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Top of Foot Pain

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smarionette
smarionette Posts: 260 Member
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Rewind almost 3 years, when I started getting more involved in fitness in general, but wasn't terribly concerned with the diet part of things yet, I managed to do a number on the top of my left foot and sprained it. This is the portion of the foot that actually goes above the midfoot. It was so bad that I got an x-ray to confirm nothing was broken. Given an ankle brace, told to take 800mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours whether I thought I needed it or not and R.I.C.E for a nearly a week. Listened to the doc and the symptoms went away, but they do recur pretty regularly so I wouldn't put myself in the "healed" category.

After last night's run (only 5 miles, but first time I'd done that distance in near a month) my foot is acting up almost as bad as it did with the initial injury! My shoes are the ones recommended to me by our wonderful running store, and I ran a spring half in them no problem. I wear good socks with an eye towards midfoot support because of this injury. I'm at a loss. Should I dig my ankle brace back out and numb myself into submission again or should I try to get a sports med or foot doctor to take a closer look at it?

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  • UrbanRunner81
    UrbanRunner81 Posts: 1,207 Member
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    I had tendonitis in that spot. It took forever to go away. Every once in awhile it feels sore but a good stretch helps.

    I lace my shoes differently, like a ladder and loose not to put pressure on top of my foot.

    I am not sure if that would help you or not. Maybe go a sports med doc.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    Rewind almost 3 years, when I started getting more involved in fitness in general, but wasn't terribly concerned with the diet part of things yet, I managed to do a number on the top of my left foot and sprained it. This is the portion of the foot that actually goes above the midfoot. It was so bad that I got an x-ray to confirm nothing was broken. Given an ankle brace, told to take 800mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours whether I thought I needed it or not and R.I.C.E for a nearly a week. Listened to the doc and the symptoms went away, but they do recur pretty regularly so I wouldn't put myself in the "healed" category.

    After last night's run (only 5 miles, but first time I'd done that distance in near a month) my foot is acting up almost as bad as it did with the initial injury! My shoes are the ones recommended to me by our wonderful running store, and I ran a spring half in them no problem. I wear good socks with an eye towards midfoot support because of this injury. I'm at a loss. Should I dig my ankle brace back out and numb myself into submission again or should I try to get a sports med or foot doctor to take a closer look at it?
    The only "common running injury" I've read about that involves that area of the foot is extensor tendinosis (it's not an "-itis" if there's no swelling). And it sounds like something other than what you've described.

    I've had 4 bouts of serious, though brief, pain that sounds similar to yours. It's a sharp pain on top of the foot, in the metatarsals. One incident was enough to put me on crutches and then the ER (an idea that I generally only entertain if there's exposed bone or arterial bleeding), where, after an MRI and a consult, the doctor couldn't pin it down. The treatment has been the same as yours though my pain resolves within a day.

    In that your pain is longer lasting, it sounds like a visit to the doctor would be helpful.

    Good luck with this.
  • smarionette
    smarionette Posts: 260 Member
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    As a followup...

    I did the R.I.C.E thing for a day or two while the worst of the symptoms passed again, and I've replace my walkabout shoes (old running shoes of course!) and crossfit shoes (see walkabout shoes) with a pair of minimal shoes, which leads to me paying more active attention to my ankles, toes and arches. I've also taken to standing at my desk at a 25 stand, 5 minute sit kinda spread. You'd think with the more minimal shoe and the increased standing things would be worse, but so far they are actually better. I've also been doing random heel lifts etc throughout the day just because I fidget. I wouldn't say that I am healed, at the end of a day I'm still a bit tender on that foot, but it is a different kind of sore than it was.

    So I'll stick with the minimal shoe for walkabout/crossfit and the support shoe for running a distance for now and see how it goes from there. Maybe I'll even eventually be able to run in a shoe that doesn't weigh so much!

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