When to See a Podiatrist: Understanding Different Types of Foot Pain

Most people try to ignore foot pain, waiting to see if it improves. Although you can give mild or occasional foot pain time to get better, waiting too long aggravates the problem.

Even if your pain begins with a minor foot issue, the damage will worsen the longer you stay active. At Lake Washington Foot and Ankle Clinic, Vinai Prakash, DPM, has extensive experience treating foot pain and providing the care you need to get you back into action.

Types of foot pain

Many possible injuries and foot conditions cause different types of foot pain. Being able to describe the pain you feel helps identify its cause.

We may ask about pain characteristics, such as whether it appeared suddenly or gradually. Sudden pain usually follows an injury and is often accompanied by inflammation, swelling, and bruising.

Gradual pain begins as mild, occasional discomfort. Over time, the pain slowly gets worse until one day it’s bad enough to interfere with walking or engaging in sports activities.

Pain develops gradually when you have an overuse injury or foot condition that was minor at the beginning. Then, the condition progresses as you stay active.

Conditions causing foot pain

This list includes the most common causes of pain based on its location in your foot:

Top of the foot

• Arthritis
• Tendonitis
• Toe bone fracture
• Navicular stress fracture (the bone between your toes and the bones forming the arch)
• Lisfranc injury (broken bones or torn ligaments in the upper middle foot)

Sides of the foot

• Bunions
• Tendonitis
• Ligament inflammation
• Acute or overuse injuries
• Jones fracture (fracture of the bone connecting your little toe to your foot)
• Pinched or injured nerves

Back of the foot

Achilles tendonitis (inflamed tendon) and other problems in the tendon, such as a rupture or degeneration, are the top causes of pain in the back of your foot. 

Heel 

The top culprit in heel pain is plantar fasciitis. However, you could also have heel pain due to bursitis, Achilles tendonitis, and Haglund’s deformity (a bony growth on the back of your heel).

Bottom of the foot

Heel pain and plantar fasciitis may also cause pain in the bottom of your foot. Other conditions resulting in pain in the ball of the foot (near the base of your toes) or arch include:

• Plantar warts
• Morton’s neuroma
• Arthritis
• Flatfeet
• Corns and calluses
• Metatarsalgia
• Toes
• Ingrown toenail
• Gout
• Hammertoe
• Broken bone
• Turf toe (sprained big toe)

When to seek medical attention

Seeking medical care as early as possible makes treatment easier and improves your long-term results. Here are two examples.

When tendonitis goes untreated, the chronic inflammation weakens the tissues. As a result, the tendon can rupture, possibly requiring surgery and an extended recovery.

In the early stages of hammertoe, we can treat it with conservative therapies like splinting and stretching exercises. Without treatment, the tissues become rigid and stuck in place. At that stage, surgery is the only treatment option.

Every foot condition mentioned above requires professional podiatric care. There’s no reason to spend your days dealing with pain when we can treat the problem and ease your discomfort.

Even if you can tolerate the pain, it’s essential to remember that foot problems won’t improve without treatment.

Schedule an appointment for foot care if you have any of the following:

• Severe foot or ankle injury
• Pain that’s worse with activity
• Pain, swelling, or bruising that keeps worsening
• Pain, swelling, or bruising that doesn’t improve in several days
• Pain that lingers weeks after an injury
• Inability to bear weight on the foot
• Tingling, burning, or numbness
• Visible changes in the foot’s shape
• Blisters, cuts, or wounds that don’t heal
• Deformities (bunions, hammertoes, flatfeet)

People with diabetes or a vascular condition that limits blood flow, like peripheral artery disease, should schedule an appointment for any foot problem that develops. 

Call Lake Washington Foot and Ankle Clinic today, or use online booking to schedule an appointment and get relief for foot pain.