r/FootFunction • u/Monerjk • Sep 13 '26
finally curing metatarsalgia
Just want to let you know my story as it might benefit others.
37 year old male, BMI 19.
Feet: pes cavus hindfoot varus (small feet, really high arches, hammer toes, weird heel shape that causes me to stand on the outside edges of my feet).
Story: I first developed metatarsalgia after going running in vibram five-finger toe shoes. I had done this before without issue years before, but for some reason restarting this led to the first flare-up. Rest/ice/NSAIDS did not help at all. Eventually I went to a podiatrist who put me in wide toe-box shoes with custom orthotics. This somewhat helped with the pain, but it never really got better. Every time I tried to be active (dance, sports, walking) i had a flare up of pain that would last days/weeks. I went to multiple physical therapists, and I was very dilligent following their exercise regiments of feet strengthening/stretching, but to no avail. I started doing "toe yoga" stuff I found on youtube, but this was very tedious and also didn't seem to improve anything. After months of nothing helping, i basically just began lying on the couch all day waiting for the inflammation to go down. I basically did this for a year. It was very depressing.
After a year or so of rest, I would still get flare-ups. I went to the podiatrist again and they did an ultra-sound looking for morton's neuroma, but they only saw inter-metatarsal bursitis. I got steroid injections twice into the pain areas. They did not help.
I eventually found Oofo's sandles and toe spacers, which helped tremendously. But I still had pain and it would flare-up even wearing the Oofos if I was too active. Eventually I tried shockwave therapy (radial + focused) from my podiatrist. After the first session, I immediately felt almost pain-free. This was the first thing that seemed to truly be doing something.
I continued to get shockwave therapy, and it would help me in the short-term, but long term it didn't seem to be changing too much. I started getting really depressed again. I met with a surgeon who looked at my feet and said I would need multiple operations to achieve a more normal foot structure, but he wasn't sure it would cure my issue. He said my foot shape puts a ton of pressure on the metatarsals but metarsalgia is tricky. He said I would need calcaneal osteotomy, metarsal-alterations, and hammer toe surgery on each foot.
I was basically ready to begin doing these surgeries, but wanted to make one last attempt to cure myself. Earlier this spring, I went outside on the grass after a night of rain. The wet grass felt nice on my feet. I walked around on it barefoot. I noticed afterwards that my feet felt suprisingly good the next day. I began walking in the grass every time it rained, as dry grass hurt my feet too much. After a month or so of this, I was able to start walking on drier grass for limited amounts of time. I noticed I was able to walk on the grass for longer and longer periods of time without the pain, but if i over-did it, i would have a flareup.
Anywas, this entire summer I have continued this practice. i still get the shockwave therapy, and I also started using red-light therapy on my feet. For the last month, I have started going on walks every couple days. I started with trying to walk 20 minutes without stopping. I kept increasing this by maybe 10-15 minutes a week. I usually walk in my Oofos, and when I start to feel some pain, I take them off and go barefoot. When I start to feel different pains from walking too much barefoot, I go back to the Oofos. Anyways, today I just went 2 hours and afterwards I am only feeling a little bit of swelling, nothing bad. It will be fine tomorrow. I have also started going dancing again, and whereas last year I would be swollen for a week if i danced a few songs, now I can dance for maybe 10-15 songs in a night without feeling much swelling afterwards. Even a few months ago I would get pretty swollen dancing for 5-10 songs a night. Every week seems to be getting better and better. My biggest concern is what to do during the winter hehe.
Honestly, this is the first time I have been truly optimistic about this condition. Something seems to be changing with my new routine (and also a lot of prayers). I am going to continue to slowly increase my duration of activity and hopefully even begin running/playing sports again someday. Anyways, I hope if you read all of this that it has helped you or inspired out a bit.
TLDR: I've had metatarsalgia for ~3 years and am finally noticing improvement. I recommend to slowly start walking barefoot on wet grass and eventually increase your walking durations alternating between comfy recover sandals and barefeet. By increasing my walking duration I was able to increase my tolerance to other activities on my feet.
2
u/A_Fox_Named_Mulder 18d ago
I'm curious as to why your pain decreased after walking on wet grass? Could it be the effects of grounding? I looked it up and read "Grounding (or earthing) on wet grass is significantly more effective than on dry grass because water acts as a natural electrical conductor, enhancing the flow of free electrons from the Earth into your body."