On Sunday August 21, Columbus, OH fans of the Cincinnati Bengals will have to travel all the way to New York City to see their team play the New York Jets. The trip may be worth it to witness a Bengals win, which the odds are improved for by the fact that the Jet’s first string running back, Shonn Greene will be on the bench for the game. Shonn Greene is not playing because team doctors recently caught the start of a skin infection in his foot and are now giving him time to recover while he takes antibiotics.
While many people may think that skin infections of the foot only occur in people with diabetes, the elderly, or others with a compromised immune system, Shonn Greene shows that even a professional athlete at his peak level of health and fitness needs to watch for signs of infection in the foot and ankle. Shonn was receiving a local anesthetic to have a callus removed by the Jet’s team doctor when he pointed out another area of his foot that had been bothering him. He was lucky for the callus bringing him in the presence of medical experts who were able to diagnose the painful area as a low grade skin infection. For Shonn, increased pain was the first sign of an infectious process occurring. As infection progresses, other common signs to watch for include: swelling, redness, tenderness, heat, and red streaks extending from the affected area. Because his infection was caught early on, the Jets have made a statement that his infection is responding well to treatment and antibiotics. Shonn’s infection also brought to mind for many teams, the importance of a clean training and locker room. While the Jets believe that this was not the source of the infection, athletes must take extra care to keep their feet clean and dry. Wearing shower shoes or flip flops when walking in moist areas where many other bare feet have walked such as locker rooms and public showers is also a good measure to avoid Athlete’s foot.
A foot infection can spread quickly to become much more serious than just pain and swelling on the surface of the foot. If allowed to progress, infections can reach the blood and bone, leading to osteomyelitis (a bone infection) or even worse can spread in the blood throughout the body leading to a bacteremia (blood infection) with systemic shock and possibly death. Luckily, Shonn and hopefully anyone else with a suspicious wound or area of pain on their foot know to talk to an experienced podiatrist and get help immediately! Prompt treatment of an infection can stop the infection before it gets to a more severe stage.
Please visit www.ColumbusFoot.com for more information or call 614-885 FEET (3338) to schedule an appointment with a podiatrist in Columbus, Ohio. Columbus Podiatry & Surgery is located on the North side of Columbus, Ohio near Worthington.
