Im hoping for some advice. This past December, I had slight pain in my heels after a run. This is the first time I’ve ever had any type of foot pain. I took a couple weeks off, thinking it might be the start of plantar fasciitis. I also got powerstep insoles to wear at work. It didn’t fully go away, but was pretty mild so I did the stretches and exercises I read about for plantar fasciitis and continued to run.

Two months later, I finished a run and felt pain and a swollen lump just below my fifth metatarsal base. I saw an orthopedic doctor who said it was a soft tissue injury and gave me a cortisone shot. So, I took the next couple months off from running but rest didn’t really seem to help much. I spent the next two months resting from anything that might stress the injury (running, hiking, etc) - I mostly swam, and biked a couple times. It never really felt like it was getting better. Two months after the injury, I felt a pop along the lateral side of my injured foot when I was bending over to pick something up. The next day, I noticed some bruising at the 5th metatarsal base. I couldn’t walk without feeling a sharp pain along the outside of my foot.

So I then saw a podiatrist recommended by a friend who put me in a walking boot for a month. The doctor did an MRI and saw no tearing, but said there was degradation of my peroneus longus and brevis. She diagnosed me with peroneal tendinosis and recommended physical therapy and weaning me off the walking boot.

My question is, what could the popping/bruising be if not a tear? I’m worried about starting to walk and do physical therapy on my foot when there is still so much pain and tenderness. Could a small tear have been missed by the MRI? Should I get a second opinion?

Also, Any ideas about the prognosis, especially in regards to being able to run again? Or even just hike? Tendon degradation sounds pretty bad/serious to me - she didn’t do a great job explaining it. Can’t seem to find much about it. I haven’t been able to be active (besides swimming) since February and it’s killing me.