Open Question

About my foot problems ?

In December I started to experience foot pains for the first time in my life. The bottom of my feet were hurting and the pain was focused more in the area of my arches. It was most noticeable when standing still or walking, and in the morning when waking up. It did not hurt when I touched my arches or my heels. I assumed I injured myself from working out. I had increased the amount of weight I was squatting and my technique. On the way down I would sit on a bench and then push back up, I think this may have added a lot more stress on my feet. I would squat twice a week (2 days rest between) and I've never been much of a runner, if anything I'd do around 10-15 minutes of cardio on a treadmill twice a week, I would squat in flip flops and walk/jog barefoot on the treadmill btw.

A friend told me I had plantar fasciitis and that I should start wearing shoes and inserts when I exercise. I bought a pair of sneakers and inserts for arch support. The inserts made it easier to stand and walk with less pain and after a week I felt a lot better, but definitely did not feel normal, there was still something wrong. I returned to working out my legs that week at the same frequency as before (2 days rest between sessions). I wore the sneakers with inserts and performed squats with light weights not wanting to go too hard and aggravate my issue. I also added 20 minutes of walking on the treadmill every day to try to get use to the arch inserts and the new sneakers. However, by the 4th day I started to experience foot pain while walking on the treadmill. My left foot was hurting at the top middle area and bottom outside-middle area. The pain around the bottom of my arches was back as if it flared up. I read that wearing arch support could cause issues to other areas of the feet.

At this point I decided to rest and after 2.5 weeks of taking it easy (no exercise, just calf stretches and other recommended stretches for plantar fasciitis). However, I didn't feel any significant improvement to the bottom of my feet - although the pain on the top of my left foot and outside-middle of my left foot had improved. I tried another insert from the store that claimed to help with peroneal tendonitis. On the first day of wearing the new insert I helped a friend move some furniture around. The following day I began to experience a new type of pain, pain in the middle of the ball of my right foot. This pain was persistent and worse at night. At this point I scheduled an appointment with a Podiatrist.

Today was my appointment, around 2.5 months after my initial pain began. My doctor felt my feet and took X-rays. He says the pain in the ball of my right foot is neuroma and told me these pains I have been experiencing are a result of me compensating for the Plantarfasciitis problem and it's leading to tendonitis and neuroma. He gave me 2 cortisone shots in the right foot, he taped the left foot. He said if the left foot feels good with tape it means custom orthotics will help me, I'm suppose to leave the tape on for 5 days. He also gave me a splint and ankle brace. I'm suppose to wear the ankle brace on the right foot. The splint is for stretching my plantar fasciae.

When I asked why this happened he told me my X-rays show that I have some abnormalities in my foot bones (probably from birth) that are causing these issues and mentioned that HyproCure surgery could be needed down the road to correct the issue. Could my bone issue have been caused by things I was doing like improper barbell squats or did that just expose my underlying bone problem? Is my diagnosis a common one?

2793 day(s) ago

Answer this Question

    Comment(s) (0)

    Report Abuse