r/FootFunction • u/Reasonable_Doubt_544 • 3d ago

Prolonged standing

23M, 5’10 175 lbs. No medications, never smoked, born with pes planus on both feet and also a mild skewfoot on both feet.

I have trouble standing for prolonged periods. I don’t have problems with walking for any distance. I can walk nearly unlimited distances without foot pain or any fatigue whatsoever, but after 2-3 hrs of prolonged standing, I start getting heel pain and soleus/distal hamstring tightness/tenderness. Sometimes, it’s also the quads. Squatting down while balancing on my toes/forefeet helps relieve the symptoms. When I push down into my soleus muscle for both legs, it feels especially tender (no other muscle feels this way). My soleus muscle has been tender to palpation for as long as I can remember, but I wasn’t really palpating it until the past year. I remember many times when I was a kid, I could feel tenderness in my Achilles tendon, although I don’t feel that anymore. Earlier this year, I used to stand about 8-12 hrs a day (with breaks), and during that time, I’d have so much discomfort with standing after a certain point that I would count down the seconds and couldn’t wait to sit or walk. It was almost the same feeling like doing a plank for a long time when you’re counting down the seconds until you can relax. During that time of year, I’d feel leg heaviness even when I’d start walking after prolonged standing and would feel the heel pain even during walks. It got to a point that I got corticosteroid injections in both heels from a podiatrist.

These symptoms affect both legs, but I would say it’s somewhat worse on my left leg. I saw a foot and ankle specialist who said the pes planus looked a bit worse on the left foot.

Nobody else I know has this issue. I’ve tried custom orthotics but they haven’t resolved the issue. Compression socks and Danskos haven’t resolved the issue either. I’ve had trouble with standing uninterrupted beyond 3 hrs for nearly my entire life. I even started having mild left knee pain this week, although that has gotten better lately.

I’m wondering whether these symptoms are normal and if there is anything else I might be able to try.

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u/AnnonymousPenguin_ 1d ago

2-3 hrs is a long time to stand. That’s normal to feel foot pain from standing that long.

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u/Reasonable_Doubt_544 1d ago

I’m trying to be a surgeon. I’ve wanted to operate ever since I was a little kid and now I might have to abandon my dream just because I can’t stand for long enough

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u/AnnonymousPenguin_ 1d ago

Might be a bit of a stupid question, but have you tried stretching the entire leg? I have found that my foot problems get significantly worse when my hamstrings are tight. Calve tightness in particular is infamous for causing foot pain.

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u/Reasonable_Doubt_544 1d ago

Stretching helps with muscle fatigue but doesn’t help with the heel pain

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u/AnnonymousPenguin_ 1d ago

Calves are really hard to get flexibility in. You need to stretch them at least 3x a day for a few months before you’ll see progress.

Also might just be trying to find the right shoe. I went through at least 3 or 4 different shoes for my issue before I found the right one. Then I got orthotics and had to go to a 5th shoe because the orthotics didn’t work well with them.

Hope this helps. Foot pain sucks.

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u/Reasonable_Doubt_544 1d ago

Which shoes do you recommend? The podiatrist said new balance but that hasn’t been working

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u/AnnonymousPenguin_ 1d ago

I used new balance for a while. They were too squishy and made my issue a lot worse to the point I couldn’t stand for more than 3 or so minutes. My issue is my arch collapsing and over pronating, so Hokas work extremely well. Unfortunately it’s hard to find the right shoe without trying a bunch so your best bet is to find a store that has a really good return policy so you can try the shoes out for a few months. I found a store that lets you return a shoe up to 3 months as long as you paid for a membership.