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The response to the question below was authored by Marc Mitnick DPM

Foot Pain after walking on treadmill

About a month or so back, I was walking on the treadmill (at the speed of 3.2 an a little bit of an incline (around 2.0)) after about 40 minutes in, I felt a little pain on the top right side (closer to where my leg starts) of my right foot. I didn't think much of it and kept walking for 20 more mins. When I got off the treadmill, I realized the same spot hurt a lot worst when I put pressure on it. If I wore heals it didn't hurt as much but as soon as I went bare foot or wore flats it hurt a lot. I kept weight off the foot for 2 - 3 days and it got better in about a week. Two weeks later I go back to the gym, I was walking slower this time at no incline and in about 20 minutes I feel a little pain so I stopped. This time the pain didn't last long since I had stopped before it got worst. I give it about 2 more weeks to heal and I went back to the yesterday, I walked for an hour and it seemed fine until I was on my way home (walking for about a block) when I felt the pain again. At this point I am too afraid to go back to the gym. When this happened for the first time, I had gone back to the gym after a month or so of almost no exercise . I am 26 years old (female) and must be like 5-10 pounds above the 'normal' weight for my body type. Is this happening because of my weight or because I haven't been exercising regularly in the past 3-4 months? Any idea what the foot condition is and the best way to get it back to normal?

RESPONSE

Hi,

I think it is safe to say

that your problem is related to prolonged walking, so now the question becomes what exactly is going on.
We also know that the pain subsides once you stop doing extended walking which tells us that this is probably not a bone problem like a stress fracture as that would generally hurt all the time in varying degrees depending on your activity.
So it sounds to me like a soft tissue problem of sort, meaning anything but bone. The first thing that comes to mind is a tendon issue.
When you are walking on an incline, that can allow your foot to "bend" into your sneaker at just above the laces. This increased pressure may actually be aggravating one of the tendons that comes down the front of your ankle. So, the more you walk the more the tendon is being irritated and thus the pain starts.
Walking on a flat surface may also cause a similar problem, but in general would take longer to start since there would be less pressure from the shoe into the foot.
A second possibility would be a ligament issue. A ligament is a small leather like substance that attaches bone to the adjacent bone to stabilize the alignment of bones.
This too could come about from excessive walking and abnormal pressure, although given the choice I would think more tendonitis than ligament.
What condition are you sneakers in? If they are worn out, I would first try a different pair. If that alleviates the problem then you are done. If the pain persists even with new sneakers than you need to have the foot examined along with your gait pattern in an effort to see if there are any abnormalities in your gait which would precipitate your pain.
By the way, I do not think your weight is an issue as you are only a few pounds over your ideal weight.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Mayo Clinic

Johns Hopkins Medicine

MedlinePlus

Arthritis Foundation

University of Rochester Medical Center

Harvard Health

Drugs.com

American Academy of Pediatrics

Penn State Medical Center

National Institutes of Health

Columbia University Department of Rehabilitation

ScienceDirect

Stanford Health Care

Illinois Bone and Joint Institute

Mount Sinai Hospital

Institute for Chronic Pain

University of Florida Health

American Family Physician

Cedars-Sinai

University of Maryland Medical Center

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