Lasting Arch Pain PF or what?

AvRunner

Barefooters
Jan 20, 2016
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Hello everyone,

I did a fair amount of barefoot running last summer. I'm not someone who had been running a whole lot prior to this, barefoot or otherwise so I'm skeptical that I transitioned to barefoot running too quickly. I ramped up fairly slowly mostly doing two-mile runs at first, then three and four. Finally one day I ran an entire five miles. Later that afternoon I noticed a little bit of pain in my right arch while I was riding my bike, but didn't think much of it. The next day I did a two-mile run and noticed a persistent dull pain in the arch. This was back in late August or early Sept. and it is still a problem. A couple days ago I was standing around quite a bit in minimalist shoes and noticed more dull pain in the arch then normal. It's not extremely painful, but running seems out of the question right now. I had about decided it was plantar fasciitis, but some people on the barefooters.org list didn't seem to think so because plantar fasciitis usually starts at the heel, whereas this has been consistently in the middle of the arch.

So a couple questions. Firstly does this sound like plantar fasciitis? If not what else could it be? What self treatments can I do about it. I tried rolling the arch over a tennis ball and honestly it seemed to make it worse. Lastly if I end up going to a podiatrist, how can I find one who is barefoot running friendly? I'm certainly not yet resined to custom orthotics or whatever yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Most foot and arch problems come from calf and soleus muscles, try massage. Not self massage, it can help, but professional help have more potential for cure. I have slightly same problem, it's just not only arch, but ankle, arch, ball and outer edge of foot. All helps with massage, but pain keeps coming back when I go running or do something wrong.. For 4 months now... In my case massage by professional helps more, self massage with foam roller just a little and it's bit too much effort to do it for hour or two daily.
 
Please feel free to also post in our Ask the Docs forum.
 
Most foot and arch problems come from calf and soleus muscles, try massage. Not self massage, it can help, but professional help have more potential for cure. I have slightly same problem, it's just not only arch, but ankle, arch, ball and outer edge of foot. All helps with massage, but pain keeps coming back when I go running or do something wrong.. For 4 months now... In my case massage by professional helps more, self massage with foam roller just a little and it's bit too much effort to do it for hour or two daily.

Stopped eating carbs - no pain. Probably a bit premature conclusion, but three days ago I added more carbs and then it felt like pain got worse.. So, no carbs yesterday and it didn't bother as much as before.. Did also short test run, and seems like my foot is not killing me today...

I have been on low carbish diet bit over a year, got some eye dryness problems last spring and also hadn't much energy and recovery sucked. So I added a bit of carbs, mostly from bananas, it helped. After that I have added bit more carbs and cut amount of dietary fat (I was getting fatter).

I noticed the effect of diet last weekend, bit of partying and relatively heavy (for me, I rarely drink a lot) alcohol drinking for two days. I wasn't intoxicated whole time (so it wasn't alcohol numbing the pain) and there was some walking that should have caused pain, but it felt perfectly okay, during and afterwards. Could be added liquid to body thing also, dehydration and cramping foot muscles or something...
 
Stopped eating carbs - no pain. Probably a bit premature conclusion, but three days ago I added more carbs and then it felt like pain got worse.. So, no carbs yesterday and it didn't bother as much as before.. Did also short test run, and seems like my foot is not killing me today...

I have been on low carbish diet bit over a year, got some eye dryness problems last spring and also hadn't much energy and recovery sucked. So I added a bit of carbs, mostly from bananas, it helped. After that I have added bit more carbs and cut amount of dietary fat (I was getting fatter).

I noticed the effect of diet last weekend, bit of partying and relatively heavy (for me, I rarely drink a lot) alcohol drinking for two days. I wasn't intoxicated whole time (so it wasn't alcohol numbing the pain) and there was some walking that should have caused pain, but it felt perfectly okay, during and afterwards. Could be added liquid to body thing also, dehydration and cramping foot muscles or something...

No carbs? that's just plain coo-coo:)
Seriously, I always knew that tight lower legs front, back and sides cause that arch pain and massaging the whole lower leg relieves that pain, and I know it does.
 
No carbs? that's just plain coo-coo:)
Seriously, I always knew that tight lower legs front, back and sides cause that arch pain and massaging the whole lower leg relieves that pain, and I know it does.

Agree on coo-coo, but it seems to work. It wasn't my first option during these four months, tried that massage thing for seven times and foam rolling a lot...
 
August - September !?!:oops: it is possibly time to consult a doctor.:nurse: no ?... This will direct you to the appropriate professional;)

Good luck
 
Yeah, doctor directed me to physiotherapist... No lasting help, just massage that helped for a while, until pain came back. There's option of going to see bit more specialized doctor, but it's expensive and 100 miles away. So I'm trying few own things first and then. Last week I tried local fascia specialist, it was quite painful...
 
it sounds like you strained your muscles. massage and time will help. strength training too. foot and core. entire body actually.
 
Might be straining, there was those injury episodes that I never fully recovered from... I have done strength training for a year now. it's not motivating like running, so I probably wouldn't do it anymore if I had continued with strength training style and big basic movements, wasn't really for me. Now bit more bodybuilding type training (easier movements and 3x10), it doesn't suck that much. It takes too much concentration and effort to do it with fewer repeats with bigger weights, didn't really work with "blah, let's do some boring repeats and be done with it" mindset.;)
 
Agree on coo-coo, but it seems to work. It wasn't my first option during these four months, tried that massage thing for seven times and foam rolling a lot...

Interesting, for me massaging the sore areas for 20/30 mins immediately relieves the pain.
 
Last week I tried local fascia specialist, it was quite painful...[/QUOTE]

So, did it help?
 
Last week I tried local fascia specialist, it was quite painful...

So, did it help?[/QUOTE]

Well, it helped, but next day I had fitness boxing class that made it really sore again, shouldn't have gone there so soon after treatment.. I had another session at fascia specialist last monday and it feels like it was of some use, she also released some really tight spots at iliopsoas/hipflexor and some affecting achilles tendons, told me that achilles tendons straightened, they were kinda arched inwards.. It feels different afterwards, is pretty much all I can say. I can't know for sure, because that low carb thing works really well, pain levels were quite low already, I'm just being careful for few days more, probably some careful running at weekend.


Just sharing this experience because it's weird and the way to heal it is something that people would never try. So, if all else fails and pain has been there for half a year or more, and it feels like you will probably never run again, you might consider trying this diet thing.. :p One week is probably enough to know, I did experience definite results after two days.
 

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