My wife likes to point out that my feet are as soft as a baby’s ass, and maybe that is partly to blame, but I suddenly developed a localized pain in my right foot that began five days ago and the pain remains consistent.
The pain doesn’t bother me, but I’m concerned that if I don’t layoff that this could become a chronic issue (I obviously don’t want to lay off).
Here’s the unusual point about this issue: I have never had bursitis and I have been running less over the last 3-4 weeks compared to my typical weekly volume.
Can anyone shed light on this by sharing tips or common experiences?
I recently developed a pain on the outside and bottom of my left foot (under the joint to my little toe) from all this running I’ve been doing this year. I thought that I might be coming up onto the end of my running shoe’s life, so I went to the local running store while on vacation in Boca Raton, FL.
The guy in the shop was a serious masters runner and he advised me that the pain was from running in shoes that weren’t wide enough for my feet. It seems as if I’m now a double “E” width guy.
Got the Dx from my spouse who is a physician, but she like most doctors, is good with Rx and not so much with the needs of an athlete.
Essentially, I was hoping to understand how that this could have happened when I have not done anything obvious that would lead to an overuse, inflammatory injury. At first, I thought it was just a bruise because the pain sensation is localized and well defined. I typically run in minimalist shoes and sometimes I step on rocks that I don’t see (when I’m not wearing my Rx sunglasses or at night).
The only thing that I have recently done differently was on Xmas Day, I ran 6 mi on a treadmill with my trail shoes (we were at a hotel and the trail shoes were all that I had packed). The trail shoes are heavier and have more padding, but I obviously use them to run trail. I also am not a stranger to the treadmill, so that combination should not have set off the inflammation. I never felt the pain until the following day when I was going for a 5-7 mi run and the very first step on my right foot told me that something wasn’t right. I should have turned around and scraped that run, but because my volume has been light and I hadn’t injured my foot, I finished the run. The pain never got better or worse during the run and now that I’ve only done one run since the 26th (5 mi trail run on Friday the 30th) and the inflammation remains constant, I know that this is probably not going away overnight.
Additionally, any information about how to shorten the healing time, or if there are some things that I should avoid. Sure, I know RICE, and other things like flaxseed oil and NSAIDs, but because I don’t know what caused it, I’m a little lost about how to fix and avoid another flare-up; specifically, I have a 50mi trail race in April and I need to maintain my base, but running is where I feel the pain the most acutely. I thought that maybe I’ve increased too quickly the amount of time that I’m putting into the cycling trainer, but I do not feel the inflammation/pain while riding (indoors or outdoors).
The pain doesn’t stop me, but I’m pretty sure that if I don’t lay off that the inflammation will only increase.
I still don’t know where your “localized” pain is.
Is it the head of the 5th metatarsal (where the little toe connects)? If so, there is no bursa there and would usually be generically referred to as capsulitis. You could develop an adventitial bursa here (like anyplace, really), but you would have likely felt this coming on and doesn’t jive with your description.
If your pain is at the base of the 5th metatarsal it can be from an adventitial bursa that can develop in time (there is no natural bursa there either) with repetitive trauma/friction, etc., but this is not your description. Pain here can be from insertional peroneus brevis tendonopathy or rarely a stress fracture.
One clue would be a callus over the area. True bursitis and often capsulitis will also appear slightly red and usually warm to the touch in that area.
Not sure if this will be of any help, but I’ll post it just in case.
Years ago I had a very localized pain in the ball of my foot where the 4th toe inserts.
The solution seemed to be a combination of wider shoes and exfoliating the area. I know the second part of that sounds stupid and it wasn’t that my feet felt all that rough, but sometimes just a couple mm of skin can press on the joint.
Even though you say your feet are soft it’s a fast and cheap possible solution. Your wife probably has something you can use to get the job done.
My problem is not going away despite only running now once/week for two weeks.
I’ve narrowed the causative agent to two activities: 1) Driving and 2) Rowing.
I started a part-time job delivering (legal) medications, so I spend 4-8 hrs/day driving in city traffic and I’m on the brake all the time with my affected (right) foot.
The wife and I bought a Concept II Rower (Model D). I started rowing 20-30 minutes/day 2-4 times/week about the same time that this bursitis flare began.
Any thoughts?
I seriously think it’s the Rower causing my issue, but it’s such a low impact exercise that I’m almost surprised that it caused an overuse injury in such a short period of three weeks.
1 - time to get a good hands on visit. Ask your wife for a referral
2 - seems you may know what could be causing/delaying your healing, so deal with that!
Help me Please!!! I am having trouble with my second toe first joint (base of the toe). Running in Sep. stepped badly on a big chunk of crud and rolled the foot (not the ankle). I thought I had broken it but X-ray is negative and later MRI showed inflamation in the joint. Pain sometimes radiates down to all toes in a tingly sensation and around the joint but the nerve ganglion seems OK, but squeezing the joint is very painful. Able to run three days a week in Hoka One Ones only. Was slowly getting better but now seems to have plateaued and some days are rather painful. Doc seemed fine with running as long as I felt I was making progress. But now its been about 4 months and still limping around the office. Quit running? What about biking–it sometimes causes big discomfort. Even swimming on flip turns will sometimes hurt if hit the wall to hard.
Actually walking seems as bad as running (less toe off when running in Hokas?).
Commando - Xray if at outside base 5th metatarsal - common area for fractures/sheering esp for super localized pain. May be able to diagnose palpation if the doc is good enough - probably still need xray to confirm though.
Help me Please!!! I am having trouble with my second toe first joint (base of the toe). Running in Sep. stepped badly on a big chunk of crud and rolled the foot (not the ankle). I thought I had broken it but X-ray is negative and later MRI showed inflamation in the joint. Pain sometimes radiates down to all toes in a tingly sensation and around the joint but the nerve ganglion seems OK, but squeezing the joint is very painful. Able to run three days a week in Hoka One Ones only. Was slowly getting better but now seems to have plateaued and some days are rather painful. Doc seemed fine with running as long as I felt I was making progress. But now its been about 4 months and still limping around the office. Quit running? What about biking–it sometimes causes big discomfort. Even swimming on flip turns will sometimes hurt if hit the wall to hard.
Actually walking seems as bad as running (less toe off when running in Hokas?).
With your MRI only showing “inflammation of the joint” and your history, you can google “lesser MPJ pre-dislocation syndrome”. The chronic pattern of capsulitis can/will set you up for this and there have been a few threads on ST regarding.
Update: Roof, you were right in saying that the symptoms describe capsulitis.
Ran two days in a row and now it’s back.
Going to lay off both running and riding until it cools down. Getting in the pool now for laps and aqua jogging. Any therapy techniques to aid the healing process?
Update: Roof, you were right in saying that the symptoms describe capsulitis.
Ran two days in a row and now it’s back.
Going to lay off both running and riding until it cools down. Getting in the pool now for laps and aqua jogging. Any therapy techniques to aid the healing process?
cross toe taping can be helpful (1 inch strip of sports/fabric tape, 2 x 6-inch strips looped around the toe and cross on the bottom) depending on what you do during the day. Definitely want to avoid extreme or excessive dorsiflexion of the 2nd MTP joint… Barefoot generally will delay healing as well
Update: Roof, you were right in saying that the symptoms describe capsulitis.
Ran two days in a row and now it’s back.
Going to lay off both running and riding until it cools down. Getting in the pool now for laps and aqua jogging. Any therapy techniques to aid the healing process?
cross toe taping can be helpful (1 inch strip of sports/fabric tape, 2 x 6-inch strips looped around the toe and cross on the bottom) depending on what you do during the day. Definitely want to avoid extreme or excessive dorsiflexion of the 2nd MTP joint… Barefoot generally will delay healing as well
It feels like I might start dying soon if I cannot resume running.
This problem isn’t getting better despite not running. In fact, I had a severe cold for 10 days and I haven’t done shit and the sensation that I have something in my shoe isn’t going away. In fact, it hasn’t changed at all despite my inactivity.
I missed some of the early warning signs such as: 1) Numbness of the two outer toes and 2) Burning of the affected area after some runs.
I missed these warning signs because I thought the numbness was from being cold - the numbness typically went away after I had a shower and was inside for a while after the run.
I thought that the burning was from friction inside my shoes (burning was sporadic and infrequent). I began wearing racing flats about 2.5 yrs ago and I thought that my laces weren’t tight enough on my pair with the thinest sole b/c the burning strongly resembled a sense of friction - and may very well have had a friction component thus, I was partly mistaken about what I was sensing (and in denial b/c as runners we feel many aches and pains that must be ignored).
Additionally, the racing flats probably contributed an increase in pressure on the forefoot. I grew fond of forefoot running and there, I had fewer running pains and have been completely injury free since switching to racing flats 2.5 yrs ago. Until now, I was relatively injury free since 2007.
Treatment: No running, lots of swimming for 4-6 weeks.
Prognosis: Good. I ran only a few times with this bursitis and that’s b/c I learned the hard way when I suffered a major injury in 2002 b/c I continued running with pain and developed plantar fascitis.
Lesson: This is the first time that I have ever experienced this injury. I was completely baffled b/c I never noticed it until one day it was all over me. Most importantly, it was difficult to find someone with a sufficient A&P professional slant with a combined understanding of sports mechanics.
Thanks Roof for working through this with me- you rock!
