Achilles Tendinitis is an overuse injury resulting in inflammation of the Achilles tendon, which connects the calf muscles to your heel. The most frequent presentation is stiffness in the Achilles tendon in the morning and after sitting. The stiffness will decrease with activity and will often disappear only to reappear minutes or hours after. The symptoms often worsen with higher pain intensity and longer duration. The pain may become increasingly sharp, especially at the tendon’s insertion.

Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the fibrous tissue (plantar fascia) that runs along the bottom of your foot. The pain experienced is intense and located in the heel (where the arch begins). Initially, the symptoms are worse in the morning or after sitting. Symptoms will decrease after a few minutes of walking or running. If not properly treated, plantar fasciitis can progress to being continuously painful while walking and standing. Symptoms often begin due to overuse (running), poor footwear, and muscle imbalances.

Shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome) is an overuse condition caused by inflammation of the muscles, tendons, and bone tissue along the shin bone (tibia). In the early stages, symptoms are often lower leg tenderness, soreness, and tenderness. The symptoms can disappear with activity, creating a false sense of recovery. If not properly treated, symptoms can become continuous and even progress to a stress reaction or a stress fracture.

Runner’s knee (patellofemoral pain syndrome) is pain at the front of your knee, typically around the kneecap (patella). The pain is the result of overuse and muscle imbalances, and weaknesses.

The pain (dull and aching) is usually experienced with walking, negotiating stairs, squatting, lunging, and after prolonged sitting. Without corrective treatment, the symptoms will worsen with running, kneeling, and squatting.

Iliotibial (IT) Band Syndrome is an overuse injury of the connective tissue outside the thigh. The IT band becomes inflamed from friction against the outside of the knee. The symptoms are pain and tenderness of the lateral thigh and are often most intense just above the knee joint. Poor running form, trunk, lower body weakness and instability, and training errors contribute to the development of IT band syndrome.

Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (Chondromalacia Patella or Runner’s Knee) is pain at the front and around your kneecap. It is a common running and jumping injury. Patellofemoral pain symptoms occur during activity; running, squatting, going up and down stairs, etc.

The muscles of your leg are divided into four compartments, each made of connective tissue. Compartment Syndrome is when those muscles swell up during exercise, compromising circulation and prohibiting muscular function while causing intense pain in the lower leg.

While fractures are clean breaks, a stress fracture is a small crack or severe bruising of a bone. Stress fractures are one of the most common overuse injuries in runners and occur when your muscles become tired and fatigued and are unable to absorb the shock from activity. Pain is the most common symptom of a fracture, along with tenderness and swelling.

Ankle sprains occur when the ligaments of your ankle tear or get stretched too much. Sprains most often happen when you “roll” your foot during activity. Common ankle sprain symptoms are tenderness, swelling, stiffness and bruising.

Osgood-Schlatter Disease is a child or adolescent injury of the knee that causes knee pain, swelling, tightness and tenderness. This injury often occurs in active children during their growth spurts. When a child is active, the leg muscles pull on the tendons and this repeated action causes inflammation on the growth plate. A bump or growth on the tibial tubercle may become very noticeable.

Sever’s Disease, also known as calcaneal apophysitis, is the result of repetitive microtrauma to the growth plate of the heel in growing children and adolescents. Because children are still growing, the growth plate is considered “open”. Pain is typically in the back and bottom of the heel and the arch of the foot. During running, the Achilles tendon pulls at the growth plate. If the repetitive stress is too great from running, the area where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel, as well as the growth plate, becomes inflamed and painful.  The typical occurrence of Sever’s disease is with children between the ages of 7 to 15 years.