Foot pain

[Deleted User]

At the start of my runs I have a bit of pain on the top of my left foot, in line with my outside two toes. There is no swelling but if I press the area it is a bit tender.
After a mile or so it seems to ease off but might come back at any time, no matter what side of the road I run on or what surface. Not bad enought to stop me but enough to annoy me.
Any ideas? Please don't say rest, ice and anti-inflammatories maybe.

Stickless

I get a lot of intermittant pain on top of my feet, unaccompanied by swelling, but it can be provoked, sometimes, by touch.

I'm not sure it is real pain at all - i.e., indicating something actually wrong with my foot, or whether it is just the nerves crying wolf, as it were. In fact, I'm pretty certain for me it is just erratic nerve behaviour.

For me, the right sort of anti-inflammatories help. Ice hasn't. Not setting the process off by having shoes too tight also helps, although loose shoes don't solve the problem (my feet are at their absolute worst usually at about 4am! The nerves seem to be particularly annoyed by sleep.)

They are worse after a hard run, and the problem sometimes limit the extent of a run particularly when I start losing the use of the foot as well (!), but the long term ups and downs of this problem don't correlate with training efforts.

It may stop individual runs, but it doesn't call for rest days, or no running for a while.

Good luck.

[Deleted User]

Thanks Stickless, I think.

So is there no hope then, am I doomed to suffer this phantom pain forever? With no sympathy from anyone?

I'll just have to carry on though, might be an excuse to buy a whole lot of new gear too. Just to try and help.

Tiggers Bouncing

Awww.....Sarcs.... Virtual hugs!! )

Stickless

Anti-inflams work, and for you they might well kill the problem dead.

Taking particular care with your shoes for a month of so might equally do the trick.

The fact that I've had trouble for a long time shouldn't trouble you - it is extremely unlikely that the source of neurological irritation in my case is the same as yours, if it is in the first place. (But it may respond to the same things that help mine.)

In any case, it doesn't seem to get horribly worse or be a reason not to run.

Come on Sarcy, I really am being cheerful.

It's pretty harmless as running problems go.