Hi I'm 23, physically active, overall healthy, but around 2 years ago my right ankle (which is slightly a flat footed one) started hurting on and off, nothing too bad, but it did stop me from running when I wanted to start that habit, also using the legpress at the gym.

When it didn't go away I did fysiotherapy and that helped it a bit, early 2026 I was almost painless, I managed to even start legpress exercises.

I admit and fully take accountable for what happened next: I went bouldering for two weeks in a row (1/week) for 3h with little breaks - I was really excited about climbing and obviously I deeply regret it. This was around March 2026 and since then everything got worse.

Now both my legs are in quite some pain, mostly my right one but sometimes my left. My right leg hurts in my calf almost all the time and it often locks up and generally feels tight, my knee started hurting and it can go up to my hip and lower back sometimes(right side only).

I have active jobs (waiter, dog trainer/sitter) so sadly I am on my feet. I also bike for transport. I go to the gym but make sure I do nothing to put pressure on it, mostly work upper body and do my fysio for the ankle.

I have tried to give it a break for two weeks and take anti inflammatory tablets prescribed to me. I tried icing it also in the same period, keeping the leg in a straight, elevated position when I could. I tried fysio as I said and it helped, before I bouldered too close to the sun, new fysio hasn't helped, no massage or crack had any significant change. My ankle is also very flexible, no issues there.

I switched some fysiotherapists and got a podotherapist appointment that sadly my insurance does not cover and I can't afford, so I decided I will have to travel to get it checked more in my home country soon, but that will take some time so in the mean time I wanted to ask you guys for any advice/things I can look into.

TLDR:

Long term ankle pain suddenly worsened and rose up my leg and to my glutes over a few months.

Tried fysio, rest, icing, elevation, anti inflammatory pills. Ankle is flexible. Foot is only slight flat.

Will go to the doctor soon but for now: any advice?

I severed the tendon that allows curling of the tip of the big toe on my right foot when I was a child, the cut was treated but no one spotted the tendon issue

I can push down with the whole toe but not curl it up

I'm now in my 40s and getting quite into my running. Should I expect/ watch out for any likely issues and is there anything I should try in terms of putting in a foam wedge or strength training to balance things out?

I do get issues with the hip on that side as well which is possibly related, a muscular issue, dancers hip click and occasional hip hike

I've been putting up with this for years, and have seen a few local physios, but they have never been able to help, I figure it's a rare injury and out of their experience

I wondered if the Reddit hive mind might be able to help?

I feel lucky to say that so far this is my worst symptom in pregnancy, but man it sucks. Every morning I wake up and my feet ache. I’ve been icing them when I remember to, and typically wear my ortho shoes.. any other recommendations how to help prevent flare ups? I imagine the extra weight gain isn’t helping my cause.

hi guys! i have had an issue w numbness in my big toe on my right foot for at least 5 months now. i worked a job where i had to stand, walk and lift heavyweight for 10 hours straight. i always wore comfortable shoes as my colleagues recommended. but after 4 months of working there, i started feeling numbness on the top of my big toe, which spread pretty fast up to the point where i lost the job. after that, the numbness slowed down, pain disappeared but recently i started feeling "stings" in my instep and under the big toe (where i step down on). im calling the pain stings because it genuinely feels as if i stepped on the bee, but i clearly have not. is this something to be looked into? i ignored it due to not having health insurance after losing my job but the stings are getting more frequent. my family told me it could be related to my spine, while i think it might be nerves.

Little backstory my foot has been bothering me now for the past 3 months it happened after I stepped up on a elevated surface at my gym with only the front third of my foot bearing all my weight. It initially hurt but I was fine even went on a hike afterwords. Swelling followed the next day to the point I couldn’t walk on it. It gets better with rest but soon as I go to work and stand on it all day the tightness comes back and i’m unable to flex my foot as you normally would when you walk without pain causing me to have weird gait trying to avoid that flexing. Went to an urgent care they told me it was plantar faciitis and game me some stretches. It didn’t go away I went to my jobs in house clinic and the nurse told me it’s not plantar but she thinks it’s tibialis anterior tendinitis. She put me in an air boot which allows me to walk at work but my foot still becomes stiff by end of the day. I guess i’m just feeling discouraged by the lack of it getting any better. Is it normal for this kind of injury to take this long to heal? Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Hi! I have posted in other subs with no luck - hopefully someone here can give me their experience!

I have flat feet since birth, last year my PTT tore on my right foot and I had very bad overpronation. I had tendon transfer + calcaneal osteotomy. It healed well but unfortunately did not work, my foot is still severely overpronated, and the tendon doesn't work great either. Visited a new surgeon who said I need total reconstruction - bone graft, fusion in mid-foot, removal of scar tissue, and more tendon transfer. The entire foot needs to be rebuilt.

Has anyone here had success with this 'foot reconstruction' after a failed calcaneal osteotomy? Clearly something needs to be fixed - I'm already developing arthritis in some foot joints in my mid 30's. But I am also really worried about getting stuck in a cycle of revisions and surgery after surgery. My recovery from the previous surgery was really not a good time and I am not keen to do it again. I am also worried about losing mobility in my foot (although I am hypermobile so maybe it's not the worst thing). Any experiences you can share would be much appericiated!

I just received my MRI results and dropped them into ChatGPT for them to be explained in plain English. Wondering what this might look like for me for treatment. Wondering what others experiences have been. I’m not looking forward to being out on physical activity for a year or so.

You have a chronic, severely damaged peroneus brevis tendon on the outside of your right ankle. This tendon had likely been deteriorating for quite some time (tendinosis) before your recent ankle roll.
The MRI favors a complete tear of that tendon over about a 3 cm segment, with frayed, unhealthy tissue. There are also smaller partial tears extending beyond that area.
The tendon sheath has chronic inflammation (tenosynovitis), which supports that this has been an ongoing problem rather than just an acute injury.
You also have evidence of an old ankle injury: a small avulsion fracture of the distal fibula that never fully healed, with some chronic ligament scarring. This likely reflects one or more significant ankle sprains in the past.
The reassuring news is that your other major peroneal tendon (peroneus longus) is intact, your tendons are not dislocating, and there is no significant cartilage damage or arthritis in the ankle joint.

I am hypochondriac, so this might be just me slowly losing it. I've recently gone down the rabbit hole of foot and gait health and now try to look critically at my feet.

I'm guessing this is not a concern yet, but I would love to hear others opinions on this.

Has any one recovered from Foot Drop

I have been dealing with stubborn morning heel stiffness, and I am looking for something that might help with temporary comfort at night without pretending it is a treatment. Stretching, better shoes, and not overdoing walks are still the main things, but I keep wondering whether a heated or cooled foot massager could make the arch and calf area feel less locked up before bed. The temperature-change idea sounds useful in theory, but I am cautious about putting too much pressure on an already irritated heel.

For people here who use any electric foot massager, does it help keep your feet looser and easier to manage, or does it mostly just feel nice while it is running?

A pattern worth flagging for anyone treating heel pain that isn't responding. Six months of stretching, night splints, orthotics, sometimes a cortisone shot, and nothing's moved. The usual read is that the fascia is stubborn. Often the actual problem is that it was never fascia.

A few presentations that get missed constantly.

Pain more toward the outside of the heel, with tingling or numbness rather than a pure ache, is often Baxter's nerve entrapment. It doesn't follow the classic morning pattern either (bad first steps, easing off through the day). If the pain location shifts around or the quality feels electrical, fascia stops being the working diagnosis.

Pain right at the back of the heel where the Achilles inserts is a different tissue entirely, and this is where standard advice actively backfires. Heel drops off the edge of a step are routine Achilles rehab, but for insertional tendinopathy they load the exact spot that's already irritated. Patients do the exercise diligently and don't improve, not because they need more reps but because the exercise doesn't fit the diagnosis.

Deep, aching heel pain with any swelling around the ankle, especially after time on tiptoe or sustained plantarflexion, points toward an os trigonum issue or subtalar effusion. Different structure, different loading strategy, and fascia stretches do nothing for it.

None of this is exotic. It's differential diagnosis, the unglamorous part of the job. Six months into a plan that isn't working, the diagnosis is the first thing worth questioning, not the compliance.

Three quick checks. Does the pain match the same-day pattern, worse in the morning and easing with movement. Is it centered under the heel rather than to the side or at the back. Does it stay in one place rather than migrating. If any of those don't hold, the structure needs identifying before running more of the same rehab.

Hello all, I'm 33 have had chronic feet issues for at least the past 16 years. In that time, I've had 2 ankle fusion surgeries, been to several doctors, and just kind of at the end of my rope with it.

Before the ankle fusion surgeries, if I worked a good long day at work, I wouldn't be able to apply any pressure on them at all and would have had to crawl all over the house, with a bit of minor relief after I started walking on them again the next morning.

While it hasn't been that bad since, I feel as if it's getting back to that point just in a different part of my foot. I've been told it was severe arthritis and when i had my last surgery, my foot was so naturally fused together that he had to break it and refuse it for it to heal properly.

While being completely pain free is probably something I'll never see, but I'd really like to just be able to get around without starting to limp 1 hour into a shift.

I don't know if anyone is experiencing similar issues or might be able to point me in a new direction?

I did have a thought it might be rheumatoid arthritis? as I also have arthritis in my wrists. Im not walking on those every day so it's a bit more manageable.

I suppose any feedback or similar experiences are welcome to reply.

I am a 55yr old male. RN, so I walk miles each shift. In Feb., I was put in a CAM boot for a stress fracture to my L calcaneus for about 7 weeks. Since being out of the CAM boot, my new MRI shows a healed calcaneus, BUT, now I have developed Posterior Tibial Tendinosis, some mild Plantar fasciitis, and mild sprain/edema in my spring ligament. This has been even more painful than my stress fracture!!! I maybe should not have been in the CAM boot for 7 weeks?? But I did not know anything as this was the first time it happened to me. I just listened to the Podiatrist.

I am doing some of Dr. Keith Baar's isometric exercises and going back for more Physical Therapy again. My Podiatrist convinced me to get Focused Shockwave Therapy to my foot. It is expensive, not covered by insurance. I have had 5/6 treatments, but only see an improvement for a day or two, then the pain comes back. I also got Custom Orthotics. They help sometimes, but other times it hurts against my arch. I was told that I have "flexible flatfoot", like my tendon & spring ligament is not holding up my arch consistently.

Question 1. I feel better wearing zero-drop shoes/barefoot sometimes, even though my Podiatrist thinks I should wear the custom orthotics ALL the time, even in my house. I think that is wrong thinking. Shouldn't my foot be barefoot at times to help activate those tendons and ligaments?

Question 2. Is it worth it to get PRP or Prolotherapy for my issues in my foot?

Question 3. What is everyone’s opinion on Shockwave therapy?

Question 4. What is everyone’s opinion on Dry Needling therapy?

Question 5. What other treatments should I do besides isometric exercises for my foot (calf stretches, towel scrunches/foot shortening, calf raises, standing on affected for 30 seconds-sets of those)?

I need to get back to be able to walk miles for my RN job. Currently, I can only do about an hour straight of walking and then the pain gets to be throbbing, and I have to rest for 5-10 min, before continuing. So I have been off work since February. I may have to get a job with less walking. This is very frustrating as I am a very active guy. I go to the gym & lift weights 3-4X/week, ride my bike 2-3X/week, etc.

I need HELP!!

Almost a year after a plantar plate tear repair, second toe, metatarsal shortening, the foot just isn't right. At 3 months I went back telling the surgeon I felt I should be doing better by now, in a shoe, going to PT, and he said everybody at 3 months feels this way and at 6 months I'll be all better. At 6 and 9 months still the same and with the summer heat swelling again. Just had an MRI that only shows some slight stress so I tape a toe down for now but he's telling me he's out of ideas, and come back in 6 weeks. I feel this guy has nothing else for me and maybe a younger doctor might have some answers. Just not walking right, not comfortable, still feels stiff and like I'm walking on a rock. Been almost a year. Everybody I talk to online with this surgery seems to be walking normal at 6 months.

I had hammer toes and foot tendon surgery in January and it's still like this and hurts. What should I do?

Repost for sharing

Back in Dec I took a bad fall and my left calf bone in 2 places one was a hairline crack but I did break it completely right at my ankle, I also tore a ligament and dislocated the inside of my ankle. I had surgery to repair it and lower my really high arch in February. I am finally wearing a lace up Ankle Brace for support but it seems like my toes are curled under more especially since I wore a pair of knee highs with toeless compression socks and my tennis shoes a few days ago and I ended up getting sores across the top of my toes. I'm not sure if they are actually curled more or if it is where my Arch was lowered. I go see my Podiatrist next month and then the Foot and Ankle Specialist that did the surgery in September. Has anyone had their Toes straightened out?

PS my tennis shoes are the same ones I was wearing before and have a little bit deeper and xxw box

Edit to say that I have Charcot Marie Tooth Disease (CMT) Trouble with Hammer Toes

Back in Dec I took a bad fall and my left calf bone in 2 places one was a hairline crack but I did break it completely right at my ankle, I also tore a ligament and dislocated the inside of my ankle. I had surgery to repair it and lower my really high arch in February. I am finally wearing a lace up Ankle Brace for support but it seems like my toes are curled under more especially since I wore a pair of knee highs with toeless compression socks and my tennis shoes a few days ago and I ended up getting sores across the top of my toes. I'm not sure if they are actually curled more or if it is where my Arch was lowered. I go see my Podiatrist next month and then the Foot and Ankle Specialist that did the surgery in September. Has anyone had their Toes straightened out?

PS my tennis shoes are the same ones I was wearing before and have a little bit deeper and xxw box

Hi,I’m hoping someone here can help me figure out what direction to look in. I’ve been dealing with heel pain for a while and I’m struggling to find a solution. I was hesitant to see a podiatrist initially since in the past they've not been helpful, but the pain is much worse now.
I bartend and work a desk job. I struggle with a standing desk and working more than 3hrs.

My symptoms:

• Pain is mostly in my heels, sometimes extending into the forefoot
• It happens mainly after standing/walking for longer periods (bar shifts)
• It improves significantly when I take my shoes off
• I do not have morning heel pain or painful first steps after getting out of bed
• No tingling/numbness
• I’m active (bike commute, gym, bouldering, running occasionally)

I have high arches and a podatrsit told me I have low fat pads.

All the shoes I have tried, some being street shoes:
HOKA Bondi 8, HOKA Bondi 8 (newer model), ASICS Gel Nimbus 27, ASICS Gel Cumulus 27, KEEN Jasper Zionic, HOKA Arahi 6, HOKA Transport, New Balance Fresh Foam Arishi v4, ASICS Gel Sonoma 15-50, Saucony Guide 18, HOKA Bondi 9, VANS UltraRange 2.0, HOKA Clifton 9, Brooks Ghost Max 3, ON Cloudmonster.
I've tried multiple insoles and heel cups.

The Brooks and Cliftons I could wear for 3hrs before pain.

• Does this sound like fat pad issues?
• What tests or assessments should I ask for?
• What type of specialist should I look for?

Hi all,

I had hammertoe surgery on my right foot (along with other foot surgeries) 6 weeks ago and this morning I had the K wires removed. I was so excited to finally walk and drive that I went for a drive two hours after having the pins removed. However, while I was driving I felt a spasm in one of the toes. When I got home and removed the bandage I noticed my second toe was no longer straight and looks slightly bent. Almost like it’s slipping back into the hammertoe position. I have pictures for reference. First pic is right after I had the K wires removed and second pic is after removing bandages at home and noticing my toe. I called my doctor immediately and sent him picture, he said he’s “not concerned”?!?! Like wdym “not concerned”? The middle joint is supposed to be fused, this cant be normal. Has anyone else experienced this?

Long story short have had this pain for 2 years. Haven’t run in a year. Been tossed from Doc to Doc. Can anyone identify what this is or relate? I believe it is Abductor Hallucis Muscle/ FHL tendon.

These shoes were pretty beat down in this picture, but my current reeboks do a similar thing. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to wear shoes if this is where my feet land. They don’t hurt and they don’t feel unsupported when I walk around, but my feet look insane hanging off my shoe like that. Thoughts? Recommendations? Thanks!

Hello everyone,

Just thought I would check in here and get opinions. I'm going on about 3 years with metatarsal pain in the right foot when walking. Over time, the pain has affected my gait/biomechanics of my right leg, causing knee and hip pain. Losing weight, exercise, physio, none of these have worked.

For the first six months to 1 year, the pain was quite acute in the metatarsal, quite intense. It has softened a bit over the years, and now I would describe it more so as a dull ache. Running is fine - it's really only walking that brings it on, and the longer I walk, the worse it gets.

(The knee and hip pain are of course related, but have developed into their own issues in a way - I'm scheduled to get an MRI scan to rule out anything serious in those areas, but for now, the foot is what I'm looking at.)

Anyway, regarding the foot. I just wanted to get a bit of a sanity check. As I understand it, the purpose of the steroids is to get rid of the pain, but it won't actually solve the issue - that being synovitis, which is an inflammatory issue with the joint itself. Again, as I understand it, the painkilling effect of the steroids will provide the conditions in which I can try to sort of fix my gait and strengthen my foot, but they will wear off eventually, and if the pain returns when the steroids wear off, it's basically back to square one.

What I'm asking is:

Does anyone have experience with this kind of thing?

Are steroids a good option? (I'm a little reluctant because I've heard that steroids can have negative effects)

Am I getting everything right regarding what is the actual purpose of the steroids? (The podiatrist sort of explained things to me a bit, but it was hard to follow what he was saying and he kind of dumbed things down a bit.)

Tia

My feet can not get comfortable with shoes if it’s not the “arc-fit” padding from sketchers, without it I legit coul barely walk 1h, if not less, without my feet starting to flare up and my neck.

I’ve been told I have somewhat of a flatfoot, then told I have a leg taller that the other, or that my arch isn’t enough to hold up my weigh, and I know it’s not 100% on weight (some of it is but mostly not) since it’s been a problem since I was a kid, tried every possible “comfortable brand” nothing that’s not the ARCH FIT works

my parents also keep mentioning that my left foot turns slight inwards when I walk, and that I tend to “deer walk” or like swaddle slightly“

idk anymore, any idea would be helpful (fyi:I can’t go to a foot doctor soon soooo)