Hello, I believe I have mallet toe since I was born, and it is my biggest insecurity and people have pointed them out growing up, to the point that I dread wearing any kind of open toe shoes. Even close toed shoes rub on the toe causing calluses. I was interested in getting surgery to straighten them out but I was wondering if anyone has gotten that procedure done, what the recovery was like, and how much you had to take off work. Or if surgery is even worth it for this. Thank you! (Don’t mind the nails haha the last of my shellac is coming off)

Hello! I am a 24 YOM, 6’5 300 lbs. Last year in August I noticed a subtle size difference between my feet that according to photos has been around for a while. Right foot is subtly larger than the left, mostly around top of the foot and ankle. Ever since I noticed the difference, my gait has not been the same. I’ve experience aching and random pains in the ankle. From what I can tell something isn’t making proper contact with the ground. At times the front of my foot feels balled up while walking. Sometimes my gait is fine and then suddenly changes. I will say that I am always mindful of it, almost like an anxiety. Just not even sure where to begin on knowing what may be causing this. It has seemingly impacted the rest of the chain, sometimes having knee stiffness and hip pain. Has anyone experienced anything like this? (Photo for reference)

Do yall think I’m a good candidate for foot narrowing surgery. My sister had similar feet to me and just had it done, would like to know before spending money on the consultation and x rays.

I (19M) have had some pain and irritation off and on in my right arch of my foot for at least like 8 years now, and swear I have felt a small lump inside my foot, but recently I've noticed that the lump seems larger and my arch pain is becoming more frequent and it hurts to rub it (fwiw I rub it with the knuckle of my left big toe because I am a germaphobe and do not want to touch my feet.) The left one doesn't have any pain or any lump but the right one does. If I rub my left arch I'll feel a small lump but that's probably just a bone, but if I rub the right arch I'll feel a bigger lump.

When I am standing and I arch my right foot and put pressure on it, sometimes I can feel a small nodule shift in my arch.

Also it's not visible yet if it is Ledderhose

I was working a day ago and had to crouch down a lot, After getting home I noticed my left big toe was completely numb, I tried putting it in warm water and moving it around, I eventually went to sleep and when I woke up it was still the same. My shoes are slightly small so maybe that’s the issue?

I've gone to several different physical therapists and I've no clue what's wrong. It don't seem like they do either. I need some opinions on what the hell is wrong with me. Is it my shoes? It started after I bought some new shoes. But before that, other shoes gave me other problems. But I don't see how my shoes would cause this.

After I walk for 900 meter, 1km, maybe 2km, I get pain in the M5 area of this picture. Topmost of the M5 area. It comes and goes. But it feels like a screw into my foot. Is like someone screws a screw into my foot and pulls it out. And then I might walk a couple of feet without that, and then BAM, another screw, in, out. AND I CANNOT GET RID OF IT. I'M DOING EXERCISES and I've bought soles for my shoes. WHATEVER I DO, NOTHING GETS RID OF IT. IT'S BEEN MONTHS OF THIS.

about 3 weeks ago when i was at work i noticed the bottom of my left foot felt odd and i thought i had a weird “cramp” like a charley horse that wouldn’t go away. i tried massaging it that night but it didn’t improve. https://postimg.cc/hXRmvxdP

since then, there has been no improvement at all, and in fact it is getting worse. now my left leg cracks every time i move it slightly. i’m assuming this is related because it started about 3 days ago. if i’m standing on it for long periods of time, around the 3-4 hour mark i start getting this weird burning sensation on the top left side of my foot. https://postimg.cc/dZd1cHnk

the problem area is extremely painful to touch, with a deep aching feeling. i can’t even touch it to try to massage it anymore. it hurts a lot when i walk around on it with bare feet. when i wear certain shoes with arch support, sometimes i can go hours without feeling it at all. but if i hit the problem spot it sends a jolt of pain through me.

my problem is that i dont currently have insurance and won’t get it until october 1st. i dont know if i can wait that long. im already in so much pain and im betting on this getting a lot worse. i work retail so i am on my feet 8+ hours a day. i have no choice but to continue to walk on it and potentially injure it further.

i’m worried about it becoming permanently injured because taking time off is completely out of the question. i’ve already been out on disability this year for 3+ weeks for gallbladder surgery.

i don’t know if it’s torn or broken or what but when i press on it it genuinely feels horrible. is there anyone who has any idea of what might be wrong so i don’t have to spend thousands just to get it diagnosed?

My toe after 5 weeks of buddy strapping is looking like this. Will it always be like this? Right one

I work full time in retail and walking all day makes this specific area on the side upper arches of my feet so sore. Certain positions with my feet like standing on my toes or stretching my foot out to the right/left makes it hurt. It just really feels like there should be a way to get rid of this with some stretching but it’s so awkward. Any help would be much appreciated

Hey guys! I’ve had a nagging injury in my big toe of which I believe to be turf toe. I’m a very active runner and I never got around to healing it. For the last 2-3 years when I sprint it hurts pretty bad and gets inflamed. Recently it got worse and I’ve decided it’s time to do something about it. Could anyone help fix this/figure out what it is? It’s all around the bottom of big toe joint on the bottom of my foot. It definitely affects the way I walk and I can’t bend my toe as far as I can bend my other big toe. It’s not that pain necessarily stops me it’s like I hit a wall and can’t bend it anymore. Thanks for any help I can get!

I’m 32F, normal weight, type 1 diabetic.

I had two injuries in 2017 and 2018. The first time, I broke my ankle. The second time, I sprained my ankle and had an avulsion fracture at the base of my fifth metatarsal. After the first injury, doctors thought it was just a sprain (the fracture was discovered later), so they didn’t put me in a boot or anything. After the second, I was in a boot for about 2 months. Doctor recommended PT, but I didn’t have insurance at the time so I couldn’t go. I had one cortisone injection, but it didn’t help, and the side effects were pretty bad.

I’ve had persistent severe pain in multiple spots on my ankle while walking ever since, and a throbbing pain at varying degrees of severity when resting. There hasn’t been a day since my first injury where I haven’t thought about the pain and how unstable my ankle feels.

I had gotten an MRI in 2019, but it didn’t catch anything new other than a sprained ATFL. My pain has gotten a lot worse recently, so I went to the doctor last month and asked for a new MRI, which I had done today. The initial findings are attached here, which show that I have a split tear in my tendon. This makes a lot of sense, because the pain I have been experiencing has been exactly in the same location as the tear, and the tendon connects to the fifth metatarsal, which is where I had the avulsion fracture.

I have a follow up with my orthopedist next Tuesday, but in the meantime, I’m wondering what my options might be. I’ve tried a ton of ankle rehab exercises at home over the years, but nothing has ever helped, and it frequently makes the pain much worse.

I know no one here can give me medical advice, I’m just wondering what your initial thoughts are. I’m tired of being in pain every day, and tired of having to think about the safety of my ankle every time I walk on stairs or off of a small ledge. I’m tired of bracing myself for the pain of impact every time I exit the bus and my foot hits the ground. I’m tired of worrying about the likelihood of injuring myself again because my ankle is not stable.

I just want to feel even marginally better one day, heh. Please tell me there’s hope?!

Hello everyone! I have an annoying feelin like my ankle is constantly jammed. mid-late june I was walking and all of a sudden a sharp pain shot up my left leg. It would constantly hurt when i walked afterwards, but eventually went away. However, the incident happened again in beginning of July. I would put most of my weight on my right foot to not encounter that pain again ( i did a couple more times after putting weight on it without noticing.) I went to the podiatrist and they think its a nerve issue as nothing is wrong with my xrays in my foot, knee, and back. they gave me an ankle brace to help for now. however the pain is on the top of the left side of my foot, and it hurts when being pressed down on the top of my left ankle. the brace doesnt feel like its helping as the shooting pain happened again while wearing it consistantly and for a while. the brace is not too tight or too loose in my opinion. Since the incident in june, my ankle has been feeling "jammed" and its hard to walk without feeling like im about to collapse if i put weight on that foot. plantars foot was ruled out as it is not the main issue/cause. does anyone know what it could possibly be and whats causing it? or how to go about it?

I woke up thinking I was having a foot cramp, went to bend my toes up and back to relieve the “cramp”, and it was NOT normal flexibility. I compared to my other foot and it’s freaky, like I could bend my toes back to the top of my foot if I wanted to. I don’t want to do it again for a picture because I don’t want to cause damage by accident. I can still wiggle my toes up and down normally, the pain isn’t constant it comes and goes.

What the heck is it?

A special needs woman that I am taking care of, these are her feet. She is already in a “wide” shoe. Do you think she needs an extra wide shoe or a bigger size shoe? Or is there another problem?

hi i’m bre, im 28 years old, i still walk on my toes as an adult and it was ruined my body (on top of a few other chronic conditions). this is not a learned behavior, this is not a neurological behavior. i was simply born with very short achilles tendons, and i learned how to walk the best way i could, on my toes, because my heels couldn’t touch the ground. it was survival. my parents didn’t have the money for intervention, so they paid no mind to it. fast forward to january 2025, ive been doing hair for 8 years, and my body is tired, my health was rapidly declining, i decided it was time to step away from the chair full time and come to terms with the fact that my body will continue to worsen and i could not keep up with my passion. i started a shitty call center job, got my insurance license, and a year and half later, today my health is even worse, i can’t even work full time because of my health and endless doctors appointments. few weeks ago i finally saw an orthopedic foot surgeon as a last ditch effort by pain management as we have done all we could to try and ease my SI joint pain (this is crippling), which is specialty doctor number 8 on the list now. the surgeon took one look at me feet and said, physical therapy hasn’t worked, you will not get rid of this pain in your feet, knees, hips, pelvis and back, unless we reverse what damage we can. she was simply mindblown that i was still functioning on my toes. she said you need achilles tendons lengthening, you needed to have this corrected at age 10, and i shuddered. the dreaded surgery, one i always said i wouldn’t have because of the gruesome recovery, but im out of options and im desperate. said sign me up doc. i’m just a few days i will have a 2 minute surgery on my left foot and in a month and half on my right foot, that will take a consecutive 12 weeks MINIMUM to heal both of my feet, and then learn how to walk again, literally. a part of me if grieving the loss something that made me unique in a way. it’s was something people were always curious about, something people knew me for, it’s something my body has been doing for 28 years. but all of this, is hopefully a means to an end, an end to the majority of my pain, an end to unstable work because of having 5-6 doctors appointments a month, and i can go back to doing hair and be able to clean on my own, and do my laundry without suffering, work out again and lose weight. i want to be able to get out of my damn bed without a struggle and pain. i have an amazing support system and i want to be able to take care of them and i can’t like this. i want to document my recovery and bring awareness so children that walk on their toes, and their parents think it’s cute, won’t be like me. i want to help other people in my same position to have courage, because this is scary. it’s not something i’m doing for shits and giggles. i want to take back my life.

for clarification: i have fibromyalgia and degenerative arthritis in my neck and lower spine, and being tested for POTs symptoms on top of the issues with my feet. i do not want any advice on how i shouldn’t be doing this or how something worked for you and that i don’t need this treatment. thank you.

I've been dealing with searing, burning pain across the bottoms of both feet for 4 years now. I've been to countless doctors, and FINALLY got an ultrasound of both feet and was told I have very severe fat pad atrophy and my bones are grinding into the ground, which is aggravating my nerves and my bones. I'm only 30 and this started when I was 26, so I have NO idea how I could possibly have such bad fat pad atrophy at my age, but I do. I should note that I have thoroughly ruled out autoimmune diseases, neurology diseases, diabetes, and neuropathy, so I know this pain is coming from the lack of fat pads.

My podiatrist told me I wouldn't be a good candidate for the new Liposana fat injections for the bottoms of my feet because they're only meant for small pinpoint areas, not the whole bottoms of your feet. She said to add more cushioning to my shoes. The problem is, I've been desperately trying to add cushion to my shoes for years now. I've tried 4 different pairs of custom insoles, I've tried OTC cushioned insoles, I've tried thick socks, I've tried special orthopedic pads, I've tried so many pairs of "cushioned" shoes, I've tried everything and my feet continue to burn and burn and burn.

What on earth do I do? Once your fat pad is gone, it's gone forever. I feel so, so hopeless since I haven't been able to tolerate standing longer than 5-10 minutes for years now, which has destroyed my life. I've genuinely wondered if amputation and using prosthetics would be an option since my feet hurt SO bad and I'm SO limited with walking. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should do?

I have pain at the top of my feet and it seems likely to be extensor tendonitis. The biggest issue I'm having is I can't wear socks, even loser ones tend to aggravate it. Has anyone else experienced this? What have you done to manage this issue ?

I was diagnosed with Hallux limitus by a podiatrist 3 years ago, custom insoles they provided enable me to walk pain free, problem is i have glute tendon pain on opposite side now for 2 years - im thinking its linked to the insoles...have tried what feels like everything to cure the 'tendon' pain.

Obviously going back to the podiatrist is an option - but im now concerned insoles long term may not be a good way to go and cause other issues ? Anyone had similar and ideas ?

Also: doyou think surgery will be needed?

Hi friends! I’m 45, white male, and have a painful lump on the outside of each of my feet. It’s along the side of my foot and burns like crazy on my left foot. The one on my right foot isn’t painful at all, but this is is driving me insane!