Ongoing foot pain

[celticdragonfly]

I started having pain in my left foot, on the left side, sorta in/under the long bones along the foot, a while before I had the baby. At the time, I thought I'd managed to pull a muscle or something, although I wasn't sure just when or how I'd done it.

Annoyingly, the pain hasn't gone away. It still hurts there. Yesterday I did a long grocery run with the kids - Alanna in the carrier on my chest, Jamie in the cart - and by the end of it my feet hurt a LOT, especially that spot. This morning it'd stiffened up and getting downstairs the first time REALLY hurt.

I don't know what's going on with it. Karl's suggesting I go have it seen. I'm not sure if I should or not - doctor's appointments are a MAJOR P.I.T.A. with the kids, and they so often feel like a total waste of money when they don't tell you anything helpful. And I *am* walking on it, so there's the thought of how bad can it be? I don't know.

Anybody had anything like this?

Comments

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

I'd get it checked. You may have a slight sprain or hairline crack somewhere that doesn't prevent you from walking, but is still making its presence known.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

But what can they *do*?

Saying "well, stay off of it!" is pretty darned incompatible with my job. Karl insists we'd find a way - but man would it be hard on the budget.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Aggravating the injury until you permanently cripple the foot is even more incompatible with your job.

[archangelbeth]

(That's rather a point, there.)

If it's a crack or something, they might be able to rig up a splint of some sort that would compromise, holding it in a better position for healing while allowing some mobility?

[txanne.livejournal.com]

It could be a hairline fracture, which might get worse the more you walk on it. Though I don't know how you could possibly stay off it with three little kids in the house.

It might also be a strain or a sprain. I know it sounds weird, but you can sprain any muscle you have. Have you tried arnica gel?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Is it along the sole of your foot? If so, it might be plantar fascitis (walking on that = it just makes it worse), or it could be a bone spur, about which I know next to nothing.

If it hurts when you bend your foot, they can give you a hard shoe, a sort of sandal-like thing which prevents your foot from bending as you walk. I used one when I broke my toe, and it was a lifesaver for me.

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

If it's along the centerline depression of the foot, then it's most likely plantar fasciitis. It means that the arch of your foot is slowly collapsing and the tendon that offsets the arch of your foot (the plantar fascia) is trying to stretch to compensate. Advanced plantar fasciitis manifests as heel spurs, which feels as if one's heel strikes the ground with the sensation of a knife blade slicing through one's heel. Which is exactly what's happening inside the heel-- a bone spur is, basically, a tiny little knife.

That's treated with physical therapy (serious stretching of the Achilles tendon and fascia) and orthotics to support the arch. Severely compromised fascia are simply cut in surgery, and the arch immediately collapses into a flat foot.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Thank you! All I know is that my boss has it, and periodically shows up to work on crutches, when he's stressed it.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

It's not at the sole - it feels more like it's halfway between the sole and the top of the foot. And it's not on the centerline - it's distinctly over on the left side, just a bit in from the edge.

Although the idea of the arch of my foot slowly collapsing would make sense - I'm getting older, I'm fairly heavy, and I just spent a lot of time heavier than usual carrying this big baby while also having all the hormones in my system once again that loosen up the bones.

I have been trying to wear my good birkenstocks for support most of the time - got new ones earlier in the spring because my old ones had died.

[ciorstan.livejournal.com]

My left arch partially collapsed with my second pregnancy and formed a heel spur. I lived in Air Nike shoes for two years, because they were the only things my podiatrist recommended for both arch support and cushioning the blow from the heel strike as I walked. They are very expensive, but they're GREAT shoes. They will last forever; I wore mine for every waking moment for two straight years and they showed very little sign of wear.

You're right on the money, arch collapse is a common side effect of pregnancy-- those hormones that loosen the ligaments for labor and delivery don't just work on the one place at issue.

At any rate, from where you're saying the pain is, I don't think you're dealing with plantar fasciitis. I've had that sort of crunchy twinge in the side of the foot that you're describing (also in my left foot) and it's felt like a bit of inflammation in a ligament. Ice and massage will make it feel better, but an anti-inflammatory makes it heal faster. And I know you can't take that right now because you're a nursing mom.

possible Dx

[bkseiver.livejournal.com]

Well, that location could well be tendinitis, which would improve with a steroid injection. The zebra in this herd is bloodclot. Listen to DH, have it checked out. "Persistent pain is not normal."

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

You ever hear the expression "No foot, no horse"?

When your feet aren't comfortable, it throws off the whole mechanical balance of your body, because you are trying to walk in ways that *don't* make the feet hurt, and the next thing you know you've got aches in places you didn't even know you had places-of.

So, yes, definitely take the foot pain to your doctor as soon as you can get an appointment.