Soreness under the pad of my foot

[C. Beth Run.]

Last year around the beginning of fall, I went on a run and came home with a VERY sore spot deep under the pad of one foot. Felt like a bone bruise or something. I had to switch to minimalist shoes--even needing a little extra padding for awhile. It took about 8 weeks for it to feel all better, and by then it was winter, and I don't run barefoot in the cold anyway, so I stuck with my Vibrams.

I figured I'd stepped on a rock or something, but the odd thing was, I didn't remember doing that. And then I saw someone post on here saying if you have Morton's Toe, you should stay away from sidewalk cracks. A light went on in my brain--during that fateful run, I was out of town, and I ran in a street paved with bricks for awhile. TONS of cracks!! I think I stepped wrong and just did something weird to my foot that took forever to get well.

Well, it's pretty warm here again, so I've been reintroducing barefoot running. The soles of my feet are doing pretty well, but I think I pushed my distance a little too far on Tuesday. I did about 2 miles of my run barefoot--after very little barefoot running for months. Again, I felt that deep soreness afterward, this time under the pads of both feet. Not just under the 2nd metatarsal head (where I think it was before) but also a little further out on one foot. The pain wasn't bad this time, but annoying, even walking barefoot in my house. After a few days it was fine, but I did 1 to 1.5 miles bare again today, in the middle of my long run, and again it's hurting--both feet, but more on the foot that was hurt last year.

Clearly I need to really EASE back into being fully bare. But is there anything else I can do? I'm trying to be careful about sidewalk cracks, but I think some of it is just the impact on hard surfaces--and I am a road runner. There aren't even any barefoot-friendly dirt trails close enough to me for me to regularly run on them. I think I'm a fairly gentle runner when I'm bare but of course I have room for improvement.

I'm wondering if I should ice it. Also thinking about having something on the pad of my foot (like those Foot Undeez but maybe something homemade.) Norm Deplume mentioned this in the "sewers" thread (Gear/shoes forum) because of her foot pad pain, and it does seem like a nice alternative to a fully-covered foot.

Appreciate any thoughts/advice! I'm a runner who will probably never be 100% bare. I enjoy wearing my VFFs. But I like to be able to do some barefoot running, and I don't want this to limit me if I want to build up my BF mileage quite a bit.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

So you never had this pain

So you never had this pain when you ran through the winter in VFFs after the initial injury was healed? I wonder what about the VFFs saves you from feeling this pain. Their not too thick. This is strange. Have you had your bone density checked? Maybe you have a weakness there. Have you seen a doctor about this? I wonder what an x-ray or MRI would show.

 

[C. Beth Run.]

TJ--Once it was all better,

TJ--Once it was all better, no, I didn't feel it in VFFs. I did talk to my physical therapist about it when I was going to see him last November. He didn't take X-rays but couldn't find anything wrong when he examined it. He figured it was a bone bruise.

I hadn't thought about bone density. Maybe I should get that checked. I'll ask when I get a physical next month. I also wonder if maybe it has to do with how much padding I have on my forefoot. My body fat percentage is just so low; maybe I have less padding there just like the rest of me? Am I stretching here for an explanation?

 

[C. Beth Run.]

TJ--So I got to thinking

TJ--So I got to thinking about getting an X-Ray or MRI. I think that's a great suggestion; it might give me some answers. But I realized--as heretical as this might sound --I'd prefer to just wear shoes. I'll wear my VFFs until I can't feel this anymore, then start with VERY low barefoot mileage and see if I can build it up again without this being an issue. Even if I can't, I am so happy in minimalist shoes that if I can't get past this without medical help, I'll just be a MR instead of a BFR.

If we had amazing health insurance it would be different. But we're in a high deductible plan, and treatment gets expensive so quickly. I'm still not happy about how much I had to spend on physical therapy last fall!!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

It's too bad we can't find

It's too bad we can't find out exactly what is wrong though. It's possible that you are just one of those people who can't or shouldn't run barefoot. Yes, fat pad atrophy is very real. Board said that the older we get the thinner our fat pads are in our feet. If you already have a "fat" issue (being so small), then it's very possible that could be contributing to your pain. I wish we knew for sure.

 

[C. Beth Run.]

TJ--That was actually a point

TJ--That was actually a point my physical therapist said--that unlike the rest of our bodies, our soles lose fat as we get older. At the time my pain was definitely worse, and I still had some pain in Vibrams. (Unlike now, when Vibrams are plenty of cushion.) He suggested I get a more cushioned shoe like the Free. I don't want the Free but I may eventually get the Altra Intuition or something--it's zero-drop but has cushioning. I don't want that most of the time, but it would be nice to have an option like the Inuition for days when I need a bit of cushion for whatever reason.

It's already feeling way better so I'm hoping to try a very, very little bit of BFR again soon. (I'm going to be really careful & build up slowly.) And I'm seriously considering the same thing Norm is talking about--making my own Foot Undeez. Just a simple slip-on forefoot thing with a very, very thin pad. I think that might be enough, and it might allow me to be mostly-barefoot for longer distances than I can be totally bare right now.

I agree, it would be nice to know what's going on. I just don't want the bill associated with knowledge!

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Well, if it gets worse, it'll

Well, if it gets worse, it'll be more than a nice to know. My concern would be what if the new padded shoes you're talking about reintroduce the knee pain (and ITBS, did you have)? At least now, you know to ditch something right away should it not feel right. Good luck with all this, Beth. You have some experimentation to do. One of the things about experimentation through all my problems with MN and learning to run barefoot properly is that that experimentation keeps me going, gives me hope. I can't wait to see what you guys come up with for the forefoot. You guys will need to come up with a clever name for it. Maybe you two can partner and make your own line of minimalist footwear for the forefoot. Seriously.

 

[C. Beth Run.]

That's a good point; I had

That's a good point; I had some runner's knee before I went to BF/minimalist running and it would probably be way too easy to heelstrike and end up with runner's knee again in cushioned running shoes. They would have been great last fall when my foot was really hurting more but thankfully that didn't last too long.

I'll be excited to see what we come up with too.