and has been competed for over a century. It commenced in the state of Victoria, but now other states have clubs in what is now regarded as a national competition. The eighteen professional clubs that compete in the AFL spend a lot in the sports sciences as well as sports medicine to get the most from the players in every team. The sports medicine team with each team includes a podiatrist involved to help look after the foot injury and shoes requirements of the players. The role of Podiatrists in the Australian Football League in Australia is recognized as a model of how podiatry practitioners could be involved with professional squads worldwide.

For one of the shows of the podiatry related livestream, PodChatLive the hosts spoke with 5 of the podiatry practitioners associated with AFL squads to talk about the world leading template for Podiatry inside an elite sports competition and the growing function of the recently formed, AFL Podiatry Association. The Podiatrists which were on this live ended up Ben Holland from the North Melbourne Kangaroos, Emma Poynton with the Western Bulldogs, Nicki Quigley from the Hawthorn Hawks, Todd Brown with the Geelong Cats and Tom May from the Adelaide Crows. They described the demands of AFL and just how this has effects on the players and what the common injuries observed. There was a good discussion about the footwear used and also the issues that can bring. There was additionally a conversation with the preseason screening process that is commonly used in the 44-man squads. The livestream was streamed live on Facebook, however is also now available on YouTube.