Need an Appointment Immediately? Call (801) 505-5277 or Click Here
When you stand, walk, run, or jump, the 26 bones and associated muscles, tendons, and ligaments in each foot must not bear the entire weight of your body. Your feet must keep your body balanced, too.
While that sounds like a monumental task — and it is — things get more complicated when your body is in motion. When you run, the effect of gravity and force put an equivalent of 2.5-2.8 times your body weight on your feet with each stride.
Walking a lot, standing a lot, and engaging in activities such as running and sports raise your risk for a foot injury that could cause pain. Common causes of foot pain include:
However, you may have run through all of the most obvious reasons for your foot pain and not yet found the answer to why it hurts to get through your day.
Our expert and knowledgeable board-certified podiatrists at Advanced Foot & Ankle Center get to the heart of your foot pain. Through a thorough examination – which may include imaging studies and gait analysis – we diagnose and treat foot pain at our offices throughout Utah.
Do you have a little known cause behind your foot pain? Following are five of them.
An osteoid osteoma is a noncancerous bone-forming tumor. These benign growths usually form in the long bones of your leg, such as femur or tibia. In about 2%-10% of cases, though, an osteoid osteoma may affect your foot.
Although osteoid osteomas are usually small, they cause reactive bone to form around them. Symptoms include:
Osteoid osteomas usually occur in children and teens, but can form at any age. Researchers still aren’t sure what causes them.
Small osteoid osteomas may resolve on their own. In other cases, your podiatrist may remove them with surgery or radiofrequency ablation.
Erythromelalgia is a rare disorder that tends to affect the limbs, particularly the feet. Erythromelalgia is characterized by one or both feet that are:
Exercise may trigger flares of redness and pain. Cooling down your feet and legs may alleviate it. Other ways to avoid or reduce flares include:
Lidocaine patches may also control pain, as can topical therapies. Depending on whether your condition is influenced by other conditions, we may recommend other medications as well.
A number of systemic disorders and chronic diseases may have foot pain as a symptom or complication. Some conditions associated with painful, swollen, or stiff feet include:
It’s important that you give your podiatrist a full medical history during your evaluation. We conduct a thorough examination and may order further tests. In some cases, easing your foot pain first requires addressing an underlying disease or condition.
Morton’s neuroma is a benign (noncancerous) nerve tumor. It’s characterized by pain in your forefoot and the sensation that you’re walking on a marble or a rock.
Women are eight times more likely than men to develop a Morton’s neuroma. These tumors usually form between the third and fourth toes. They’re probably caused by compression from wearing shoes that are too tight in the toe box.
Most cases of Morton’s neuroma are managed with lifestyle adjustments, such as better-fitting shoes and custom orthotics. You may also benefit from short-term corticosteroid injections, nerve ablation, or over-the-counter pain killers. If the pain doesn’t diminish, or if your neuroma recurs, we may recommend surgery.
You can break a bone — or several bones — without ever knowing it. Because the feet have so many bones and take so much pressure during daily life or from high-intensity activities, they may develop minute stress fractures.
Stress fractures are most likely to develop if you perform the same motions over and over. They usually develop in the heel or in the metatarsals, which are the bones in your forefoot between your toes and your ankle.
Athletes and manual laborers are susceptible to stress fractures in the feet. Stress fractures, in general, are responsible for about 20% of all sports injuries.
Treatment for stress fractures usually starts with the RICE protocol (Rest, Icing, Compression, Elevation) as well as NSAIDs or acetaminophen. You may also benefit form wearing a boot or using crutches to keep pressure off your foot. Rarely, stress fractures need to be repaired surgically.
Do you have chronic foot pain? Find out why and get relief by calling our office team or booking your appointment online.
