Outside of foot pain, possibly from stress fractures?
by Rob Gorski
On October 18, i was diagnosed with a stress fracture on my third metatarsal. It killed me when i heard this because it was right at the end of my cross country season. However, i was relieved when my podiatrist told me that in 2-3 weeks i should be good to go. Two weeks passed by and i felt good. With only about 3 days before the Sectional meet, i decided to run a little, but lightly. My stress fracture didnt hurt, but the outside of my foot did, right by that bony bump about half way between the heel and pinky toe, that area i cant describe it that well. Let me also add then when i was diagnosed with the stress fracture, i went out and bought a new pair of new balances and orthodic inserts, but i dont think this is from the pain as this was bothering me just walking around the house in my bare foot. After the sectional meet, my foot felt ok, a little soar. Decided to run the next day, but only last a half hour because the outside of my foot. I took the whole week off until states. That states weekend, i tried to run but again the outside of my food gave me problems soon after. On the day of states, i took some ibpruofen to relieve the pain so i could run. I put on a different pair of shoes this time to race. After i finished the race, i was in complete pain. I couldnt walk, i thought my foot was broken. Got an xray that night, nothing was. Just got my MRI last week and 2 days ago i think, and it said i had two stress fracture, one on seecond and one of third. It been about 3 weeks from doing nothing and my stress fractures no longer hurt. Just as they did that states day. However, whenever i try to up my activity, theres the outside of my foot again throbbing in pain. My podiatrist said yesterday it is because of my orthodics so he modified them to put less pressure on that part. He said it doesnt have to do with my stress fractures and said ive rested long enough and that 3 weeks is fine for a stress fracture. I think hes wrong, im afraid the stress fractures are still there, the pain just isnt. But why does the outside of my foot hurt? The MRI said nothing about it. Im confused, this is killing me. If you can tell me anything that be great! Hi Rob, In a young healthy individual a stress fracture should heal in a few weeks, but without having the luxury of examining you, your pain on the outside of the foot is probably due to the orthotics. What I see a lot of, are people with this type of pain because by lifting the arch of the foot with an orthotic, it puts a lot of pressure on the outside of the foot and that protrusion of bone you mention (the fifth metatarsal base) basically gets jammed into the outside of the shoe. If you need orthotics to run then the arch may have to be lowered a bit but also you will need some padding around the painful part of your foot in order to keep it from jamming into the side of the running shoe. Marc Mitnick DPM
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