foot pain

I always hoped I'd never have to post here. Shoot.

I hadn't run in 2 weeks and decided a 10-miler was in order. I noticed that by the end my left foot was a bit tender, but now it's gotten too painful to even walk normally on. It's my outer metatarsal, which is now spreading to the muscle behind my ankle (on the back-outside of my calf). Any ideas if I'm broken or not? Suggestions for a fix?

Probably too early to know if it's more than a tendonous strain of some type. You'll most likely know more in the next day or two. Any black and blue or major amounts of swelling might signal something you may need to have checked. Wouldn't hurt to ice the sore areas and gently massage the sore muscular areas if that it tolerable. Hope it turns out to be a short issue for you.

I had a pain there over the summer but it didn't turn out to be anything. It didn't spread to my calf or heel. I hope you're as luck as I was but from my research it appears that that is a common place for a stress fracture. Hoping that isn't the problem for you.

Mike MacLellan wrote: Any ideas if I'm broken or not?

Possibly. From what I've been told, Stress Fractures are difficult to diagnose. They may not show up on an Xray/MRI until after 3 weeks.

Suggestions for a fix?

Stop running, immediately. If it hurts that much to walk, something is wrong.

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I'm 3-1/2 weeks into a possible SF in my right foot. I decided on day 1 (Oct 6) not to try to train through it. I've been to a sports specialist twice. Once after one week, and again after 3 weeks. Since a SF takes 6 weeks to heal, and I'm already 3-1/2 weeks into the healing process, we decided to just take another 3 weeks off and let whatever I have heal. We decided not to take an Xray. I am able to do any non-impact cross training. I started on the Elliptical yesterday.

Mike MacLellan wrote:I always hoped I'd never have to post here. Shoot.

I hadn't run in 2 weeks and decided a 10-miler was in order. I noticed that by the end my left foot was a bit tender, but now it's gotten too painful to even walk normally on. It's my outer metatarsal, which is now spreading to the muscle behind my ankle (on the back-outside of my calf). Any ideas if I'm broken or not? Suggestions for a fix?

Hey Mike, stay off it until the pain goes away. You DO NOT ever want a 5th metatarsal stress fracture as a runner. They take forever to heal. Best case scenario: you have tendonitis in the peroneus brevis that attaches to the 5th metatarsal. Cross train until the pain improves and get it scanned if it doesn't go away in a few weeks.

Note to self: no running. It's not turning colors or swelling at all. It only hurts to walk on it when I'm wearing shoes, so I'm staying barefoot as much as possible. Going to roll it on a tennis ball and keep massaging the calf... and cross my fingers.

Good luck Mike. No running please.

Maybe start thinking of getting married?

I posted this in your blog, but from your description, I think it sounds more like you tweaked one of your peroneal tendons.



It had been a while since you ran much, and you may have simply pushed it too hard. Ice and ibu, and see how it feels in a few days. If it's better, try an EASY run and see how it feels. If it's creaky at the start and gets better, you'll be fine. If it starts okay and gets progressively more painful, STOP - that's a bad sign.

Mark - I did some more self-diagnosing and think I jumped to the wrong conclusion saying it was the bone itself. It now is most tender just behind where I can actually feel my metatarsal - a quick look at a muscle chart suggests this is the area of my abductor digiti minimi. Given the fact that it's running up my calf in the exact place of my peroneal tendons on the picture you posted, it could very likely be that, too.

Further experimentation with walking (the half mile each way to and from the gym) reveals that the pain comes and goes somewhat randomly in ~5 minute intervals.

Going to be doing a super easy bike ride with my brother on Tuesday, so hopefully that will allow things to stretch out a bit without putting too much impact on the foot.