Off and on for the past few weeks I get random pain on the top of my foot. It isn’t really isolated to running. I have felt it swimming (to which it randomly flares up or goes away) or even sitting around, but I can do a set of 600s on the track or do a 10 mile run with no problems during the run, and few, if any, after. The time that it feels its worst is when I first get out of bed. After I get moving, it seems fine. I feel a bit of “tightness” occasionally, but it’s more of a random dull pain than an unbearable one. I haven’t had to stop mid-run at all yet.
I have heard that the dreaded pain on the top of the foot could be a metatarsal stress fracture, however my symptoms don’t make it sound like this may be the case. If I push down on the top of my foot onto the metatasals, it doesn’t really hurt unless I press REALLY hard (in which case I suppose it would hurt anyway). I have high arches and an exostosis bump on each foot. The pain actually feels as if it were coming up from the bump, as in this picture (though mine are a bit bigger, and I don’t paint my toenails!):
What ideas / suggestions do ye lot have? Does this sound like a stress fracture, tendinitis, arthritis (I’m 29)? Should I keep running? Ideas?
NOT a typical stress fx location nor from your history. Also, tendonopathies (dorsal extensor tendons) hurt consistently - you did a 10 mile run without pain, so highly unlikely.
The “dull” pain/ache, esp with first step is the clue. More common in high arch feet where the 1st or 2nd met-cuneiform joint “subluxes” for lack of a better term with initial loading, then can be fine. This can lead to early DJD (arthritis), unlikely now at 29 though.
Treatment is pretty limited though and you can likely run through this unless progressively getting worse where some other entities should be ruled out. Might want to find out what shoes prevent excessive midfoot flex though to limit future symptoms (you would normally otherwise be in neutral/cushioned shoes).
I have an idenitical problem. At 47 I only recently started sports again after a 15 year break and had forgot all about this sensation (I don’t want to use the word pain) but when it appeared I did rememebr I used to get in my 20’s when I was regularly doing cross country runs. It has never stopped me training, doesn’t hurt when I trian and doesn’t particulalrly flair up associated with any activity so I just accept it as something my body does. I do keep an eye on it though and if it got any worse I would go see about it. During the years I wasn’t training or racing it was absolutely fine. I did at one point think it might be a stress fracture but I have had one of those and it is totally different and much more painful.
