Footy asks everything of the lower limb - repeat sprints across twelve to fifteen kilometres,
contested marks landed on someone else's boot, sudden change of direction, and heavy contact. Often on
the hardest grounds of the year.
Gary Johnstone is a VFL Reserves premiership player who consults to Melbourne Demons
AFLW and Williamstown FC in the VFL. Matthew Fieldsend is a VAFA Woodrow Medallist,
state representative and multi-season VFL footballer who has rehabilitated his own lower-limb injuries.
This is genuinely their home ground.
body weight absorbed per landing in marking contests
#1
ankle injuries are the most reported complaint in community footy
Figures reflect published AFL injury surveillance research. Individual risk varies with age, position, ground hardness and training load.
What is AFL podiatry?
Specialised lower limb care for Australian Rules footballers
AFL podiatry is the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of foot and ankle injuries that arise from the
specific demands of Australian Rules Football. Those demands are unusual even among field sports:
repeat high-speed running over a long game, explosive acceleration out of a stoppage, contested marking
and landing, rapid change of direction, kicking, and physical contact.
The injury pattern that follows is distinctive. Footy produces the
high-ankle syndesmosis sprain
far more often than most sports, because the foot gets planted in a tackle while the leg twists over
it. It produces navicular stress fractures, because sprinting and cutting drive enormous force through
the top of the arch. Neither behaves like the injury it is usually mistaken for.
At Up & Running Podiatry we treat footballers near Port Melbourne, Elsternwick and Williamstown,
from juniors through to state competition. Gary Johnstone is a VFL Reserves premiership player with Port
Melbourne FC and consults to Melbourne Demons AFLW and Williamstown FC. Matthew Fieldsend played
state-level and VFL football and specialises in return-to-sport programming.
The first sprain is rarely the real problem. It is the strength and balance you never got back afterwards.
Is this you?
Recognise your symptoms
Pick the description closest to what you are feeling. These are the presentations we see week after week
in footballers across our Melbourne clinics - each links to the full explanation below.
None of these quite fit?
Book an assessment
and we will work it out properly.
About our approach
AFL demands more from your feet than almost any other sport. We know that firsthand.
Players cover twelve to fifteen kilometres a game across high-speed running, explosive acceleration,
contested marking and repeated physical contact. A landing from a pack absorbs three to five times
body weight. Every one of those movements starts at the ground.
We bring AFL-specific understanding that goes past the textbook. Gary Johnstone is a VFL Reserves
premiership player with Port Melbourne FC and currently consults to Melbourne Demons AFLW and
Williamstown FC in the VFL. Matthew Fieldsend is a VAFA Woodrow Medallist and multi-season VFL
footballer whose clinical focus is training load and return-to-run programming.
We treat footballers near Port Melbourne, Elsternwick and Williamstown, from juniors through to
state competition - for the acute injury, and for the overuse condition that has been building
quietly since round one. Our
sports biomechanics and
gait analysis assessments exist to find the fault,
not to sell you a device.
“Two things separate footy from every other running sport: what a syndesmosis sprain does to a season, and how easily a navicular stress fracture gets called a niggle.”
Gary JohnstonePodiatrist & Owner · Consulting podiatrist, Melbourne Demons AFLW & Williamstown FC
Boot and stud selection matters more than most players realise
Stiff soles, minimal cushioning, a narrow toe box and the wrong stud configuration for the ground
all feed into forefoot overload, turf toe, heel pain and blistering. Longer studs on a rock-hard
January ground grip when your ankle would rather they released. We review your boots, studs and
lacing as part of every assessment - it is the cheapest fix available to a footballer, and the one
most often skipped.
Conditions we treat
Common AFL Foot and Ankle Injuries
Australian Rules is uniquely demanding, and its injury pattern reflects that. Our podiatrists near Port
Melbourne, Elsternwick and Williamstown diagnose and treat every injury below - including the two that
footy produces more than any other sport.
Ankle
Lateral Ankle Sprains
Landing from a contested mark onto another player's boot, or having the ankle rolled in a tackle, overstretches the ligaments on the outside of the joint. Immediate pain, swelling and bruising follow, and the ankle feels unstable the moment you load it.
The first sprain is rarely the real problem. It is the strength, range and balance never rebuilt afterwards that leaves footballers rolling the same ankle every season until instability becomes permanent. Read our guide to ankle sprains, or more broadly on ankle pain.
How we help
Staged rehabilitation, balance and landing retraining, taping or bracing, plus a sports biomechanics assessment to find the fault behind the roll.
A footy-specific injury. The foot is planted in a tackle or a pack and the leg twists over the top of it. Instead of the outside ligaments, the damage is to the syndesmosis - the strong connection between the two shin bones just above the ankle.
These behave nothing like a rolled ankle. Pain sits higher, above the joint, and bites when you twist, push off or run rather than when you press the outer ligaments. They are slower to settle, they are routinely under-called, and returning early is a genuine risk. Accurate diagnosis is the whole game.
How we help
Accurate diagnosis and imaging referral, protected loading, and a criteria-based return-to-play plan built with sports biomechanics - milestones, not a calendar.
The repeat-sprint demand of footy - accelerating, decelerating, leaping for marks - loads the Achilles harder than almost any other running sport. Players describe stiffness at the back of the heel, worst on the first steps out of bed and at the start of training.
It eases once you are warm, then bites the next morning. That warm-up effect is the trap: it robs you of leap and top-end speed for months before it ever stops you playing. Tendons need the right load, not rest. See our guide to Achilles pain.
How we help
Progressive, calibrated tendon loading with footwear and training-load changes, plus shockwave therapy for tendons that have been symptomatic for months.
The navicular sits at the top of the arch and absorbs enormous force during sprinting and cutting, which is exactly why this injury shows up in footballers. It presents as a vague, deep ache across the midfoot that arrives with running and settles with rest.
It gets dismissed as a niggle for weeks. The navicular has a poor blood supply, so a missed stress fracture here turns into a long, complicated recovery that can cost a season and sometimes needs surgery. This is the one footy complaint we would rather see early and rule out than miss. Read more about stress fractures.
How we help
Early diagnosis and prompt imaging referral, strict load management, and gait analysis to correct the forces overloading the bone.
Pre-season volume spikes, hard summer grounds and stiff football boots drive repeated impact through the long bones of the forefoot. The pain builds gradually - a pinpoint ache over one spot that worsens through a session and lingers into the evening.
Push on and a stress reaction becomes a full fracture. The bone is not the problem; the load that broke it is. We identify which metatarsal is involved, address the training load and mechanics behind it, and get you running again safely. Learn more about stress fractures and forefoot pain.
How we help
Load management, boot and stud review, and custom orthotics to redistribute forefoot pressure.
Sharp heel pain on your first steps in the morning, or after sitting on the bench through a quarter, is the hallmark of plantar fasciitis - overload of the thick band of tissue supporting your arch.
In footy it is driven by high running volume, firm grounds and boots with almost no cushioning through a long pre-season. Because it settles once you are moving, it goes unaddressed for months, and the longer it has been present the longer it takes to resolve. See our guides to plantar fasciitis and heel and arch pain.
How we help
Calf and foot strengthening, load management, orthotic support where mechanics genuinely contribute, and shockwave therapy for chronic heel pain.
Aching along the inner border of the shin during and after running is medial tibial stress syndrome. In footy it arrives almost on schedule: the first weeks of pre-season, when running volume jumps sharply on hard summer grounds, in boots from last season.
It is a warning, not a nuisance. Shin splints sit on the same bone-stress continuum as a tibial stress fracture, and the players who push through are the ones who end up in a boot for six weeks. Read our full guide to shin splints.
How we help
Load-progression correction, calf and hip strengthening, footwear review, and orthoses where lower-limb biomechanics contribute.
Every kick, sprint and sidestep drives force through the joint at the base of the big toe. Force it beyond its range - which happens the moment a planted foot is driven forward - and you sprain it. That is turf toe.
Over a career, repeated insult leaves that joint stiff, arthritic and painful to push off. For a footballer, a sore big-toe joint means a shorter kick and a slower first step, long before it means pain. Learn more about big toe joint pain and arthritis and toe pain.
How we help
Joint protection and offloading, foot mobilisation to restore extension, and boot or orthotic changes to ease push-off.
Footballers carry a heavy knee load: decelerating, sidestepping and landing from marks. Pain around or behind the kneecap that worsens with running, stairs and squatting is common - and the knee is usually the first place a player feels it when the foot beneath it is not holding up.
Because the foot sits directly under the knee, foot posture and landing mechanics matter enormously here, including through the long return from an ACL reconstruction. Read our guide to knee pain.
How we helpGait analysis, lower-limb strengthening, and orthoses where foot mechanics are loading the knee. We co-manage with your physiotherapist or surgeon when the knee itself is the primary issue.
Not every ache needs an appointment. Some symptoms genuinely should not be left to settle on their own -
and in footy, two of them can cost a season if they are missed.
See us urgently
Same-day or next-day assessment
Ankle swelling that prevents weight bearing after a tackle or collision
Sharp, localised bone pain in the foot or shin after impact
Significant bruising or deformity after a fall or marking contest
A deep midfoot ache that has been present for more than two weeks
Heel or foot pain in a junior player that is affecting training or games
Any injury that has not improved after one week of rest
Book within 1 to 2 weeks
Manageable now, expensive to ignore
Recurring ankle sprains on the same side during the season
Achilles or shin stiffness that builds progressively through pre-season
Heel pain that is worst with the first steps of the morning
A history of ankle instability, or a sense the ankle gives way
Big toe stiffness costing you kick distance or first-step speed
A pre-season biomechanical and boot assessment to reduce injury risk
If the pain sits above the ankle rather than below it, or deep in the arch rather than under the heel, get it assessed before you play again. Those are the two footy injuries that punish waiting.
Every plan is built around the realities of footy - your training week, the next round, the hardness of
your home ground and the boots you play in. There is no generic protocol here.
1
Comprehensive lower limb assessment
We build a clear picture of the injury, how you move, and what you have been asking your body to absorb. In footy, most of the diagnosis lives in the load history.
Returning to footy is not one decision, it is a sequence of them. We stage it against criteria you have to meet, not dates on a fixture list.
Stage-by-stage return to training and match play
Clear milestones before you run, change direction, or take contact
Communication with your physio, GP or coach
Ground-side taping guidance for early return
4
Prevention and performance optimisation
Once you are back on the park, the job changes: keeping you there. Re-injury risk peaks in the first months after return, and prevention is the part players abandon first.
Individualised ankle stability and proprioception programs
Boot and stud selection for the ground you are actually playing on
What we will not do
We will not put you in orthotics because you play footy. Plenty of footballers do not need them. And we
will not sign off a return to contact because there is a final in three weeks - a syndesmosis injury
and a bone stress injury cannot be talked into healing faster, and rushing either one is how players
lose a season instead of a month. You will get the honest timeline in the first appointment.
Why Up & Running
AFL expertise you will not find everywhere
Clinical evidence paired with people who have played the game at a serious level and rehabilitated
their own injuries. It changes the questions we ask.
AFL-specific experience
Gary Johnstone is a VFL Reserves premiership player and current consulting podiatrist to Melbourne Demons AFLW and Williamstown FC. Matthew Fieldsend is a VAFA Woodrow Medallist.
Evidence-based care
Every treatment decision is defensible against current research and tailored to your presentation. If the evidence does not support it, we do not sell it.
Injury prevention focus
We look past the sore structure to the reason it became sore - so the same injury is not waiting for you at the start of next pre-season.
Three convenient clinics
Port Melbourne, Elsternwick and Williamstown - easy to reach from across Melbourne's inner west and south, with same-day appointments available.
Collaborative approach
We work alongside your physio, GP, coach and strength staff so nobody is giving you contradictory advice halfway through a season.
HICAPS on-the-spot claims
All major health funds accepted. Claim your rebate instantly at every appointment, at every clinic, with no paperwork and no referral required.
Gary brings 15+ years of sports podiatry alongside rare AFL-specific credentials. As a VFL Reserves
premiership player with Port Melbourne FC, he understands the demands of the game from the inside. He
currently consults to Melbourne Demons AFLW and Williamstown FC in the VFL, working with elite players
on injury management, footwear and orthotic prescription. His clinical focus is runners and complex
ankle and tendon injuries, and his approach centres on strength and movement efficiency rather than
reaching for a device first.
Personal achievements
VFL Reserves Premiership, Port Melbourne FC
Marathon 2hr 39min · 10km 33min
Ironman World Champs Hawaii, 9hr 24min
Geelong 70.3 Ironman 2017, AG 1st place
Professional credentials
Consulting Podiatrist, Melbourne Demons AFLW
Consulting Podiatrist, Williamstown FC (VFL)
Member, Australian Podiatry Association
Member, Sports and Exercise Podiatry Australia
AHPRA RegisteredAPA Member15+ Years ExperienceVFL Premiership Player
Matthew played football for many years at state and VFL level, finishing with De La Salle Old
Collegians, and held leadership roles at every level including several seasons as captain. He won the
VAFA's Woodrow Medal. After multiple lower-limb injuries and surgeries across football and triathlon,
his own recovery drove a specific interest in rehabilitation and return-to-run programming - which is
now his clinical focus, alongside training load and running technique.
This page was written and clinically reviewed by Gary Johnstone and Matthew Fieldsend, and is maintained
by the Up & Running Podiatry team. It is general information, not a diagnosis.
Book an assessment to get advice specific to your foot.
Explore our services
Services for AFL players
Commonly part of a footballer's treatment plan at our Melbourne clinics.
Three locations across Melbourne's inner west and south. Same-day appointments and all health funds
accepted. Choose the clinic nearest you and book online in under a minute.
The questions we are asked most often by footballers at our Melbourne clinics.
AFL podiatry is sports podiatry applied to the specific loading pattern of Australian Rules: repeat high-speed running over a long game, contested marking and landing, rapid change of direction, kicking and heavy contact - usually on hard grounds.
Location and provocation. A standard sprain hurts on the outside of the ankle, below the bone, and it hurts when you press those outer ligaments. A high-ankle sprain sits higher, above the joint, and it hurts when you twist, push off or run rather than when you press.
High-ankle injuries take considerably longer to recover and are commonly under-called. If the pain is above the ankle, get it assessed properly before you return - this is the single injury where an early misdiagnosis costs the most.
Because the first sprain was never properly rehabilitated. The ligament heals, but the strength, range and proprioception that protected the joint do not come back on their own - and a footballer who has lost those will roll the same ankle again. Read our guide to ankle sprains.
The fix is unglamorous and it works: progressive single-leg strength, balance and landing retraining, plus bracing or taping through the first season back. Ten minutes, three times a week.
Possibly, yes. A deep, poorly localised ache across the top of the arch that comes with running and eases with rest can be a navicular stress fracture. Because that bone has a limited blood supply, a delayed diagnosis makes recovery dramatically harder and can lead to surgery.
This is the one footy niggle we would rather see early and rule out than miss. If it has been there more than a fortnight, book it.
Because pre-season is when running volume jumps fastest, on the hardest grounds of the year, often in boots from last season. That combination is the classic recipe for medial tibial stress syndrome.
It is largely preventable. We look at load progression, calf and hip strength, footwear and foot mechanics, and adjust before the shin gives way rather than after. Read our guide to shin splints.
Often, yes - but not unchanged. Plantar fasciitis responds to managed load rather than complete rest, so a total lay-off is rarely the answer and rarely necessary.
What usually has to change is running volume, the amount of time spent in boots outside matches, and the strength of the calf and foot. We will keep you playing where it is safe, and be direct with you when it is not.
No. Podiatrists are primary contact practitioners, so you can book directly without seeing your GP first. Private health rebates apply with extras cover and can be claimed on the spot through HICAPS at all three clinics.
A referral is only needed if you are accessing a Medicare Chronic Disease Management plan through your GP, which is a separate pathway and not typical for a sports injury.
Yes, but they have to be built for it. A football boot has a low-volume upper and a shallow heel cup, so a standard device lifts the foot out of the boot and changes the fit. We manufacture slim, sport-specific orthotics that sit under the boot liner without stealing space.
Worth saying plainly: most footballers do not need orthotics. They are one tool, prescribed when foot mechanics are demonstrably driving the injury. Strength, load management and a better boot solve a great many problems on their own.
They contribute to plenty of them. Stiff soles, minimal cushioning, a narrow toe box and the wrong stud configuration for the ground all feed into forefoot overload, turf toe, heel pain and blistering.
We review your boots, studs and lacing as part of the assessment. It is the cheapest fix available to a footballer, and the one most often skipped in favour of something that costs more.
Yes, and early is better. Heel pain in a growing footballer is usually Sever’s disease - irritation of the heel growth plate under the running and jumping load of footy. It is very common between roughly eight and fourteen, and it resolves.
Caught early it rarely requires time fully off sport. Our kids’ feet service manages it with load adjustment, calf work and simple heel offloading. If it is changing how your child runs, book sooner rather than later.
Footy injuries recover faster, and more completely, when they are assessed early. Book with the sports
podiatry team that works with AFLW and VFL footballers. No referral needed.
