SPORTS PODIATRY Baseball and Podiatrists It’s a game of inches and a game of feet BY KEITH LORIA here’s folklore that has made its way around ball- parks all over the nation Today, every major league baseball team has a team that every podiatrist of a podiatrist on staff or one it can refer to. major league baseball team Thas heard. The story involves former Texas Rangers outfielder Kevin Mench, who missed five of his team’s ey Tettleton once went on the DL that more foot injuries don’t keep first 15 games with a with a severe case of athlete’s players off the field. sprained second toe—other- foot allegedly caused by tying Whether it’s Dr. Larry Oloff, the wise known as “turf toe”— his shoes too tight, while leg- San Francisco Giants’ podiatry spe- in his right foot. Thanks to endary Hall of Famer George cialist performing surgery on 2012 the keen eye of his team po- Brett broke his toe on a chair MVP Buster Posey to repair torn liga- diatrist, it was discovered at his home while running ments in his left ankle, or Milwaukee that Mench’s shoes were ac- from the kitchen to the TV to Brewers podiatrist Dr. Kevin Sunshein tually half a size too small watch fellow All-Star Bill creating custom orthotics so All-Star and, once corrected, the out- Buckner hit. Corey Hart could continue playing fielder went on to his most Dr. Oloff Today, every major league last year, or even Dr. James Ricketti productive season ever. baseball team has a team po- of the Red Sox helping Cody Ross Bizarre foot injuries are no diatrist on staff or one it can refer to, rehab after he broke his navicular stranger to the Great American Pas- and it’s thanks to their experience, bone last October, an MLB team podi- time. Baltimore Orioles catcher Mick- knowhow, and even love of the game Continued on page 84 www.podiatrym.com JUNE/JULY 2013 | PODIATRY MANAGEMENT | 83 SPORTS PODIATRY BASEBALL atrist is essential for every ball club. best to take a conservative route and lete,” he says. “I have earned the re- The Tampa Bay Rays continue to not opt for surgery right away. “As a spect of many of the players who shock the baseball podiatrist, we are not going to deal have come through, and that’s why I world by compet- with the traumatic injury, but what see players from all over the country, ing for a playoff we can do is keep them safe and com- players who used to play for the team spot almost every fortable. If surgery has to be done, come back and see me, which is a re- year, despite hav- we’ll do it, but we need to present all ally nice feeling.” ing one of the low- the options to the athlete Unlike football where he’s est payrolls in the and the trainer,” he says. required to be at every game, league. For the “With Doc, I made a tempo- Weil can usually be found at past decade, Dr. rary orthotic and he was about half of the team’s 81 Dr. Runyon Tim Runyon, a po- able to continue on for the home games. “It’s not unusu- diatrist in St. Pe- season.” al that I will be watching the tersburg, FL., has been the team’s po- Dr. Lowell Weil has game on television and the diatrist and has done what he can to been team podiatrist for trainer will call me and tell keep the players on the field. “I see a the Chicago White Sox me “Doc, I have someone lot of overuse injuries that a regular since 1983 and has learned Dr. Weil, Sr who needs you’ and I will get weekend athlete might not have,” a lot in his three decades in the car and go to the stadi- Runyon says. “Major league players on the job. Back then, he was one um,” he says. “Otherwise, I’m there want to stay at the peak of perfor- of only two team podiatrists in all the beginning of every home stand so mance and are always working on of baseball. “When I started, I was anyone who had problems on the trying to get an edge. Sometimes that known around town for my work road can be seen. I’m always on call leads to overuse injuries. Common occurrences are tendonitis, heel pain, Achilles tendinitis, stress fractures; a myriad of things that are not so much The most common injury that baseball podiatrists see in indigenous to baseball but for all pro- their players is an ingrown toenail. fessional athletes.” The laundry list of things an MLB podiatrist deals with also includes work on the lower extremities, poste- with the Bulls and Bears, so I had a and I’m at every game of the play- rior tibial tendons, inflammations of lot of experience with sports offs.” the foot, and a variety of sprains and medicine and was able to work strains. with the White Sox because of my Dealing with Injuries Ever since the connections,” he says. “I have done The most common injury that New York Yan- everything from making a diagnosis baseball podiatrists see in their play- kees moved their to performing surgery and, over the ers is an ingrown toenail. Last year spring training years, have encountered just about alone, players such as Chipper Jones, site from Fort every issue with a foot that some- Guillermo Mota, and David Murphy Lauderdale to one can have.” all missed time on the field because of Tampa, Florida Back at the beginning of his time this. “Ballplayers have a lot of prob- (in 1996), Dr. with the team, future Hall of Famer lems with this because of their Gerald Cosentino Dr. Cosentino Carlton Fisk came to the Sox and footwear,” Weil says. “Spikes that are has served as the wasn’t too happy with Weil or his ad- worn are very soft with not much team’s spring podiatrist. “Most of vice—at first. “He was a little nasty support to them and a lot of the guys the things I see in ballplayers are and I gave it to him straight. I told like to wear them tight so they can repetitive injuries,” he says. “Some- him, ‘It’s you and me and I will do run faster. That’s not good.” With thing like when Joba Chamberlain what’s best for you and not worry pitchers, because of the way they dislocated his subtalar joint, that’s about what the coaches are saying,’” throw the ball, with their back foot not the norm, but we are available Weil says. “He liked that assertive- coming forward and hitting the to help with something like that. ness and we became good friends and ground, it causes ingrown toenail is- We’ll see different dermatology is- I was able to help him stay on the sues all the time. sues, sprained ankles, and of course, field.” The second most common need deal with shoe issues.” Years later, Dr. Weil helped out- for a podiatrist comes from a player While working with Dwight fielder Magglio Ordonez find a doctor taking a foul ball off the foot. “This Gooden years ago, the veteran hurler in Austria for a procedure not yet ap- happens all the time. It’s usually off was suffering from some feet issues, proved in America—and at the re- the instep, so we come up with modi- but because it wasn’t affecting his quest of the player, stayed quiet. fications for braces—little Velcro pitching, he and Cosentino decided it “My first obligation is to the ath- Continued on page 86 84 | JUNE/JULY 2013 | PODIATRY MANAGEMENT www.podiatrym.com SPORTS PODIATRY BASEBALL straps or foam rubber—so they are tendonitis is another issue with run- ble to arch pain, commonly traced to more comfortable,” Weil says. “Guys ning around the bases. The quick an inflammation on the bottom of the who have had it happen in the past stop-and-start motion of baseball foot. It’s not uncommon for a team don’t wait until it happens again, they often creates pain and tightness in the podiatrist to prescribe orthoses to will start the season with these be- calf, and aggravation of the Achilles help alleviate the pain. cause they don’t want to get hit tendon.” A related condition for catchers again.” When a player does hit a foul is heel spur syndrome, which oc- off his foot, Dr. Runyon says it can The Battery curs when the plantar tendon pulls lead to bleeding under the toenails They say pitching and defense at its attachment to the heel bone and it “hurts like heck,” but once he wins baseball championships, so if and can later calcify to form a can release the fluid, it feels 1,000 one of a team’s pitchers is suffering spur. “Many times the ligament times better. from a foot injury, it could be the dif- pulling on the heel creates the Another injury that the podiatrists ference between a World Series ring symptoms, and not the spur itself, especially after getting up from resting,” Dr. Runyon says. “With proper warm-up and the use of sup- Catchers are particularly susceptible to portive shoes, strain to the ligament arch pain, commonly traced to an inflammation can be reduced.” It is always best for injured base- on the bottom of the foot.