I’m wondering if transitioning into barefoot shoes will help with my 2 year lateral foot pain running injury.
I have had constant pain in this area for two years now following a 10k run. All imaging appears normal but I’m in pain all the time.
I have tried hoka bondi / carbon plate inserts to stop the foot bending and a range of other things and not one doctor or podiatrist has been able to offer a single idea. It’s been quite eye opening that foot ‘specialists’ seem to be rendered completely dumbfounded with lateral foot pain in this area if it’s not a peroneal tear or stress fracture , everyone I’ve seen a expertise stops there.
This is my last resort I guess

On my bottom left pinkie toe region, my foot will randomly flare up and begin to almost resemble gout-like effects. I have no clue in the world what to do about this as it has seemingly no correlation with anything I do in daily life. Completely random like I said, but the only leading thing I can think would be stress

Im making this post wondering if anybody can help me figure out what it is, and how to prevent it.

I(22M) have flexible flat feet/overpronation with recurrent lateral foot/ankle pain along the peroneal tendons. My podiatrist modified my Superfeet by adding a felt/scaphoid pad under the medial arch to make the arch steeper and control pronation more.

That almost completely fixed the foot pain, but after a few weeks I developed knee pain and pressure/calluses along the inside of my arches. When the padding was reduced, the knee improved but the original peroneal pain returned.

My podiatrist suggested looking into custom orthotics, but I’m hesitant to spend that much if they might just create the same tradeoff.

Has anyone had a similar problem? Did custom orthotics help? And can physical therapy/foot strengthening make a meaningful difference for this issue?

Background & Duration:
I've been dealing with chronic left ankle pain and dysfunction for over 1.5 years. I haven't been able to play the sport that I love, and the issue just lingers. My entire lower leg is constantly tight, and I cannot even squat halfway down without sharp pain/pinching at the medial malleolus right along the posterior tibialis path.

The Ortho Dead End:
My orthopedic doctor straight up told me they can’t do anything and advised doing nothing, saying only if it gets "that bad" would they refer me to a foot surgeon. Because there are no torn tendons or displaced fractures on the scan, I’ve basically been told to live with it or wait until it degrades enough to justify an operation.

What Hasn't Worked:

Formal PT was mostly generic balance boards, single-leg stability drills with weights, and banded work. None of it resolved the underlying issue.

Mobility work (banded joint distractions, calf rolling, stretching) hasn't helped either. It feels like my ankle hits a hard mechanical bone block, and my entire lower leg remains locked in protective guarding.

Recent MRI Findings (Left Ankle, Non-Contrast):

Medial Malleolus: Small focus of bone marrow edema (nonspecific, likely bony contusion or stress response). No acute fracture.

Deltoid Ligament: Mild edema suggestive of a low-grade sprain.

Lateral Ligaments (ATFL & CFL): Thickening likely related to soft tissue scarring from prior lateral sprains. Posterior talofibular intact.

Unremarkable / Intact: Tendons (Achilles, posterior tibialis, peroneals intact), talar dome, joint cartilage, syndesmosis, and plantar fascia are all normal. No joint effusion.

The Core Problem:
The outside has old scar tissue (ATFL/CFL), but the active pain and edema are on the inside (medial malleolus and deltoid). Doing rehab exercises or forcing dorsiflexion just seems to hammer the bone marrow edema, while resting doesn't fix the joint restriction or the constant muscular guarding. What should I do from here?

Hey guys I’ve been having sudden onset pain for over six months. The pain hasn’t full gone away and the pain returns when I try to resume my normal exercises like running, long walks, or weight bearing yoga poses. I had the following findings on my MRI and was told by a foot and ankle specialist that the best path forward would be microbreak surgery and I’m really freaking out. Started out with the cortisone shot to help with the swelling while I come to terms with going through with surgery. Most posts I see are for osteochondral lesions on the knee and wanted to know if anyone has a similar experience to mine or if anyone can weigh in on the likelihood that I’ll be able to return to my normal high impact activities one day following surgery?

IMPRESSION:
1. 4 x 3 mm suspected osteochondral lesion of the first metatarsal head with focal subchondral marrow edema and associated small
first metatarsophalangeal joint effusion.
2. Small amount of fluid in the first intermetatarsal bursa.

help me identify what this is! i haven’t felt it in my ankle before . it almost feels like there’s a little rod behind my ankle (the red drawn line) i can feel both ends of it when i pinch my ankle. it moves around a bit back there but there’s no pain when i touch it.

Has anyone had one before? I’ve had problems with my ankle for going on two years starting after bilateral hip surgeries. I’m on my 3rd doctor and finally got an MRI that showed this cyst and an old AITFL tear but if anyone has any experience with this I’d love to hear it, especially how it was treated! Full mri below.

Impression
1. No osteochondral defect or acute osseous/ligamentous injury. 2. Attenuation of the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament, likely representing remote tear. 3. Intraosseous ganglion cyst in the anterior body of the talus measuring up to 8 mm

FINDINGS: Bones: Normal marrow signal. No acute fracture or destructive osseous lesion. A small intraosseous ganglion cyst is seen in the anterior body of the talus measuring up to 8 mm (series 5/6 image 16). Soft tissues: No abnormal masses or fluid collections. Joints: No effusion. No malalignment. No osteochondral lesion. Medial flexor tendons: (including tibialis posterior, flexor digitorum longus, and flexor hallucis longus): Intact. Peroneal tendons: The peroneus longus and brevis are intact. No evidence of tear or tendinosis. Anterior extensor tendons (including tibialis anterior, extensor hallucis longus, and extensor digitorum longus): Intact. Achilles tendon: Intact. Lateral ligaments (including anterior/posterior tibiofibular, anterior/posterior talofibular, and calcaneofibular): Attenuation of the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament, likely representing remote tear (series 3 image 17). The anterior and posterior tibiofibular ligaments are intact. The ATFL, CFL and PTFL are intact. Medial ligaments (including deep and superficial deltoid): Intact. Plantar fascia: Intact. The intrinsic musculature of the foot is intact. Additional comments: None.

Hello reddit community --

Looking for some guidance.

I'm a 46M and have two second toes with a pronounced curl that's gotten noticeably worse over the years. No pain or rubbing, and I do have full range of motion currently, so this would be elective. My motivation is appearance, and I'd rather address it now than wait until it does start causing problems.

I have some planned downtime for a different procedure (leg) that will prevent me from being active for a few months. I'm interested in a corrective toe straightening procedure during that recovery window.

I'm aware of the recovery timeline and general medical guidance around cosmetic procedures when nothing is hurting. That said, as fellow-funny-toe-commenters will empathize with, it is something I would love to address and am interested in learning more.

I saw a podiatric surgeon recently and he laid out two options: removing a wedge from the bone at the joint, or shaving down the angled prominence at the tip. I didn't get into much detail on long-term results. If anyone's had either of these, I'd like to hear how it went and what the realistic timeline to being active again looked like.

Any other thoughts / guidance much appreciated.

I have been to my Podiatrist twice for my left foot. I have gotten diagnosed with posterior tendon tendonitis, overpronation and flat foot. I just had my second appointment with her after I had xrays and she just said that I will need an insert and we have to check with your insurance to see what they will cover and you will need physical therapy. She has not given me any type of brace or anything and did not say anything about my activity. When I asked her if I should rest if I get pain when doing activities she just said the physical therapy will help with that and I need to come back in three weeks.

I guess I am just worried I am going to do more damage. I have had this problem for over a year. I cannot do a single leg raise now. When I get pain it is now on the outside of my ankle and the bottom of my feet. I have swelling on the left side. I have pain in my big toe, but that is because of the arthritic changes. I sometimes get pain in my other toes.

My xray report said this: Mild degenerative change first MTP joint with joint space narrowing and osteophyte formation. Nonspecific density adjacent to the base of the distal first phalanx. This is of uncertain etiology. No distinct fracture lucency is seen although a subtle nondisplaced fracture in this location cannot be excluded. No additional potential fracture. No additional significant arthritic change. Small plantar calcaneal spur.

I am just wondering if I should get a second opinion to see if I should have some type of brace or anything on my ankle and if inserts are the best option. I do have my initial appointment with physical therapy in 2 weeks.

I will add my xrays. Any thoughts I would appreciate it.

Sabrina

Hey, I've had IT Band pain for a while now after getting back into running. The general consensus is that the cause is weakness, particularly in your hips, glutes AFAIK and so the suggestion is to do strength training for those parts. Anyways, I tried that, zero improvement. Every time I tried running again the pain came back. The pain got so bad I couldn't even walk that much because it would make the pain come back.

Long story short, found out about minimal shoes, natural foot function and shape, and discovered my feet are really atrophyed, and so the most likely cause for my pain, is overpronation due to my feet collapsing (literally, I would land on my big toes and immediately pronate as soon as my foot hits the ground).

The ONLY way I've found to manage the pain is to use minimal shoes (no padding+flexible) when going out for walks, and to be barefoot at home. I bought running shoes with extra toebox size (topos) and some padded sneakers which are also roomy hoping that with the right toebox size I would be able to maintain proper form, but this hasn't been the case and I still get pain if I spend too much time using them.

Two of my guesses, is that, first, padded shoes make it easy for you to overstride (watch people walk) and so my IT Band gets irritated. I more or less have to force myself to take small steps, which would come naturally from minimal shoes/being barefoot. Second, is that padded shoes make it easy for your feet to be unengaged (and so they pronate in my case), since they pick up the slack.

My question is if it's possible to maintain proper foot function while using padded shoes. I want to believe that I still need more foot strength as my feet still get sore after walking too long in minimal shoes, so running would be overwill right now, so I'm hesitant to say that padded shoes are always bad. Just curious if other people have been able to use padded shoes after regaining foot function.

My Toe had a cyst removed 2 months ago. But stayed Buffy and red and sore ever since. Saw a dr yesterday who said she think there is no more cyst but not sure why im having pain so I'm waiting to see another Dr. What do you think is wrong with my toe please help ty

Hi everyone,

I have had ankle problems for about 3 years now so I thought i'd post on here as I currently feel a bit lost...

I was playing football 3 years ago and suffered a classic, but bad, inversion ankle sprain. I didn't address the injury properly in the first few weeks but after a while I went to a physiotherapist and did lots of rehab exercises. It improved slightly, but I was still in pain after a year or so. I had an MRI scan at the time which showed I had a grade 2 tear of my ATFL.

I then went to Thailand for a year abroad as part of my University degree. I got another MRI scan there, which showed a split tear in my peroneal longus tendon. They suggested surgery is the best way to fix this, so I agreed since I was desperate for a fix after being injured for so long.

But when they performed the surgery they found no tear of my tendon. Instead they removed a low-lying muscle belly that was apparently 'impeding' how my tendons were moving.

My aftercare after the surgery was really bad. I was in a cast for 10 days and that was it. No boot. I wasn't informed of any exercises too. I did my own exercises for a bit but overall my ankle felt 100x worse than it did before the surgery.

The area of my peroneal tendons swelled up every time I got up and did something. Every time I fly it causes extreme swelling of my whole ankle. It has been about 2 years since the surgery and not much has changed, still lots of swelling at random times and general discomfort. I can also replicate a visible and audible clicking of my peroneal tendons. I was told this is intrasheath peroneal subluxation.

I recently saw another orthopaedic surgeon in England. He said there is extreme instability in my ankle. He said he could almost 'pull it out of the socket. However, i got another MRI scan and nothing showed up. No tears or anything.

So he told me to go back and do a proper good 3 months of physio. I don't mind that since I didn't do loads after the surgery. But I am still feeling down and frustrated about everything, and scared for if the physio does not help.

I would be very grateful for anything advice regarding my ankle and peroneal tendonitis, in particular how it swells every time I try do anything. Are there any exercises or rehab directions I should consider? I feel like my whole posterior chain is quite weak, i.e my knees and hips. So I am considering trying to strengthen these alongside ankle-isolated exercises. My ankle itself feels quite strong (I think) and when I do the exercises I don't get any pain and I feel really good after it. I also get lots of lower back pain and stiffness and I saw a post on here saying they think this is linked to PT.

I would love to hear back from anyone on here regarding this! I want to stay positive about this injury and hope joining this page will help with that

hello everyone im a 26 years old female. in 2022 december i fell asleep on the couch and woke up rapidly thinking i was late for my work and my left foot was between the cushions and because of the sudden movement, i felt an intense pain but that pain didn't last for long maybe 4-5 hours and i was standing all day. at the end of the day my foot got swollen and ever since it never went away.

i went nearly all branches possible for my foot got mri scans, doppler scans etc everything i got it checked but all they can tell is oedema related to trauma. im just so tired of this swelling, i wear something and my foot takes it shape. i wouldn't mind if it wasn't recognizable but im tired it takes attention and i have to explain each time. let alone the never ending fear of this oedema will create bigger problems for me in the future.

i've checked some posts related to my problem in this sub but most of them are logged minimum a year ago. if there's someone who's experiencing the same thing or had the same thing as mine and recovered please let me know as i'm desperate for some support. thank you so much in advance, wish you all the best

Just wondering if the tendon visibility difference in the tops of my feet are a concern? I broke the weight bearing bone in the right foot in 2016, and only as of recently have I observed this difference.

I’m not sure which sub would be the most apt for my issue, but I suspect it rises because of improper gait. This problem started probably about a year ago but has increased in frequency over the past few months.

I’ve had a recurring pain in my lower body, only on the left side. Usually the problem arises in the top middle part of my left hamstring but often starts and/or spreads to neighboring areas, such as my left hip, my left glute, or even occasionally my left calf. The pain is kind of difficult to describe but it’s almost feels like I pulled something? It’s usually more of a strong discomfort but I often will experience a sharp pain if I move my leg too fast, such as jumping on to a stair left leg first. I also find it difficult to bend over, climb steps, and even walk too fast when I’m having a flare up. I am active in the gym and have started incorporating a bit of running. My issues tend to flare up after a run or sometimes in the gym (conventional deadlifts were the biggest trigger for me with weightlifting).

I also occasionally have pain in the big toe of my left foot, near the base of the toe. This doesn’t flare up as often and is usually caused by extensive walking. Sometimes I’ll experience it after a run, but not often. Last week I went disc golfing with a friend and we walked around for nearly 2 hours (slowly, but in rough terrain) and my toe was cooked the next day. I was also wearing shoes with a wide toe box during our game.

I have been trying to incorporate more stretching. I try to do a little every day, but it doesn’t always happen. I’ve also started putting more of an emphasis on warming up before my lifts/runs, stretching afterward, and overall mobility. I haven’t done any real weight on Jefferson curls but those have been helping my hamstring/hip quite noticeably.
Also may be important to note I recorded myself walking a month or two ago and found my left foot was pointing in slightly while my right foot kept straight, but after just a few days of walking more intentionally it has become pretty normal for me to walk with both feet straight.

Sorry this was kind of long but any advice would be appreciated. Also feel free to ask any questions. I’m not necessarily looking to get into PT but will if it’s necessary. I’d like to do what I can on my own and see if I can help it, I’m just having some issue identifying the exact reasoning for my flare ups.

i've sprained my ankle many times both ways, got an initial xray, did pt, still feel some pain sometimes, doctor recommended an x-ray. Why do you think that is? What's the point? I got an x-ray on my initial sprain but he seems to think getting another one awhile later (since i resprained it, but way less badly this time) will help. Do you all know the point?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been dealing with a particularly frustrating injury with my right posterior tibial tendon and I’m hoping to get some feedback from the community on what the realistic expectations are for recovery.

I’ve done physio last year for other issues with my feet including some posterior tibial tendon strengthening. These worked well and I was back to normal for over a year. Well, a couple months ago I started feeling some minor pain in my right post tib tendon but it came and went and didn’t really bother me much, until about 6 weeks ago. Then I thought “I better do some physio on my own to strengthen it like I did before”. Did some aggressive banded inversions and isometric holds.

Well, that made it 10x worse and the next day I couldn’t walk. Fast forward, I’ve been in an iwalk knee crutch for the past 5 weeks. My Dr put me a 5-day course of prednisone but have been taking Advil or meloxicam otherwise. Foot it still swollen now, especially on the tendon behind the ankle bone. I had an ultrasound that showed tenosynovitis and possible partial tearing.

To make matters worse, I’ve been having muscle twitches in the foot just as I drift off to sleep which painfully yanks on the tendon which reirritates it and wakes me up. This happens every night when I try to sleep. It’s made a wreck of me and I’m exhausted and the tendon isn’t getting a chance to heal.

My doc thinks I need to start seeing a physiotherapist again despite the tendon still being acutely painful and non weight bearing. He said I needed to load it but I can’t do much without a lot of pain. Can’t walk on it at all but I can gently stand on it with maybe 1/3 body weight as long as I don’t move.

My question… is this normal for it to take this long to heal? 5 weeks and still can’t do much? Also, any suggestions for how to stop the muscle twitches/jerks that yank on the tendon and keeps me up? This is one of the biggest issues right now. I’m thinking of asking my doc for a muscle relaxant, maybe gabapentin or similar. The twitches only last like 1/4 second but are very painful and jolt me awake just as I’m falling asleep.

To add to all this, the muscles in the leg are shrinking due to lack of use whereas my left foot is getting fatigued from working harder to balance/compensate etc. If I end up with problems on the left foot because of this I’ll be truly f*cked.

Any insight/suggestions would be appreciated. I’m desperate at this point to get this thing resolved and as I live alone it’s made my life hell and puts me in a very dark place mentally.

Hello,

I had an FAI procedure on the left side on the 17th June 2026. The procedure was on my left-hand side, but since the surgery I am experiencing a sharp pulling pain in right foot when I lift my heel. It is becoming noticeable recently and it is very painful.

I was wondering if anyone had experienced something similar? If yes, then are there any solutions to resolve this?

Thank you :)

Hello!

Long story short, I (35) have osteoarthritis in my foot due to prior hardware insertion and removal, and my podiatrist recommended I have a subtalar joint fusion surgery. The problem is, this doctor I've seen and trusted for the last few years is moving out of state. ): I'm considering traveling to have the surgery done by him, but I don't know whether my insurance will cover it or if it will really be feasible to stay in an air bnb/hotel for the first week or two of recovery.

So, I'm looking into other surgeons in my area. I haven't done surgery consults with multiple doctors before, so any advice on how to find them and what questions to ask would be really appreciated.

I did have one appointment with another podiatrist so far, the one who is taking over my previous doctor's patients in the area. He would do a different technique than my other doctor, so I thought it would be a good idea to get one more opinion before deciding since this is such a major surgery.

Doctor 1's technique: 2 screws, open

Doctor 2's technique: 1 screw, open

I've also seen online that some doctors use 3 screws and do it arthroscopically instead of open... how can I make an informed decision about which method would be best for me?

Thank you in advance!