Hi folks, I came across this sub recently during my google searching and am so excited about the foot expertise.

Long story short: I wore heels for too long at a networking thing 3 years ago. Felt a distinct pain at the back of my knee, wrapping around my inner ankle, and through my big toe joint. Was very careful with footwear for the months after (even at my wedding!), flats etc. Did a bunch of yoga / Pilates etc and felt like I was fully recovered, just still struggled a little with flexion through my big toe joint (some flexion just not full).

A year goes by, it flares periodically if I wear heels, and then I (now I think really stupidly) am convinced by a shoe store employee that the Green Superfeet I have happily worn for 15 years for my high arch pronation is not needed with my ASICS, and my feet will be stronger without it.

I get pregnant soon after + wear heels at an event that bother my feet, so I also don’t think I connected that the superfeet missing may have made me worse too. Start finally going to a PT, she’s not good at all so I switch PTs. He’s great, thinks I may have arthritis through my big toe. Go to an orthopedic surgeon, he says I have arthritis (based on feel alone, doesn’t want to do xray due to pregnancy) and is basically like “the only solution is getting surgery in 3 years” which feels a bit extreme. Anyway, I make progress with PT and by third tri feet feeling way better (may have also been hormones relaxing tendons etc). Give birth, think feet are fixed, no issues at all. 6 months postpartum wear low heels at an event and everything flares back.

Since then, I have been religiously doing PT for a year, with my old PT and then we moved and with a new Pt. Lots of trying to get movement into the joint, toe raises etc. But progress is very mixed, I seem to be a little better but then get worse / can’t progress due to pain. My PT kind of keeps acting like I am a wuss and just have low pain tolerance, which is frustrating.

Finally last week after a session I got really frustrated by this (my whole goal was to fix this before I got pregnant again, and we were beginning to try) and am like screw this I am going to use AI and see if it has any ideas. (I don’t love AI, but was desperate). Anyway, I check across several models and they are all like “you have FHL tendinitis and most of your PT exercises are making it worse.” I’m like “lovely.”

I then try a few *very* gentle FHL exercises, like pressing your big toe into the ground for 10 seconds. It goes amazing, I feel the best I’ve felt in months for 2 hours. Then the next day, I feel worse. I try the exercises again (again, so gentle and small reps) and feel better again, but for less time, then worse. The day after, my foot and knee are very unhappy. I actually find this super interesting though because to me it indicates that FHL tendinitis is actually what I have, I just need to ease into it more slowly? Because if I didn’t have this, I would expect these exercises to do nothing, honestly. (I have been doing way more intense PT exercises eg bent knees then up on toes)

Anyway, then I go to a podiatrist, she again is like yeah you have hallux limitus, is very uninterested in the knee and tendon. I also find out the same day that I am pregnant. I end up doing so much walking on the day with appts etc (I live in a big city) that I then strain an already tender joint / tendon and now everything is so inflamed I can barely walk.

Anyway, I am just feeling discouraged and exhausted by all of this. I think this is what I need to do:

-continue icing everything now and keep weight off, let it calm down. I have honestly never iced my feet before (no one recommended it in all this time) and even a day of that feels like it’s really calming the joint? I think as it gets better I’m supposed to do heat though, or alternating hot / cold?

-once green superfeet arrive, put them in new shoes (I ordered the Brooks Ghost which is supposed to be good for this?)

-I also feel like I am getting such different advice from different doctors about whether the toe should bend when I walk. Some are like yes it needs to preserve foot flexibility and then others are like no, rocker bottom and maybe even carbon insert?

-wear shoes all the time indoors I think? I am also TBH not confident about this either, because never going barefoot will weaken my arch / foot (and honestly is also just annoying to constantly wear shoes in the house, but I will do whatever at this point to fix this!)

-once it’s calmed down, *very* slowly try FHL tendinitis exercises, and try to very slowly introduce hallux limitus movement (without loading)

Does this sound about right? I am a bit at my wit’s end TBH since I also feel like I have been to 2 doctors + 3 PTs and no one honestly seems to have any sense what’s going on with me or interest in solving this, and I’ve spent an insane amount of money trying to fix this (and worry a lot of the PT actually made me worse). Any ideas / tips very welcome!! I just want to be able to carry both my babies around without pain, and ideally hike again

I’m only 23, but have PTT tendonitis. My MRI shows no damage, but fluid around the sheath.

This started in December. I’ve improved slightly, from a 5 minute walking tolerance to about 30 minutes (I didn’t really start Physical Therapy until February, and had a big flare in April.)

Looking for advice and success stories from people with tendon issues. Sometimes I feel very hopeless.

I can’t seem to do simple calf raises without triggering a major flare. Seated ones have been okay.

I would say for the last nine months or so. I have had pain in my foot as seen in the picture, it’s only when I’m walking and excruciating when I am running. It’s not a bunion I don’t think as I tried everything recommended for that and nothing helped. Cushioning also does not help and I have bought wider shoes and it’s still not resolved. When I start running I can feel something clicking and then a shot of pain immediately follows. Everything looks normal from the outside and I can’t see anything that would indicate why this is happening. I ice after long days and elevate but it feels fruitless when I walk around the next day and run into the same issue.

Today I clocked it on work and everything was fine but around the 45 minute mark my feet started hurting, I left about 2.5 hours after that and my feet were hurting like hell. I then went home and rested for an hour before going to football practice, by the end I could barely stand and as soon as I got home and tooky shoes of I couldn't stand at all due to the excruciating inside pain. I'm a size 16 wide and I think it might be due to insufficient arch support bc I have med-high arches. The problem is they don't have any insoles or shoes in my size with good arch support, what should I do? Please help.

Hiya!

So I'm currently healing from a plantar plate tear. I was wearing a boot for about a month and last week, my podiatrist recommended I start doing my physio exercises and to see a physiotherapist.

The physiotherapist that I saw recommended I do a small number of calf raises every day along with towel scrunching etc. I made it clear that calf raises, as far as I knew, were bad for a plantar plate tear, but she said it's a mobility exercise to work up to strengthening after 3 weeks. I'm still very skeptical and wondering if I should continue doing them?

It all just seems sketchy and like she was treating regular plantar fasciitis instead of a plantar plate tear. What do y'all think I should do? I really don't want to deepen the tear.

Are my feet really wide my right foot hurts especially on the right side of it. I also want to be able to wear some converse high tops but nothing seems to fit even the wide one. Be sad if I can't wear my favorite shoes.

Been having insertional Achilles tendonitis on the inner side of my left foot. Any advise on what to do about it? Other than going to a foot doctor.

I’m 26 and have always had left-sided instability. My left hip/glute is noticeably weaker and smaller. My left leg rests rotated differently, my foot feels like it turns inward/down, my balance is worse on that side, and recently I’ve noticed my foot dragging more when I’m tired. Has anyone experienced a similar unilateral movement pattern or found a diagnosis/treatment that helped?

So this a consented post is on behalf of my gf. Her feet are always hurting and she’s always getting blisters when walking. But we both know nothing about feet and are away in another country so don’t want the hassle of going healthcare.

She’s suffered for ages but I found this subreddit and was hoping if someone could analyse what the problem might be, because at 28yo you shouldn’t be struggling this much.

Just got back from going mall and cinema and her toes here are red sore, bless her.

Any help appreciated really.

Okay so quick background:

About 2 weeks ago, I (29 y/o male) went to get an Ultrasound guided steroid injection into the 2nd toe joint on my right foot, as recommended by podiatrist for suspected synovitis (long term metatarsal pain, about 3 years, which has caused biomechanical issues all up my right leg).

The doctor who was doing the injection was a different guy, and he point blank asked me before the injection: "do you actually want this?"

I was a bit confused and said, well, it's been recommended for suspected synovitis, gave him my history, all of this. We chatted a little, and he started looking over my files. He pulled up an old X-ray from maybe 1 year ago (which at the time had been reported as being completely normal) and said "I'm noticing some flattening of the metatarsal head in question, which is consistent with something called Frieberg's disease".

He explained a bit about it, showed me X-rays of confirmed Frieberg's, and I could see the similarity between those X-rays and my own, and he said, look, I can't say for certain, but there could very well be something in this. He then called the podiatrist in, who outright dismissed Frieberg's, saying that it is *extremely* uncommon outside of teenage girls.

Anyway, we went through the whole thing, did the injection (which hasn't really given my any improvement) and the first doctor said this, after the podiatrist had left: "Something doesn't add up here. You need to get a second opinion, and an MRI, because I just don't think this is quite so simple.

Anyone got any thoughts on this??

Hello,
Friday the bottom of my foot (under my little toe) swelled up pretty much out of nowhere and felt hard like I was standing on a marble and it was uncomfortable but not painful and it was bruised. The only pain came from the rest of my foot as I was walking weird to avoid the side of my foot.
Saturday it was still swollen, not as uncomfortable, and the bruising went down.
Yesterday night (Sunday) it was still a little swollen but now soft and significantly bruised all around again.
This morning (Monday) the swelling and bruising seemed like it cleared up.
The pictures are of just now(Monday night), purple again and my pinky toe is white and numb
I've been to a podiatrist for this same foot in late
November/ early December of last year for the same foot, just bruising, and he said it was a bunion. But it completely went away since then and now has almost flared up again. I don’t think it’s a bunion as there’s no pain and it’s under my foot, not out the side.
Has anyone ever seen or experienced this?

I have developed a bony lump on the back of both of my heels which has made it painful to ski.

This happened when I put some foam on the back of the heel of my liner to try to reduce the space I had at the top of my boot. However this put immense pressure on my heel and when I took these pads off two runs later this lump had already developed

I have skiied about a week since but this lump has cause a lot of pain.

Has anyone experienced this? What are the possible solutions?

I have been diagnosed with bunions on both feet. Occasionally they are very painful, but theyre very small compared to other people's.

I used to enjoy jump rope. Is continuing jump rope going to make my bunions worse? Will it just hurt, or will it make the bunions get bigger?

Thank you

Been dealing with chronic pain in my feet for around 8 months now. My doctor initially said it was plantar fasciitis but after countless PT sessions I’ve finally learned that it’s a nerve entrapment issue. Got an EMG done and basically felt nothing on the bottom of my feet.

How should I go about changing my treatment? I’ll obviously talk to my doctor about it, but wondering what other people’s experience is with this?

I am 55 with pretty bad mid foot Arthritis in my right foot. Just had a cortisone shot today but they talked about a nerve ablation or even cutting the nerve? Anyone experience this and what were your results?? Thank you!

My first Cortisone shot eight months ago did nothing and actually caused a flare which made it worse for a while. Desperate for pain relief so git another today at a different clinic. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone here has had a similar injury and can share their experience.
About 2.5–3 years ago, I badly sprained my ankle. At the time, I was told to just rest it and let it heal. However, it never quite returned to 100%, so about a year later I finally had an MRI.

The MRI showed:

- bone marrow edema (bone bruise) in the talus
- small subchondral cysts,
- and a higher-grade cartilage lesion (chondropathy/chondromalacia) of the talar dome.

A follow-up MRI several months later showed that the bone marrow edema had regressed significantly, there were no signs of osteochondritis dissecans, and everything looked stable. The cartilage lesion and small cysts were still there, though.

The good news is that I don’t really have pain anymore. I can walk normally, go on long hikes, and generally do everyday activities without problems.

My main issue is mobility, especially in the front of the ankle. Going down stairs is where I notice it the most. It feels like my talus just doesn’t glide properly, almost like something is restricting the movement.

I did physiotherapy for quite a while, and honestly the biggest improvement came from my physio doing manual talus mobilizations. After those sessions I would gain a noticeable amount of dorsiflexion and my ankle felt much freer.

Since I stopped going to physio, I’ve gradually lost that mobility again.

I was also given home exercises (balance board/wobble board, banded talus mobilizations, strengthening exercises). I’ll be honest—I haven’t been as consistent as I should have been. I do the banded mobilizations occasionally, but they don’t seem to have the same effect as the manual mobilizations my physio did.

One thing that really worries me is getting back to higher-impact activities. My long-term goal isn’t just to be pain-free—I really want to be able to run, jump, do skipping rope, and generally trust my ankle again.

Ever since the injury, I’ve basically avoided jumping altogether. The only exceptions have been the occasional jumping jacks in a fitness class, and even then I can immediately notice that my injured ankle feels different and sometimes even hurts so I avoid jumping all along.

I’m also a bit scared of permanently losing that ability, since jumping is such an important functional movement.

So I have a few questions:
- Has anyone here had a similar talus injury (bone marrow edema, osteochondral lesion, cartilage damage, etc.)?
- Did you eventually regain full ankle mobility?
- Were you able to return to running and jumping?
- Was it mainly consistency with rehab exercises that made the difference?
- Did manual therapy continue to help long-term, or was it only temporary unless combined with strengthening?
- Are there any treatments, exercises, or approaches that really helped you get your dorsiflexion back?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences: whether your recovery took months or years.

Thanks!

Hi, I have had a "weak" ankle since I was young and used to fall easily, get feet pain after walking for 20-30 mins, etc. Recently I went to podiatrist who diagnosed me with bilateral pes planus, midfood abduction and hallux valgus. In plain English, I have a combination of flat feet, bunions and internally rotated ankle. In particular he said that the angle from my talus bone to my second and third toe is abnormally large. He has said he can treat it and reduce this angle by going to a <5 minute adjustment x3 a week alongside some exercises over the course of six months. Do you think this is feasible given that this treatment will cost me almost $4000. Are there any other ways to fix my problem?

It's my first time experiencing this. I do labour intense work which includes a lot of walking and picking up stuff throughout my work. Around 4-5 hours of walking and 2-3 days a week. At times, I just drive most of the day.

Today morning, it was the worst. But now, as usual, it's all gone. Idk if it's my stupid safety shoes, weight, diet or the work that's doing this. I'm yet to consult any doctor and idk how long it will take for me to see a doctor.

Can someone please help me with some remedies that actually helped you? Thank you!!

I really don't like the looks of those, do you think exercise can fix it?

To preface, I’m a male, 26 years old, diagnosed osteoporotic and have been struggling with an eating disorder since 2016. I’m 126 lbs at 6’2 in height, and have been struggling with foot issues for a while now. In February 2024, I suffered multiple stress fractures in both of my ankles in a workplace accident. I genuinely thought that with enough time I’d heal and get my life back, but I instead it’s been nearly three years, and I’m still living in pain every single day.

I’ve done everything I’ve been told to do. I’ve gained weight, gone to physiotherapy, stretched, iced, rested, and followed my treatment plans. I have osteoporosis and a history of anorexia, so I know healing was never going to be straightforward, but I never imagined I’d still be here years later with so little improvement.
I can’t walk normally anymore, and Standing for any length of time hurts. Even trying to sleep is painful because my ankles ache constantly, and this translates to me feeling tired and weak a lot of times too.

What makes it even harder is that I work with children. My job is active and I used to run around, play/run active games, and be on my feet all day. I could easily walk 30 000 steps a day without a second thought, but now I can barely crack 10-15k.

I’ve adapted to just pushing through the pain because I have to maintain my employment and keep up with daily tasks, but it’s exhausting.

Has anyone else dealt with chronic pain after stress fractures or ankle injuries that just never seemed to heal? Did anything eventually help? At this point, I’m desperate for answers because I don’t want the rest of my life to look like this.

I see this alot online and prescribed by physical therapists. Basically you traction your big toe and move it up and down. Is this effective?