Every since I switched to Nike Frees, I’ve been landing a lot more (actually almost exclusively) on my forefoot. I’ve heard that this is a major cause of PF. Now when I walk, if I strike the ground with my heels I feel pain.
I thought I had a pretty classic case of plantar fasciitis, except for one thing.
This pain is NOT a morning thing. I feel it throughout the day and the pain does not subside as I stretch my calves. What’s more puzzling is that when I press on the medial (pinkie toe) side of my foot near the heel, I feel pain. It’s not even on the soles of my foot, its on the side!
It sounds like I have exactly what you have, I’m over a week into it. With all my free time of not running, I came to ST to check for remedies or training and found this post. The pain is on the outside edge of the arch, varying in intensity from under the pinky to the above the heel. There is no morning pain, it starts when I start walking around. After it started, I took off from running for a few days, then tried a run at my normal pace/distance which was downright terrible and probably ruined me for weeks. Since then I’ve just been stretching, icing, taping, and wearing arch supports that seem to help a little although I’m not feeling any day-to-day progress. I find myself extremely pronating to the point of walking on the inside edge of my shoe to avoid pain during everyday walking, which I’m sure isn’t helping but I can’t avoid having to walk around at work.
It doesn’t exactly fit all the symptoms of PF, but given the location I don’t know what else it can be. Whatever it is I’m sure the stretching and icing and rest are probably the ticket. Since it’s been a week since this post, how are you feeling now?
Just seeing this … first off, the medial side of the foot is where the big toe is, not the “pinkie toe”, so lets get some anatomy straight first.
But, as Jodi eluded to, you may be describing a calcaneal (heel bone) stress fracture as lateral wall tenderness is a tell tale sign. Cup your heel in your hand and squeeze - any pain? Also, can you jump and land on your heel without pain?
Cupping my heel doesn’t give any pain, and I can jump and land on it just fine. I massaged and pressed all over the foot and there are no sore spots or anything, but I don’t know what that means. The only time it hurts is when I put my foot square on the ground, like in a normal posture, then the pain runs along the medial side of my foot. I’d probably see a doctor or specialist about it, but I’m on travel bouncing between locales.
Sounds serious, or at least moreso than PF. That, and reading it’s often treated with surgery, makes me somewhat worried. I’ll be off travel in about 3 weeks, and if ibuprofen, stretching, icing, etc. hasn’t resolved anything then I guess it’s off to the doctor’s.
No, you are just seeing lots of surgery in your internet research since it is a relatively newer, recognized pathology (often misdiagnosed as plantar fasciitis, even by experienced physicians). Make sure to bring this up with whatever professional you see. If they have never heard of it - move on!
Hey, one more thing, do you have difficulty flaring your toes on that side (especially the pinkie toe)?
Ah, yes, thanks for pointing that out… the medial side IS the big toe side. I think I would be referring to the Lateral side right (pinkie toe side)?
Anywho, I didn’t see any replies to this thread the first week and assumed that it was dead. Thanks for all the replies.
And yes, when if I cupped my hand to my heels it would have hurt. And jumping and landing on my heels would DEFINITELY have hurt. With that said, this pain was gone after a week and a half of no running whatsoever. I was able to overcompensate in the bike and swim without aggravating this injury any further. The injury was definitely not PF, and my PT confirmed this.
I really still have no idea what the problem was. It couldn’t have been a stress fracture right? Since it wouldn’t have fully healed in a week or so (and yes, it IS fully healed, the week after I was able to run 40 miles without any pain). Could it have been a heel bruise? I didn’t see any discoloration, but it was somewhat sore and sensitive, like how a bruise feels.
I recently purchased the “The Pain-Free Triathlete” and after reading the book I’m somewhat leaning towards the ultimate cause being tight calf muscles.
Per my last post, try massaging deep into your calve muscles of the leg with the pain. If you find really knotted muscles and they’re really painful to knead out… that might just be your problem.
A quick disclaimer- I’m no expert and I’m just regurgitating what I’ve read from “The Pain-free Triathlete”, but this Trigger point therapy thingy makes a lot of sense to me. Give that a shot before you start thinking about surgery.
You symptoms were most consistent with a calcaneal stress fracture (but unlikely as you are right, it would NOT have healed in 1 week). So, with 20/20 hindsight, you likely had some periostitis that responded well/quickly.