Hot Spots only on one foot

cbusatty

Barefooters
Jun 25, 2011
2
0
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I am trying to figure out what is going on....

My right side is great ...no problems whatsoever

The left is a bear...on the pad between my toes and ball of my foot I am getting hot spots...no blisters though..



I don't understand how my form is off so much on the left or what I am compensating for that is causing problems...



any help/sugggestions would be appreciated.
 
I agree that this is probably

I agree that this is probably caused by something else w/your body, probably in the hips area. Weak hips, hips out of alignment, etc. Chiropractor may be able to help. Also exercises that strengthen the hips (see google). They're probably not enough out of whack to show when you had the foam soled shoes, but now that it's just you and the earth, even the smallest things can cause some problems.
 
As odd as it sounds, do you

As odd as it sounds, do you run on the left side of the street? I found myself with a similar pain in my left foot, and found that the street around my house is bowed pretty good, for the water runoff, so when I run on the left side (to see oncoming traffic), I'm leaning to the left a bit. Sounds silly, but when I started running closer to the middle of the road it felt better.



As for the hot spots in front of the ball, I get that too somewhat, and near as I can tell it's from too long of a gait, like I'm stretching my foot out front too much. I could be mistaken, but I think that's the last major thing to correct with my form, so that may be what's up.
 
Could you have a leg-length

Could you have a leg-length discrepancy?
 
I always recommend trying

I always recommend trying single-legged squats in order to test out any discrepencies.
 
This past winter I

This past winter I experienced the same thing -- hot spots on the ball of the foot and sometimes elsewhere in my right forefoot. I don't get them anymore. Some things have changed: I'm not running when it's too cold for me, I'm running slower, and my form has improved (I'm much better at "bending my knees" [really, "sitting down" more]). But even now, if I run a little too far on very rough surfaces, my right foot will feel "raw" for a day or so in the same places where I used to get hot spots.

I have a noticeable leg length discrepancy -- probably at least an inch. My right leg is longer than my left. I think I'm learning to adapt to this, but I do think it makes barefoot running more challenging to master. My progress has been much slower than than that of others in these forums, and I'm starting to think the leg length discrepancy has a lot to do with it. Even today, I was running up a very steep hill (maybe 15% grade or more), and it was remarkable how my right heel could still just touch with almost every step, but my left heel never got close -- probably an inch or two away. This isn't a flexibility or relaxation issue, and it only becomes really noticeable on steep hills.

All of my minor skin-deep troubles (hot spots, "raw" feelings, rocks, glass) have been in my right foot, and I think it's related to the leg length discrepancy. So it might be something for you to consider.
 
I'm sorry about that, DB. 

I'm sorry about that, DB. Did you have problems running in shoes due to the leg-length discrepancy? Were you able to overcome those problems in shoes, and if so, how? How much difference in length do you have? If running barefoot becomes "unbareable" (see how I spelled that?), maybe you could try running in something minimal and have the one shoe's sole thicker. I know it's not ideal for a barefoot runner, but it would definitely be something to try to see if it would work for you. The hard part would be trying to find out what combination of minimalist shoes will work for you and if you can pad one just right, so you don't induce new problems. If you were to go with two different minshoes, one with a thicker sole than the other, it might look funky, but hey, we already look funky around here, right?
 
Thank you for your concern,

Thank you for your concern, TJ, but things are actually looking good.

I will never go back to any shoe, even a minimal one. Last year, I ran in minimal shoes (Feelmax Osma, which I still use for walking around when necessary, mainly for social reasons) after a few months of barefoot. I had several major injuries (two bouts of peroneal tendonitis and plantar fascitiis in the foot that never had it before). My whole experience with running barefoot and minimally has confirmed virtually every piece of advice Ken Bob gives. I was just too stupid to follow it in the beginning, despite reading about others' experiences with troubles for not following them as well.

My leg length difference must at least an inch. Such abnormalities aren't that uncommon, and our ancestors certainly adjusted to them without problems. If I had gone barefoot from childhood on, I'm sure I'd never have noticed any issues. It's only transitioning to barefoot in middle age that presents the challenge.

When I ran shod (since childhood), I had the smorgasbord of serious running injuries -- stress fractures, chronic plantar fasciitis, ganglion cyst, etc. etc. So shoes never helped and I sometimes tried extra insoles to compensate for the leg length difference with no noticeable positive effect.

Anyway, I am now running on varied and rough surfaces (much slower on the rough stuff) and gradually increasing my distance. If I only ran on smooth concrete, I could have had the relatively quick ramp up that others have. But with chip seal and highly eroded sidewalks (generally worse than chip seal) the dominant surfaces around me, I just have to increase much more slowly.

The bottom line is that for those who are struggling, especially in the beginning, it does get better and easier, even when it seems like it's impossible. Ken Bob's advice can work with mere mortals, as long as we have patience and don't overdo it.
 
Thanks for the info.

Thanks for the info. everyone. I am mostly fine on smooth concrete (i.e. sidewalks) but run into problems on rougher surfaces. Around here our "asphalt" is chock full of tiny rocks so I'm not sure it is even asphalt, but I don't know what else to call it.

Speeding up my cadence seems to help ...so I am thinking I am just overcompensating or tensing up on rougher surfaces. I get bored easily running the same sidewalks in my neighborhood, but maybe that is what will have to work until I get adjusted to rougher surfaces.



I'm thinking the overstriding thing too, but it seems odd that I would only be overstriding with one foot, but I suppose its possible.