Weird foot / Toe pain ... ???

[Bulk1]

I've been doing a fair bit of cardio lately... running and walking, bike.

I had a day off training yesterday...and was just standing by my car and went to walk away and i got a bad pain on the top of my foot (if u drew a line back from between the big toe and the next toe its about 1" back and its very painfull to touch! or curl my toe and painfull to wear shoe on that (right) foot! and hurts to walk on it.

There's no swelling no brusing or redness... but it feels like I've dropped a 10kg weight on it!

I woke up feeling extactly the same today... any ideas what this could be? I'm ****ed off as I want to do more training.

Could this lead to anything more? I'll have to see a doc next week.

:confused:

[Nine Pack]

It may be a stress fracture, I'd advise a visit to the quack & see if you can get it X rayed.

[Bulk1]

Originally Posted by Nine Pack

It may be a stress fracture, I'd advise a visit to the quack & see if you can get it X rayed.

Okay... thanks, I will visit them tommoz. Its not bad when there's no weight on it, but after a few minutes of standing up.. its quite painful (and wearing any footwear hurts) Only question is... if it is a fracture... how do they fix a stress fracture in your foot? sounds like it could be a long time.. :confused:

[Nine Pack]

It's not always a long haul thing. A stress fracture could only be a minute hairline crack, not a full blown break. It's unlikely they'd plaster the foot anyway. Once it's sorted, avoid high impact cardio like running. I'd advise cross trainers or stairclimbers for a good few months after it feels ok.

[Bulk1]

Thanks NP, I need to ring this afternoon so hope they can book me in to check it out today. If I press the ball of the foot I get a delayed pain come thru on the top of my foot thats megga painfull... hence why when I stand up and put weight on it.. its painfull. Cheers for the advice on training afterwards.

[Bulk1]

The doc said I would need to have an xray to see what in causing the pain, but I know that with stress fratures.. all the hospital will say is rest it and let it heal for a week or so (as there's nothing they can do, as it wont need a cast) So I didnt go to the hospital. I am just going to rest that foot and hope it repairs itself in a week or so.

I read up on Stress fractures...and its identicle to the problem I have.. also its down to over loading that bone without steadily building upto that amount to training/running/walking etc. I suddenly started upping my cardio those last few days... and this makes sence that I over-did the training (in my eagerness to get the carbs off!) very ****ed off that I cant even walk on it and have to stop my cardio now until its repaired!

Its the metatarsal bone that is the blame.. apparently the same as Beckham and Rooney broke.

Here's a very good bit of info about this here... anyone just starting there training.... you need to build up slowly 10% each week.. unlike me! :(

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_fracture

[Nine Pack]

Give it time bud, no rushing back to the cardio. When you do go back, non impact only, and I suggest you stick to that long term. I won't run, or even do a lot of treadmill walking for the same reasons. I use a cross trainer or a stair climber.

[Bulk1]

Cheers NinePack, how long do you think it will take till I can at least put my weight back on it again and walk normally? (I think I read approx 1 week but not sure as it also said 4-8 weeks I think before excercising that area again) I am just starting to take some extra Calcium and vit D that I hope will speed up recovery. I also think the heavy calf raises were partly to blame? dont you? (even tho this suddenly happened when I was not training on my off day).

Do you suggest a stationary bike will be ok once its repaired? and can I not still use the treadmill to 'walk' at a pace but not for more than 20 mins at a time? I wont be jogging or running again.

Thanks.

[Nine Pack]

I would just use the discomfort as a guide to tell you when you can & can't do specific activities (after giving the foot a good week or two to heal).

Walking on a treadmill is still a slight risk as there is still impact, but less so than running. Wearing cushioned shoes may help this particular issue, but that can have the unwanted long term effect of causing other areas of the foot designed for natural shock absorption to become weakened. The shoe manufacturers are well aware of the inherent problems with too much cushioning, but they make squillions selling the things so won't stop it. Look at the Nike 'Free' shoes, there's an example of where the industry may end up going. They are designed specifically to allow full & free movement of the foot, and they offer considerably less cushioning than any other running shoe they make.

Cardio should ideally be kept varied so as to avoid pattern overload syndrome (a bit like an RSI) caused by repeated movements in the exact same plane. A treadmill offers some freedom from this, but the surface area the foot strikes is forever even & flat, but the foot was designed to flex around uneven ground surfaces so a pattern overload can occur in the feet if we use the treadmill too much. If you want to walk, I'd advise you actually go for a walk, outside.

Anyway, in the meantime, I suggest you favour the other foot & give the injured one plenty of time to heal.

[Bulk1]

Thanks loads. I almost went to get an xray today (after the gf nagging me to get it xray'd)...but thought theres not a lot they can do apart from tell me to rest so decided to stay home and rest it. I have tried not to walk anwhere at all as its really hard to even move around without putting that foot down. I am only using the heal to stand up on.. and not the ball of the foot when I do want to move about.

Lots of good info there... thanks a million and yes I would be interested in better footwear now after this. I was wearing a new pair of reebok classic's so they werent worn as they were new and I thought giving good support and the innersole seems well padded but not idea.